Musings
On a day like today, there are any number of Opening Day highlights we can chose. There is Gary Carter‘s walk-off homer. There is Alberto Castillo‘s and Joe Torre‘s walk-off hits. There is Anderson Hernandez‘s diving catch. There is Cleon Jones‘s two home run game, or the game Richie Hebner went 4-for-5.
There are a few pitcher’s duels between Tom Seaver and Steve Carlton. There are many, many highlights for a Mets team who has the best Opening Day win percentage out of every Major League team. However, there is only one first time the Mets won on Opening Day, and as luck would have it, that game is actually available:
Looking back at it, it is funny to think the Mets actually won a World Series before they won on Opening Day. The Mets would start the game where they left off with first inning RBI singles from Jones and Art Shamsky. Eventually, this game would go extras with reigning World Series MVP Donn Clendenon once again playing the part of the hero with a two RBI single in the 11th.
All things great have a beginning, and it was 1970 which began the Mets Opening Day winning ways. We can at least watch this game until we can get back to 2020 baseball with Jacob deGrom, perhaps the Mets best pitchers since Seaver, toeing the rubber for the Mets.
No, this is not a pre-scheduled article which was not edited. Remember, that today is still Opening Day, and just because we are not going to see Jacob deGrom square off against Max Scherzer for the second straight year doesn’t mean there is absolutely no baseball.
If you have a glove, bat, and a baseball. There is baseball.
Go outside and have a catch with your kids or someone else in your household. If it is just you, find a wall and throw a tennis ball against the wall. If nothing else, it is good exercise.
Put on your favorite Mets shirt. For example, I’m going to wear my Michael Conforto raglan t-shirt while my kids wear their Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil shirts. We’re going to go out there with our mitts, tees, and wiffle ball stuff, and we are going to play baseball (again).
Remember, today is Opening Day, and on Opening Day, there is baseball.
It may not be happening at Citi Field or at any other Major League park. You may be banned from playing baseball with people outside of your household. Still, there is baseball. It is in your yard, or if you can’t go outside, it is on your video game platform. If nothing else, it is on your TV.
On ESPN2, you can see Alonso and Todd Frazier win the Home Run Derby all over again. On mets.com, you can relive the Murphy Game. You can see deGrom use guts and guile to outlast Zack Greinke followed by Noah Syndergaard and Jeurys Familia just mowing down Dodgers hitters. You can see Daniel Murphy having the game of his life (up until that point) propelling the Mets into the NLCS.
You can also go check out anyone of the Mets games available on MLB.tv or YouTube. There are various Mets games throughout history available on YouTube, or you can just decided to go with clips like Gary Carter hitting a walk-off homer in his first ever game as a New York Met:
Today is a beautiful, cooler Spring day. It is the type of Spring day you want when you go out to the park to go see the Mets play on Opening Day. Just because the Mets can’t take the field today doesn’t mean there’s no baseball.
You can play baseball inside, outside, and/or go watch it. Really, find a way to celebrate baseball because it remains a huge part of our lives. In the end COVID19, may delay the season, and it may take away games. However, it cannot rob us of our love for the sport and the New York Mets.
Today, is March 26, 2020. Baseball is played today. We join as one in our love for the game. This is the day we are supposed to have hope. While some things are definitively different, there is nothing that can change all of that. This is the day we have baseball.
Let’s Go Mets!
The concern with Noah Syndergaard having Tommy John surgery isn’t just his being gone for the 2020 season and a significant portion of the 2021 season. The larger problem from a Mets perspective is this team has not had the best history with Tommy John surgeries and rehabilitation.
Jeremy Hefner
The Mets don’t have to look any further than their pitching coach Jeremy Hefner. Back in 2013, he was putting together a promising campaign when it was discovered he had a torn UCL. During his rehab from Tommy John, things were not going well, and it was discovered he would need to undergo a second surgery. He would only pitch one season in the minors after that before retiring.
Matt Harvey
Hefner was rehabbing at the same time as Matt Harvey. When it was discovered Hefner needed the second surgery, the Mets had eased the throttle off of Harvey who was pushing to pitch in 2014. In 2015, despite agreements on his innings limit, the Mets reneged and pushed him to pitch, and Harvey would throw more innings than anyone in the history of baseball after their Tommy John surgery.
