Marlins ( and now Phillies) season(s) on pause, O's to host Yankees on Wednesday and Thursday

[spiritof66]

1 hour ago, CallMeBrooksie said:

Friendly reminder that these players are going back to their families at night and are free to move about their communities.

How arrogant and idiotic that MLB and MLBPA could not work out a bubble site or at least an enforceable set of rules.

The problem, or a big part of it, is that baseball doesn't have a Commissioner in the way that other sports do. It has instead a labor negotiator whose job it is to avoid work stoppages while keeping as much of the revenue as possible in the pockets of the owners. That's his main job, and so far that seems to be the only thing he's good at (if you don't subtract points for being sleazy).

A real Commissioner would have insisted that this season be played with a multiple-bubble setup or, as an alternative, adherence to strict rules with the maximum possible amount of safety features that don't interfere with the game: distancing in the  expanded dugouts, masks on everyone in those dugouts and on base runners, masks required for mound conferences, no handshakes or high fives, no conversations between unmasked personnel who aren't masked, pitchers washing their hands between innings. Violators would get one warning, then a game suspension, then three games. Something like that. 

During the five games (or parts of games) I've watched, I haven't seen very much off-field conduct, but what I've seen has been consistent. Players and others have usually been spaced apart in the dugouts, but plenty of times have not been. Managers, coaches, and other non-players in the dugouts have been wearing masks, but sometimes too low to cover their nostrils. Players in the dugouts generally have not worn masks and often have sat, talking, close to one another. On the field, the game was played as usual, with up-close conversations between infielders and baserunners, and among groups of teammates in mound conferences, None of the broadcasters that I heard commented on what was obviously dangerous conduct. 

Maybe the outbreak among the Marlins will lead MLB to reset, with stricter rules and tight compliance. There might be a real chance of that if this were the NBA threatened with the collapse of the season, but i don't see it happening here.

[spiritof66]

20 minutes ago, Philip said:

I think you’re correct but I also think the Owners and MLPA could easily and quickly work something out. Now that the season has actually started, it would smack of impossible incompetence to suddenly say,”woops no baseball after all.”

Wouldn't it also smack of stupidity to continue the season without making any changes to make the players safer, just hoping the Marlin situation won't get any worse and that nothing like this will happen again?

[waroriole]

Just now, spiritof66 said:

Wouldn't it also smack of stupidity to continue the season without making any changes to make the players safer, just hoping the Marlin situation won't get any worse and that nothing like this will happen again?

You’d think the entire taxi squad would be available for these kind of things instead of just the usual 40 man roster. I don’t know how you prevent it from happening again unless you mandate masks at all times. 

[CallMeBrooksie]

5 minutes ago, spiritof66 said:

During the five games (or parts of games) I've watched, I haven't seen very much off-field conduct, but what I've seen has been consistent. Players and others have usually been spaced apart in the dugouts, but plenty of times have not been. Managers, coaches, and other non-players in the dugouts have been wearing masks, but sometimes too low to cover their nostrils. Players in the dugouts generally have not worn masks and often have sat, talking, close to one another. On the field, the game was played as usual, with up-close conversations between infielders and baserunners, and among groups of teammates in mound conferences, None of the broadcasters that I heard commented on what was obviously dangerous conduct. 

Have you also noticed teammates mobbing and hugging eachother in the dugouts after big home runs? I've seen it on at least two separate occasions, complete with broadcasters commenting on how it appears that the protocols are already going out the window.

[OriolesMagic83]

43 minutes ago, ArtVanDelay said:

Fielding a representative team has never been a concern for the Marlins before.

The O's made it through 2019 without fielding a major league quality team.

[joelala]

I’ve found it pretty shocking that almost all players are unmasked. 

[ArtVanDelay]

5 minutes ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

The O's made it through 2019 without fielding a major league quality team.

Define “made it through”. 

[HowAboutThat]

A team needs to be able to play safely. That means if one guy goes down you’ve got to have a reasonable procedure for replacing him. How easy is it to have a Covid IL that allows promotion of a guy without affecting option status. Just waive the 40-man requirements for the season. Then, as someone suggested already, have a taxi squad of as many guys as are necessary. That’s simple and Easy.

But Manfred is, as we say, an idiot.

[Aristotelian]

5 minutes ago, joelala said:

I’ve found it pretty shocking that almost all players are unmasked. 

