Reality is already taking the shine off MLB’s “summer camp,” as three teams canceled their workouts to start the week and other teams pushed back practices or held players out amid delays in coronavirus testing results.
Meanwhile in Denver, spring training 2.0 is proceeding as planned, and manager Bud Black said he doesn’t have any qualms about baseball’s re-start despite red flags around the league.
“It’s unfortunate (the testing delays) happened to a couple clubs, and I’d be bummed if it happened to us on a given day and we were hoping to get on the field and couldn’t,” Black said. “In the short term, I think things will get figured out rather quickly.”
Forgive this reporter — a baseball diehard who wants to see the game as badly as Nolan Arenado wants to play it — for not quite believing Black’s sunny disposition regarding the league’s early “summer camp” stumbles.
As the NBA prepares to navigate the complexities of a bubble-style format to conclude its season, MLB boldly believes flying teams to play at dozens of ballparks around the country will work, even as COVID numbers surge nationally — and as the league is relying on one lab in Utah to continuously expedite testing for thousands of players and coaches.
This pandemic, which to date has claimed the lives of more than 130,000 Americans, is far too serious for “summer camp” to be used as a figure-it-out phase. If that continues to happen, there will be no opening day come July 23.
As Cubs all-star Kris Bryant pointed out to Chicago media on Monday: “I know there’s going to be hiccups, but you just can’t hiccup with this.”
Eight MLB players have opted out of 2020 as of Monday, including Rockies outfielder Ian Desmond, and Bryant is far from the only star still playing who has serious doubts. The game’s best player, Angels outfielder Mike Trout, said last week he still doesn’t “feel comfortable,” and MLB’s early testing glitches surely aren’t easing players’ concerns.
In a statement Monday, MLB blamed “unforeseen delays” in testing on the July Fourth holiday weekend and said the league does “not expect a recurrence” of such delays. The Cardinals, Nationals and Astros canceled Monday’s workouts because of the issue. MLB said that “95% of the (3,740) tests under the Intake Screening period have been conducted, analyzed and shared with all 30 Clubs.”
But that still doesn’t explain the irregularities in testing across the league — testing which is now supposed to be happening on an every-other-day basis. While Black said he’s been tested twice since Saturday, and gotten each result within 48 hours, players are saying testing protocols haven’t been followed uniformly across the board.
“We’ve had guys here that showed up (June 28) and haven’t gotten tested again eight, seven days later,” Bryant said. “And then you don’t get the results for two days either, so that’s nine days without knowing. I think if you really want this to succeed, we’re going to have to figure this out.”
Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts told local reporters that he “still (has) doubts” the 2020 season will work, and that “we got camps being shut down and people going three and four days without tests, (so) you just don’t know what’s going on.”
What’s going on is a league that put the cart before the horse. Owners and players spent months arguing over the financial piece of the season, unable to come to an agreement before commissioner Rob Manfred mandated a 60-game schedule on June 22. Now a season is finally on the horizon, but Monday’s schedule release came the same day, fittingly, that cracks began to show in the league’s “summer camp” plan.
Black said with all that’s going on, and with all the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, he is keeping his focus on baseball.
“I mean, you think about (the possibility of not getting to opening day), but again, I quickly get the doubt out of my mind because we have so much to do here to get ready,” Black said. “So, you know, I try not to let that (possibility) consume me. There’s enough to consume us here with with the preparation and the work that we have to do.”
Rockies fans should like Black’s laser-focused approach. But they, along with all who are hoping for a seamless MLB season this year, shouldn’t get their hopes up too high. As Athletics reliever Jake Diekman told the San Francisco Chronicle following delays in Oakland’s testing, “I feel like deep down, every player has it in the back of their mind that this is all going to fall apart.”
I feel the same way every time the Rockies report to Coors Field for the riskiest sports “summer camp” yet.