In 2016, he was just not good with everyone trying to figure out what was wrong with him. It took a while to discover he had Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. Despite noticeable muscle atrophy, the Mets pitched him in 2017 leading to a stress reaction. Really, that was all but it for him as a Met and possibly his career. The big unknown is how the Mets handling of him affected his shoulder and/or aggravated or caused the TOS.
Bobby Parnell
Harvey would not be the only Mets pitcher to return in 2015 from Tommy John. The other notable pitcher to return was Bobby Parnell. After discovering a torn UCL the day after the 2014 Opening Day, Parnell underwent the surgery. A year later, a Mets team hoping to stay in the pennant race activated him well before the end of the 18 month rehabilitation period. Parnell didn’t have his fastball, and his command was shot. By the middle of August, he had pitched to a 6.38 ERA before being put on the DL with arm fatigue. He’d only pitch 5.1 Major League innings after this season.
Zack Wheeler
While Parnell was someone whose injury was discovered a day into the 2014 season, Zack Wheeler‘s torn UCL was discovered on the eve of the 2015 season. Wheeler had surgery, and he was slated to return in the middle of the 2016 season to help the Mets return to the postseason. During his rehab, he’d have issues with his stitches, and he would suffer a flexor strain when he was finally able to step on a mound again.
He wasn’t able to step onto a Major League mound again until April 2017, and he would have to be shut down that season due to a stress reaction in his right arm. Really, Wheeler wasn’t right until the 2018 season, which was three years after the first surgery.
Steven Matz
A Mets pitcher having this level of difficulty in their Tommy John rehab is not anything new. In fact, that was exactly the case with Steven Matz when he was in the minor leagues. After being drafted in 2009, it was discovered he had a torn UCL, and he needed to have Tommy John surgery.
Matz really struggled with the rehabilitation, and there was a significant amount of scar tissue. At one point, they were concerned he was going to need a second Tommy John surgery. The advice was to just pitch through it. Matz would do just that finally making his professional debut in 2012. His Tommy John issues would not re-emerge until 2017 when he needed ulnar nerve transposition surgery.
Jacob deGrom
When Matz underwent the surgery, he joined reliever Erik Goeddel and ace Jacob deGrom in having the surgery. With respect to Goeddel, he had Tommy John when he was in high school well before he was a member of the Mets organization. However, with respect to deGrom, he had his surgery and rehab as a member of the Mets organization.
With deGrom, he had seemingly appeared to be the one Mets pitcher who had a normal Tommy John surgery and rehabilitation. Yes, there were difficult times when he told Frank Viola he wanted to quit, but that was part of the normally grueling rehabilitation process and return. Ultimately, deGrom would become a Rookie of the Year winner, and he would introduce himself to the world with an incredible All-Star Game appearance and a postseason for the ages.
As noted with Harvey and Wheeler, Mets pitchers were dropping like flies in 2016. In addition to Harvey and Wheeler, Matz went down with a massive bone spur. It was then discovered during a pennant race, deGrom needed the ulnar transposition surgery. As we have seen, the surgery went well, and after a pedestrian 2018 season (by his standards), he has returned to be the best pitcher in baseball.
Keep in mind, the Mets checkered Tommy John history isn’t just recent. Jason Isringhausen would have the first of his three Tommy John surgeries with the Mets. Looking back at Generation K, he, Paul Wilson, and Bill Pulsipher would all have arm issues leading to them never pitching in the same rotation.
Position Players
The Mets haven’t had Tommy John issues with pitchers only. T.J. Rivera underwent the surgery in 2017, and he attempted to return too soon struggling in 22 at-bats. The Mets would release him, and he would play in the Atlantic Leagues for the Long Island Ducks before landing a minor league deal with the Philadephia Phillies. We will see if he can return.
Last year, we saw the Mets botch the handling of Travis d’Arnaud. Even with the team playing well with a tandem of Wilson Ramos and Tomas Nido, the team rushed d’Arnaud back to the majors before one full year of rehabilitation. He would have one of the worst games you would ever see a catcher have leading to the Mets rage cutting him.
