MLB may shut down all spring training sites for coronavirus cleaning

[TheComputerGroup]

With three spring training sites closing Friday due to coronavirus-related issues, MLB was strongly considering shutting all 30 facilities again to cleanse them and then establish a testing protocol when players return, The Post has learned.

The Phillies and Blue Jays in Western Florida and the Giants in Arizona closed their camps in response to either personnel contracting the virus or showing symptoms. The Phillies acknowledged that eight employees had come down with coronavirus since Tuesday, including five players.

Players had been allowed to return to their team’s spring training facilities or home stadiums in recent weeks to work out with the help of limited personnel. Each team created protocols. But without an agreement between MLB and the Players Association, there has been no singular policy established for all teams and no testing regimens for the virus.

In addition, Arizona and Florida — which houses all 30 team’s spring sites — have become particular hotbeds for the virus in the last week, with case numbers soaring.

MLB was considering a reset in all spring camps in which they would be cleansed. Then the league was mulling putting in place what is in its health/safety protocol to restart the season: That any team personnel who wants to use the facility would have to take a test and be shown to be negative before using the complex, and then test every other day thereafter.



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[TheComputerGroup]

Phillies have major coronavirus outbreak at spring training facility


In case anyone needed a reminder that the labor dispute between Major League Baseball and the players association is just one thing that could erase the 2020 baseball season, the Phillies confirmed Friday they are dealing with a coronavirus outbreak and have closed their spring training facility in Clearwater, Fla.

The Blue Jays also shut down their facility in nearby Dunedin “for the time being,” according to the team. A Phillies player recently showed symptoms of COVID-19 after spending time with players in Philadelphia’s minor league system and more personnel are being tested.

The Phillies’ outbreak, first reported by NBC Sports Philadelphia, so far includes five players and three staff members who have tested positive for the virus.

In a statement, the Phillies said the first confirmed case occurred Tuesday. The club added that eight members have tested negative and 20 players (both minor and major leaguers) and a dozen other staff members are awaiting results — so it’s possible the situation could soon become considerably worse. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported the virus has already spread to family members of the players and staff infected.

These are the first known cases to surface since teams began to let players back into facilities. Even before the outbreak, the Phillies had been planning to hold their spring training in Philadelphia. The Blue Jays, though, were likely going to be in Dunedin.

Phillies managing partner John Middleton said in a statement that as a result of the confirmed cases, “All facilities in Clearwater have been closed indefinitely to all players, coaches and staff and will remain closed until medical authorities are confident that the virus is under control and our facilities are disinfected.”

The team added, “In terms of the implications of this outbreak on the Phillies’ 2020 season, the club declines comment, believing that it is too early to know.”

Like all other teams around MLB, the Phillies shuttered their facility when spring training was shut down in March due to COVID-19.

After the facility was cleaned, players rehabbing from injuries could return and more recently, other players were also allowed to work out at Spectrum Field. The Phillies are expected to resume spring training — if baseball gets that far — in Philadelphia.

As MLB and the MLBPA haggle over economic matters, there has been thought spring training could resume as soon as the end of next week, provided they strike an agreement soon.

Though none of the people who tested positive needed to be hospitalized, according to the NBC Sports Philadelphia report, the development would obviously be concerning — especially as the number of cases increase in states where teams are expected to train, including Florida, Arizona and Texas.

“I’m not trying to scare anyone, but this is real and it spreads quickly and easily and people need to know,” one person who knows some of the Phillies personnel who came down with the virus told NBC Sports.

The Yankees had a pair of minor leaguers test positive for COVID-19 at their facility in Tampa in March and quarantined their minor leaguers as a result. The two players have since recovered. The team has not determined where it would resume spring training.

Tampa mayor Jane Castor said Thursday she would order Tampa residents to wear masks while indoors and unable to maintain a 6-foot separation from others beginning Friday, and TSN reported Friday the Tampa Bay Lightning just shut down their facility because of positive coronavirus tests.



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