What You Should Ask Instead Of Asking Who Will Replace Cano And Brach
The Mets have done their part protecting the confidentiality of their players. We know Brad Brach and Robinson Cano aren’t in camp, but the team will not say why. Thar said, Luis Rojas might’ve given us an indication it’s COVID19 related:
Luis Rojas said the Mets haven't had any baseball-related injuries so far during camp.
— Tim Healey (@timbhealey) July 12, 2020
As is typically the case when a player is going to miss time, the discussion begins on what the Mets should do to replace these players.
Do you move Jeff McNeil to second and put J.D. Davis at third? Do you use Luis Guillorme due to his defense and late offensive surge?
Maybe Andres Gimenez is ready. Is Jed Lowrie going to be able to do anything? Do you go with Eduardo Nunez?
There’s a ton of options available to replace Cano, and it’s an interesting debate.
It’s similar to Brach. Newly signed Jared Hughes is obviously the first man up to replace him. There’s also Paul Sewald, Drew Smith, Stephen Gonsalves, Franklyn Kilome, Walker Lockett, Corey Oswalt, and some interesting minor league arms.
If this were a normal 2020 season, we’d debate the correct path, and we’d see the Mets have time to get it wrong, get it wrong again, and hopefully, finally make the correct decision.
However, this is far from a normal season. There is a pandemic which threatens the lives and long-term health of people. We’ve already heard about Freddie Freeman and his struggle with this disease. We’re hearing about Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz still experiencing some issues.
Right now, we don’t know if Brach or Cano have COVID19. To the extent they do have it, we don’t know how much it’s impacting them now, or will affect their health in the future.
The only thing we do know is there’s a pandemic which is affecting people differently. We know this pandemic has no vaccine. Even with precautions, we can’t guarantee players won’t become infected.
With all we know and don’t know with COVID19, at some point we need to pivot from who will replace these infected players to whether there should be baseball in 2020.
Remember, it’s alright to desperately want baseball to return. It’s also alright to believe it’s not safe for these players to play. We’re all human, and there’s no clear cut answer or solution.
I would be fine if the season is cancelled, it has been my preference since this virus took off. It will just be more difficult now after getting juiced up for this shortened season just a week and a half away.
Health however must always come first and there are some real problems safely playing this season. Do players, umpires, grounds crew, coaches, managers, front office and other team personnel or their family members have to die or get majorly ill and compromised for a lifetime before the season is called off?
Which teams, home and road willingly want to play in Texas, Florida, California, Arizona and other uncontrolled Covid over-run cities and states ? What happens if players get injured and require emergency room treatment or hospitalization in these Covid mega infected hospitals?
I am however baffled why Covid infection among players is such a secret that cannot be revealed unless players consent. .Keeping it hidden attaches unnecessary shame to a deadly disease whether or not ignorance and reckless disregard for the rules led to infection. Covid should be brought out in the open as teachable moments, rather than hiding behind HIPPA privacy rights.
Glad to learn that Cano is now in camp and practicing with the team. So if he had Covid, or had to be quarrantined after coming into contact with a known Covid infected person, he’s now negative or has been throughout.
Question now is whether he’ll be ready for opening day. Hope he is as another member of a very dangerous lineup top to bottom.
Mostly, I hope he’s healthy and won’t suffer long term health effects. That said, the Mets can use his bat.
Baseball is not safe, ask Roy Chapman’s family. Driving a car can be dangerous, so is everything in life. In fact the chances of dying from this are probably greater for the players not being around the game and the medical staffs then being monitored every day the way they are. Young people who detect the virus early probably never die unless they have an underlying condition too. And even that is rare.
That said, the players are heros for what they are doing because we need them now more than ever. The real problem is not the virus, it’s the politicians playing politics with the virus, its the inability of the scientific community to deal with the virus or speak as one and most of all it’s the neo communist far left attempting to use the situation as a means to its end.
By themselves none of these things worry anyone. But together they have managed to sow confusion and fear in the public at the same time freaking people out that they might speak up and be cancelled.
We need to get back to normal. I think once we do things wont seem so crazy. if you are really following the science than you know this is the big week. If Texas, Florida and the south start to see a reduction in cases and hospitalizations we are at the end of the beginning and baseball will lead the way back. If not they probably wont finish the season and no baseball will be the least of our problems.
Comparing COVID19 to a freak accident and driving a car is irresponsible and misleading.