He would first land with the Dodgers and then the Rays. Notably, he didn’t start really playing well until July, which was roughly 15 months after the surgery, which is much closer to the recommended 18 months.
This is not an extensive history, but it is a good snapshot of the struggles the Mets have had dealing with Tommy John surgeries. Perhaps, it is of no coinidence much of this has coincided with the Wilpon taking over majority control of the Mets, and as Pedro Martinez and others have noted, Jeff Wilpon’s interference with medical decision making has been a real issue.
Seeing the Tommy John problems the Mets have had, we get a better sense of why Seth Lugo was so unwilling to go through the process, and we see some of the dangers which may very well face Syndergaard as he attempts to return from the surgery before hitting free agency.
In true Mets fashion, it was discovered Mets ace Noah Syndergaard has a torn UCL, and he is going to need Tommy John surgery. With that, the Mets chances of winning the 2020 World Series, if the season is ever going to be played, just took a massive hit.
New York Mets starter Noah Syndergaard has a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow and is expected to undergo Tommy John surgery in the near future, sources tell ESPN. The procedure will keep him out until at earliest April 2021 and likely into the summer months.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 24, 2020
For all the discussion people want to have about Syndergaard not fulfilling his potential as an ace, Syndergaard remained a very good starting pitcher. In 2019, Syndergaard was 18th in FIP, and he had the second best hard-hit rate in the majors. Over the past two seasons, Syndergaard ranked eighth in FIP, and he had the best hard hit rate in the majors.
Overall, while some of his stats did not bear out that way, partially due to what has been an atrocious Mets defense, Syndergaard has pitched like one of the best pitchers in all of baseball. He’d be the ace on almost any other team. Part of the problem Syndergaard has with respect to how he is perceived is he is in the same rotation as Jacob deGrom, and every pitcher in baseball looks worse than they actually are next to him.
Looking at the Mets, their plan to compete for the division was rolling out a great top three of deGrom, Syndergaard, and Marcus Stroman. Now, they are going to have one of the better 1-2 punches in the majors, but not the best, and certainly, no longer the best 1-2-3 combination.
Worse yet, this thrusts Michael Wacha into that starting rotation. Wacha has been shut down multiple times in his career due to shoulder issues. That includes last year. Over the past two years, Wacha was simply not good. He had a 4.76 ERA with a 1.563 WHIP. In fact, he has had an ERA above 4.00 and a WHIP above 1.350 in three out of the last four years.
This isn’t like 2015 when the Mets had Steven Matz and Syndergaard waiting in the wings. No, the rotation really couldn’t withstand an injury to one of their top three starters like this. This serves as a crucial blow to their chances of competing.
Of course, things didn’t have to be this way. The Mets could’ve taken the money being given to Rick Porcello, owner of the worst ERA in the AL last year, Wacha, Jake Marisnick, and Dellin Betances, and they could’ve just given it to Zack Wheeler. That also would’ve given them a little money to spare.
With Wheeler, who is a discount at $118 million, especially with money deferred, the Mets still could’ve had a great 1-2 combination, and even with Syndergaard going down, their 1-2-3 punch would have likely remained the best in the majors. Mostly, it would’ve allowed the Mets to better sustain this injury.
Remember, the Mets aren’t just built on pitching. No, they are built on elite starting pitching. The best staff in the majors. That took a giant step back when the Mets let Wheeler walk, and now, it’s frankly no longer the case with Syndergaard done for 2020. In the end, Brodie Van Wagenen lost sight of this, and now he lost his team’s biggest strength.
Now, the Mets are without Syndergaard, and their chances took a MAJOR hit. Now, their hopes lie with Jeremy Hefner having a profound impact on the Mets rotation, which includes, but is not limited to having Porcello and Wacha turn the clock back 5+ years and having Matz reach his full potential.
The question next becomes what happens if the next pitcher goes down. Unless Corey Oswalt or Stephen Gonsalves are ready to contribute, this all could become a disaster rather quickly. The ultimate point here is the Mets chances of winning the World Series went from legitimately possible to having a real outside shot. That’s just how much losing Syndergaard hurts the team.
At least from a Mets fans perspective, this is the worst thing happening in the world right now. Of course, that really isn’t true. There are far more pressing concerns at the moment.
On that front, one of the things Mets fans were clinging onto was the prospect of the return of baseball at some point during 2020. When that happened, the Mets had that type of rotation which could have taken them their first World Series title since 1986. Now, there may not even be that to look forward to at at time when we are just sitting around waiting for things to improve.
On a day like today, when it is reported Syndergaard won’t pitch at all in 2020, it does not seem like things are going to be any better anytime soon.
Due to COVID19, the Summer Olympics in Tokyo have been postponed until 2021. The who, what, where, why, and how still need to be figured out, abut this was ultimately a decision which needed to be made for the safety of the athletes and the world population.
The postponement of these games may seem premature, but in the end, it may be necessary because no one can be quite sure who will and who will not still be affected by this disease. With that in mind, the IOC is going to take a month to review plans over the next month to reschedule these games.
When we have a quadrennial event being postponed, we really have to wonder what is next.
The sport likely most in danger is hockey. With arenas and ice rinks being closed, there is no avenue for players to get out there and skate. With the warmer weather, there really isn’t an avenue for players to create rinks in their backyards. Couple that with players not having access to gyms or other athletic training facilities, there is just no way for players to stay in hockey shape.
Remember that at this time, there is no way for the ice surfaces to be maintained because those workers are not there. Also, as astutely noted by Abbey Mastracco of nj.com, players may have an issue with playing on the ice in July. With the heat outside, it is going to be difficult to maintain those ice surfaces, and that is before you consider those surfaces have not been maintained for months.
With each passing day that players can’t work out and there is no maintenance of the ice across 31 NHL arenas, we should be slowly coming to the realization there may be no Stanley Cup awarded this season. Of course, the NHL could instead opt to postpone the season indefinitely and revisit the remainder of the season and/or the Stanley Cup playoffs after the summer.
Looking at the situation, the NHL could realize playing through July or August isn’t ideal even in the best of circumstances. Under the current circumstances, there are players who need to get into shape as arenas are getting ice surfaces into shape. Fact is, everyone is going to need time to regroup.
Ultimately, the question for the league and the players may be whether it is better to start in September and have some form of a playoff and to delay the start of the 2020-2021 season and/or truncate it, or whether it is better to just face the reality, cancel the rest of the season, and start anew in October.
This is far from an easy decision, especially when the next expansion draft is going to occur in June 2021. The NHL needs to decide free agency, service time, and qualifications for that draft. Mostly, they need to figure out a way to handle the 2019-2020 season in a manner that best protects its players and its fans. Once they do that, everything else will flow from there.
Ultimately, everyone wants to see the 2020 Stanley Cup awarded even if no one knows if it can realistically be done.
During Spring Training, there was what seemed to be a contrived race for the fifth starter spot in the rotation between Steven Matz and Michael Wacha. That was even with the case of Matz being the better of the two, and really being a better pitcher than Rick Porcello over the past few seasons.
As we were headed towards the end of Spring Training, we really had no indication of who was in the lead for the spot, and we even heard the Mets were toying with the idea of mixing and matching Matz and Wacha as the fifth starter using them based upon the match-ups.
Of course now, it is a moot point as no one quite knows when or if we are going to play baseball again. When that happens, there is going to be an abbreviated return to Spring Training before we get back to games. Typically speaking, that would be fine as players, especially pitchers, were ramping up to begin the season.
However, teams have shut down their Spring Training facilities to their players and sent them home. Players live in different areas of the country, and places where they would typically go to work out have been shut down as well to help prevent the further spread of COVID19. In the end, this means we have no idea how in shape players will be.
That’s not an issue of laziness or them not being serious about their craft. Rather, it is a practical reality based upon the reality of the situation. It is difficult to ask people to be prepared for the season when they can’t work out at a facility or work with an instructor. To a certain extent, you know they are all doing something, but it may not be sufficient.
For pitchers, that is going to be especially dangerous. As has been noted, there is a fear the ramp up, cool down, and abbreviated re-ramp up can lead to pitcher injuries. This is going to demand teams be judicious in how they use pitchers and allow them to use the earlier part of the season as an extended Spring Training.
Fortunately, the Mets are actually well-built to do that with their having six starting pitchers.
With their having six starting pitchers, they can institute a plan similar to that they implemented at times during the 2015 season. There was push-back from some of the starters, namely Matt Harvey, but ultimately using pitchers like Jon Niese in the rotation and later Logan Verrett, it did help keeps arms fresh. That was a key to the Mets winning the 2015 pennant.
That’s exactly what the Mets need to do here. They need to use a six man rotation to help keep these pitchers fresh and to help them get through the season. They can do it strategically by taking into account the off days. At times, they can mix in Robert Gsellman here and there given his presence as the long man in the bullpen, and possibly, they can use a Stephen Gonsalves or Corey Oswalt for the occasional spot start or even as an “opener” for starts made by the other pitchers in the rotation.
In the end, this is still a Mets team built on pitching, and they need to keep their pitchers fresh and healthy to succeed in 2020. That is going to require them to utilize a six man rotation at times, so in the end, it means that Porcello, Matz, and Wacha will all win a spot in the rotation.
From there, the Mets can judge based upon who is pitching best in the regular season, and they can adapt to injuries in the even they unfortunately come.
Even with the KBO playing practice games, it’s too early to know when or even if MLB is going to return in 2020. In the event baseball does return, it appears we’re going to get a limited season, and if that happens, baseball needs to make some changes.
The biggest reason for the changes is the pitching. The pitchers were ramping it up for the start of the season. Now, they’re effectively shut down and will have to ramp it back up when baseball can return. This is just asking for injuries.
After what will be an abbreviated second Spring Training, pitchers are very likely not going to be able to go full tilt to start the season. Not even the Jacob deGroms and Max Scherzers of the world. This means, MLB teams will be hitting their bullpens early and often.
Roster Expansion
Even during the best of times, teams feel like they never have enough arms in the pen. In 2020, that’ll definitely feel like the case. That goes double when you consider the new three batter minimum and the absolute cap of 13 pitchers. If you are going to keep those rules in place, and push some relievers early at the outset, you run the risk of them getting injured as well.
Honestly, baseball cannot have a situation where every team effectively becomes the Tampa Bay Rays. You can’t have 30 teams with just two starters going at least five with the rest of the team mixing and matching to figure out how to get through the other three games. It’s very likely back-end starters and relievers will not be up to the task, and that is before you consider the presence of an extra inning game which could decimate an entire bullpen.
With that in mind, at a minimum, baseball needs to immediately go to expanded rosters. Under the 2020 rules, that is only 28 players in September. If all three were pitchers, that might be enough. It might not. Perhaps to start the year, it can be bumped up to at least 30 or maybe 35 and then tier it down as the season progresses. By doing that, you are ensuring less wear and tear on arms which may lead to fewer pitcher injuries.
Taxi Squad
If baseball wants to stick with 25 or 28 man rosters, they need to find ways to make it work in light of pitcher workloads. Maybe, instead of expanding rosters, MLB could limit teams to just 25 players for one game while creating a taxi squad of three to four players who can be activated or deactivated at any time. Maybe more than that.
Again, there is going to be a strain on pitching, starters and relievers alike. The goal here is to keep pitchers healthy as baseball does not want there to be ramifications for the 2020 season spilling into 2021 and 2022. Overall, baseball wants its best players on the field.
To prevent abuses, there could be a rule where there must be five pitchers designated as starters who must always be active, and there can be provisions put in place to designate a pitcher a starter (akin to the two-way player rule). If need be, there can also be provisions on how long a reliever must be “active” once removed from the taxi squad.
The institution of a taxi squad could have an added benefit. Right now, MLB and the MLBPA are trying to figure out issues related to compensation and service time. By instituting a taxi squad, there will be an avenue to give some extra players more service time and compensation. That could go a long ways towards positively resolving those issues before baseball is ready to return.
