This Thursday sure feels like a Friday. Hope you and your family are safe and ready to celebrate America’s birthday safely.
Players began reporting to Spring Training 2.0 yesterday, undergoing a battery of health checks both routine and new. Players will undergo temperature checks, Covid-19 tests, and Covid antibody tests. This data will confirm how prevalent the virus is/has been in MLB but the league is still bracing for the inevitable positive tests down the road.
Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovoy has already battled Covid-19 and tells a pretty chilling story.
Assuming the season does get going, super prospects getting called up will wait until July 29th. in order for clubs to gain an extra year of salary control. That’s right, an entire 5 days off the roster gets teams an entire extra year. I know this was linked yesterday, but the math wasn’t spelled out. I’m sure this is going to sit well with MLBPA once new CBA negotiations begin.
Eppler spoke about Angels hotshot prospect Jo Adell and his chances of seeing MLB action this year.
Baseball will function as never before. Fangraphs does a great job of breaking down how this 2020 season will operate. I’ll bookmark it and reference it as the season progresses, for sure.
ESPN chimes in with their own primer, focusing more on the day to day operations of players and teams.
Meanwhile our friends in Korea have been playing a fun brand of baseball for almost two months now (I’m watching games via the ESPN app in my office and it is keeping me somewhat sane.) Plans to allow fans back into games is being pushed back but is on the radar. A fan can dream.
Socially distanced lines into the ballpark will make getting to the game at 5 a necessity. Dodger fans showing up in the third inning will get into the ballpark at the time they are usually leaving it.
It wouldn’t be the Fourth of July without enjoying this great scene from one of my all time favorite films.
I don’t even have to click the link, I know it’s gotta be The Sandlot 4th of July scene. A Classic. I think I’ll have to force my kids to watch that with me this 4th.
It’s a bummer Jo Adell won’t get any more ST games under his belt this year, but I think Eppler isn’t just blowing smoke when he says there are some advantages to the simulated games. It’s possible Adell will face some pitching that’s even better than what he would have in ST games. We know that pitching is all over the map in ST, from guys who are not stretched out at all, to guys who are focusing only on a particular pitch and don’t care much if they’re getting shelled.
Correct you are. Great scene and I absolutely love the Ray Charles song.
Truly scary stuff. Said this on yesterday’s thread just a few mins ago, but I found out that one of my coworkers’ parents passed away a couple weeks ago due to covid. Please stay safe, distance, and stay home as much as possible, everyone.
Daaaang! That is scary, dude. Condolences. Honestly this is the first time I’ve heard from someone I know who knows a victim of COVID who wasn’t elderly with preexisting conditions.