Me too. I did not realize there was no bubble similar to the NBA. Just insane to think they could solve the issue by testing alone and no restrictions on or off the field!

Just found this quote from the MLB Covid manual:

“MLB will not formally restrict the activities of Covered Individuals when they are away from Club facilities, but will expect the Covered Individuals on each Club to ensure that they all act responsibly. The careless actions of a single individual places the entire team (and their families) at risk, and the Covered Individuals on each Club should agree on their own off-field code of conduct for themselves and their family members to minimize the risk to others.”

Wow, Manfred, are you nuts? Just leave it up to the Club and individual when an outbreak places the whole league in jeopardy!

In all seriousness, it appears inevitable that someone will die due to MLB's recklessness. If not a player, someone the player has contacted or taken a hospital bed from. 

[Redskins Rick]

1 minute ago, Philip said:

A team needs to be able to play safely. That means if one guy goes down you’ve got to have a reasonable procedure for replacing him. How easy is it to have a Covid IL that allows promotion of a guy without affecting option status. Just waive the 40-man requirements for the season. Then, as someone suggested already, have a taxi squad of as many guys as are necessary. That’s simple and Easy.

But Manfred is, as we say, an idiot.

You do realize that its 14 Players and 2 coaches from the Marlins?

So its sounds pretty much like a scrub team of throw together.

This is good for whom?

 

[ExileAngelos]

I am glad this joke of a season might be on the brink of ending.  I wanted NO part of a 16 game playoff field with such "exciting" three game series.  Would have opened the way for future playoff expansion.  

[maybenxtyr]

2 hours ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

Wow, the Marlins could look like a minor league team for a while.  If baseball can't social distance enough, imagine the problems the NFL is going to have. 

I hope the season can continue.  For healthy young men in their 20's and 30's, the risk is minimal.  Its obvious, that playing the season without fans was the right decision.  Probably would have worked better if MLB played in a bubble like the NBA instead of travelling all over the country.

 

That's the part I never understood. Why not pick cities with domes and put blocks of teams as a base there to minimize travel? Especially when there's not any fans, so there's no gates to divide out.

[Redskins Rick]

Just now, Aristotelian said:

Me too. I did not realize there was no bubble similar to the NBA. Just insane to think they could solve the issue by testing alone and no restrictions on or off the field!

Just found this quote from the MLB Covid manual:

“MLB will not formally restrict the activities of Covered Individuals when they are away from Club facilities, but will expect the Covered Individuals on each Club to ensure that they all act responsibly. The careless actions of a single individual places the entire team (and their families) at risk, and the Covered Individuals on each Club should agree on their own off-field code of conduct for themselves and their family members to minimize the risk to others.”

Wow, Manfred, are you nuts? Just leave it up to the Club and individual when an outbreak places the whole league in jeopardy!

In all seriousness, it appears inevitable that someone will die due to MLB's recklessness. If not a player, someone the player has contacted or taken a hospital bed from. 

the players were not acting responsible on the field.

 

[esmd]

2 hours ago, interloper said:

In the interest of keeping this thread open for information on how the O's/MLB handle this cancellation and things moving forward, I suggest we keep the COVID opinions out of it as much as possible. Or this thread will almost certainly get locked. By now most of us know where each other stand, so what's the point?  

The facts are: 

• Tonight's game is canceled.
• 12 Marlins players and 2 coaches are positive.
• Phillies (last Marlins opponent) are in lockdown until their test results are back.
• Fred Manfred has yet to make any statement. 
• We don't know if the game will be made up, forfeited, or something else. 

Side note - is there a joke I'm missing re: calling Rob Manfred, "Fred?"  I think I've seen several people do it.

[HowAboutThat]

17 minutes ago, spiritof66 said:

Wouldn't it also smack of stupidity to continue the season without making any changes to make the players safer, just hoping the Marlin situation won't get any worse and that nothing like this will happen again?

Of course but that’s not the issue. I’m not suggesting we go on as “normal.” We have to stop now, for at least a day or so.

The issue is that nobody planned for what was a very likely problem. It would have been Fairly easy to do. And it was unforgivably shortsighted to ignore the possibility.

when we had the poll I voted that there wouldn’t be a season at all, but it seems the winners were the folks who voted that the season would start but not finish.