Doubleheaders
Now, baseball has said they want to play a full 162 game slate. At some point, that may not be possible. When the red line is for when teams cannot play 162 games is up for debate, both publicly and as part of the MLB/MLBPA discussions.
In any event, it is clear baseball will want to play as many games as possible, and that may require doubleheaders to be played. There are other reasons to play doubleheaders for teams as well.
First and foremost, it may behoove teams to stay in one place for longer as airline and rail travel gets sorted out after this coronavirus outbreak. Obviously, there are going to be many logistical issues there. Perhaps by having doubleheaders, you eliminate some of those logistical issues.
The bigger point, as baseball may be concerned, is the possibility of more revenue. Doubleheaders means more commercial time. If you can do a day/night multiple admission, that means two gates. Of course, that assumes fans can go to games at all, and being honest, that may be too many people in a ballpark in one day. Still, if it’s possible, you know baseball will find that revenue stream.
Really, baseball wants to play as many games as possible, and in the end, that may just require doubleheaders. What can be done in terms of admission and the like is still up for debate. To that end, the need for doubleheaders, or even shoehorning in as many games as possible over a few calendar months, only serves to highlight the need for expanded rosters and taxi squads to help prevent pitcher injuries.
Altered Postseason Format
It is going to be difficult to justify playing games into late November or early December. That may only be possible with Northeast teams playing at neutral sites in Miami or San Diego. Assuming fans can attend games, it is going to be difficult to tell Mets fans they need to go to San Diego to watch their team try to win their first World Series since 1986.
If you’re baseball, that isn’t going to work, and they are going to need to figure something else out.
One thing they could do is a greatly expanded postseason. If anything, this could be a beta test of the new postseason format Rob Manfred wanted to try anyway. They could have fewer regular season games while selling their TV partners of a greatly expanded postseason. That could help them overcome some of the financial issues they may face.
They could also condense the postseason somehow, but honestly, no one anywhere is going to go for that.
In the end, more postseason games and fewer regular season games may be the trade-off baseball, the players, and TV partners may wind up agreeing to in an effort to generate ratings and increased revenues. We may also see some series, like the NLDS, played in one park due to travel restrictions and the like. Who knows?
Overall
The who knows part of this is the driving force. No one knows when or if games can be played. No one knows what if anything players are able to do to stay in game shape. No one knows if fans can attend games or the restrictions on travel when games can return.
The key for baseball getting through this COVID19 crisis is to be flexible and responsive to the challenges which have arisen and may still arise. Honestly, that is not something which has ever been baseball’s strength, especially not under Rob Manfred.
In the end, we can only hope games will be played and that we get to see as many games as we can as soon as they can possibly be played.
With no sports available to be broadcast, NBC Sports Washington is taking a novel approach. Instead of replaying a classic game, they’re going to play simulated games for the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards.
Monumental Sports Network and NBC Sports Washington will present one-hour video game simulations of previously scheduled @WashWizards (NBA) and @Capitals (NHL) games beginning this weekend.#ALLCAPS https://t.co/CFJuOVtUOv
— Caps Gaming (@capsgaming) March 20, 2020
These video game simulations are using EA Sports games. So, instead of seeing actual games, we’re seeing machines play games. It’s like e-Sports meets Real Steel.
It’s certainly worth trying for a sports starved country.
For Mets fans, what would be better? Watching Johan Santana‘s no-hitter for the umpteenth time, or seeing a video game simulation of Pete Alonso hitting home runs and having crazy home run celebrations?
This Pete Alonso bat flip from @MLBTheShow is a thing of beauty ?
(via @Ben_Yoel) pic.twitter.com/n5aYE1daTA
— SNY (@SNYtv) March 22, 2019
Perhaps you can find a way for MLB to work with teams and RSN’s to broadcast the games simultaneously. If they could do that, could you imagine how much fun Gary, Keith, and Ron would have broadcasting these games?
Listening to Keith’s bemusement of this while he’s sitting home on Skype (or some other device) while Hadji is running around would be reason enough to watch.
As for baseball, they could have some fun with it keeping records and standings. We can get Harold Reynolds and other MLB Network personalities trying to break it down, or simply having a breakdown about how computers have once again ruined the game.
If done well, this could be fun and give baseball fans something to watch until we get games. If done poorly, well, it’s still better than nothing.
In any event, NBC Sports Washington is taking the first crack at this. Hopefully, it is a success, and it brings us closer to having something to watch to bridge the gap.
There are several barriers to unionizing minor leauge players. First and foremost, with how little they are paid, there is really no mechanism for the union dues to set up a union infrastructure. Players are too far spread out, and there are language barriers. There is also the fear of retribution from owners. That could come in the form of release of a player or a player not getting called up in favor of a player who is not looking to set up a union.
With salary, benefits, and perks being exponentially better, minor leaguers desperately need that Major League call-up, and they can ill afford to do anything to interfere with that.
That is the case during normal times, but this is far from normal times. From a purely baseball perspective, Major League Baseball is talking about shutting down a significant number of minor league teams. That means fewer jobs for minor leaugers. That could mean baseball will miss out on the next Mike Piazza or even the next T.J. Rivera.
Even with the low wages and poor working conditions created by minor league baseball, it at least creates an opportunity for players to one day develop into Major League Baseball players. Without that opportunity, there is no chance whatsoever for these players to become Major Leaguers.
More pressing than the closure of minor leauge teams is COVID19. Due to COVID19, the baseball season is going to be delayed, and no one can be quite sure when games are going to be played. That is especially problematic for minor leaguers as no one knows when or if these players are going to be paid beyond April 8.
A league-wide initiative has been announced for Minor League players to receive compensation between now and the scheduled start of the Minor League season. @MLB will continue to work with all 30 Clubs on the development of an industry-wide plan for compensation beyond 4/8. pic.twitter.com/Ck8Lv9uuzp
— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) March 19, 2020
This is a fine gesture to start, and you can understand why baseball is taking a half-measure when we’re not quite sure when or if baseball will be played again. To a certain extent, this is kicking the rock down the road until baseball needs to act again. The problem is baseball could decide they’re not giving minor leaguers any more than the roughly $1,200 per player, and minor leaguers have no ability to bargain for more relief pay.
Keep in mind, if you were assigned to a short season affiliate, you were not going to get paid until this summer anyway. That is something which will not be lost on Major League Baseball. Not in the least. However, this time, those minor leaugers are not able to get outside jobs until the summer, and there is no Spring Training facility to stay at in the interim.
For far too long, the MLBPA, the entity who should be arguing on their behalf, has failed them as they continue to negotiate away minor league salaries and conditions for additional perks for players. To a certain extent, given the high stakes nature of CBA negotiations, you understand it. On the other hand, they’re failing people they know need help the most.
Of course, it shouldn’t come down to the MLBPA. This is where the owners or governments need to step in to ensure a living wage, but there is far too much lobbying and political donations to ever allow that to happen.
In the end, this means minor leaguers must band together somehow to unionize and get a seat at the bargaining table. They need to do this to get a living wage. They need to do this to ensure the draft is not canceled. They need to do this to ensure teams are not contracted. Mostly, they need to do this to make sure they know where their next paycheck is coming.
Unionizing was going to take extraordinary efforts even in ordinary times. At times like these, those efforts will now need to be Herculean. It may not be possible, but it is something they all have to do, and in the end, they are going to need all the help they can get. To that end, you can only hope Tony Clark either attempts to incorporate them all into the union, or some Major Leaguer steps up and says enough is enough.
Short of that, there are going to be minor leaguers with the threat of no pay past April 8, and there may be many minor leaugers out of jobs this time next year due to contraction.
As noted, we all have a full load of school work to do with out kids, and there are other activities we can do with them. With Mo Willems, we can art and creativity, and with writing a journal, we have writing and again creativity. Fortunately, there is also a STEM option available through Mystery Science.
It’s full of fun and informative videos for your children on a variety of topics, and they run from 5 – 20 minutes.
If you need to make a phone call or send an email for work, this is an educational thing you can do to keep your child preoccupied, and you can feel better than if you just put on Disney+ or something.