A small group of players, including Nationals slugger Ryan Zimmerman and Rockies outfielder Ian Desmond, have announced they plan to sit out this season. The Minnesota Twins have shuffled their on-field staff to protect the health of some of their older coaches.
As major league baseball lurches toward a start later this month during the COVID-19 pandemic, roster flexibility and organizational depth are key.
Zimmerman, who last week told The Associated Press that he was still deciding whether to play this year, ultimately said that having three young children, including a newborn, and a mother at higher risk because of multiple sclerosis, factored into his decision.
Photo: Geoff Burke-USA Today
“Given the unusual nature of the season, this is the best decision for me and my family,” Zimmerman said.
The 35-year-old, who has been with the Nationals since 2005, said that he still is deciding on his future beyond this season.
Desmond cited his family as one reason why he decided to stay home for the upcoming 60-game season, but the slugger also mentioned a myriad of issues within baseball, including racism, sexism and homophobia.
“With a pregnant wife and four young children who have lots of questions about what’s going on in the world, home is where I need to be right now,” the 34-year-old wrote on Instagram. “Home for my wife, Chelsey. Home to help. Home to guide. Home to answer my older three boys’ questions about Coronavirus and Civil Rights and life. Home to be their Dad.”
The Twins on Monday confirmed that 68-year-old bullpen coach Bob McClure and 66-year-old major league coach Bill Evers would not be in the clubhouse at the start of this season because of health concerns. Both are to stay with the organization to help in altered roles.
“I think we all know that we’re making the right decision, but that doesn’t mean it feels good,” Baldelli said. “It’s very, very challenging to even think about these sorts of things and have these conversations.”
However, they are exactly the conversations that are being had across the MLB landscape.
Defending World Series champions the Nationals are to begin their title defense without Zimmerman and pitcher Joe Ross, who also declined to play because of health concerns.
“We are 100 percent supportive of their decision to not play this year,” Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said. “We will miss their presence in the clubhouse and their contributions on the field.”
The fragility of baseball’s health situation has been apparent for the past few weeks.
The Philadelphia Phillies had a COVID-19 outbreak at their spring training facility in Clearwater, Florida, earlier this month. Seven players and five staff members tested positive.
Phillies general manager Matt Klentak said that the team was “fortunate that none of the cases, player or staff, have been especially serious.”
“What is eye-opening to a lot of us is how quickly it spread even in an environment where we were on the extreme end of caution,” Klentak said. “The facility in Clearwater was pretty airtight in terms of staggering times of players reporting to work out, cleaning the facilities in between. Truthfully, it was frustrating to some players how strict it was and yet the outbreak still happened.”
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS