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This was a mere formality since there won’t be any baseball for at least four weeks or so, but on Friday, Major League Baseball officially suspended all spring training camps, effective immediately.
What that means for the players, at least the ones on the 40-man roster, have the option to remain in their spring training cities, travel to their club’s home city, or simply return home. At the very least, the earliest we would have opening day is April 9, though various reports around the league suggest there won’t be baseball until May at the earliest.
For players staying near the spring training facility, there won’t be any formal workouts, but the weight room and batting cages will be open, plus the ability to rehab and consult with the medical staff, and get fed. For the Angels, it sounds like these options will be available either in Tempe, Arizona or Anaheim, California.
Eppler said Angels can provide resources (medical/training, coaching, nutrition, etc) at either of their facilities.
— Maria Torres (@maria_torres3) March 13, 2020
Minor league spring training games were supposed to start Friday, but those went away with the suspension of spring training, too.
Eppler said minor league players will have the option between the three locations as well. The MLB/MLBPA memo would have applied to only those on the 40-man roster.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) March 13, 2020
These decisions by the players are expected to be made this weekend.
Another thing to watch during baseball’s hiatus is how Shohei Ohtani continues to rehab on the mound from Tommy John surgery.
Asked about Ohtani's schedule, Eppler said: "Have to find out what Shohei wants to do first. I have a feeling I know that answer."
— Maria Torres (@maria_torres3) March 13, 2020
Shohei Ohtani will not be shut down from throwing in the interim, Billy Eppler said. Same goes for all of the Angels’ pitchers. He, just like everyone else, is still deciding where he’ll be working out.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) March 13, 2020
Angels manager Joe Maddon will either be in Tempe or Anaheim.
Links
Ohtani was expected to be ready to pitch again in the majors by mid-May, and earlier in the week, when spring training was still going on, Joe Maddon mentioned Wednesday as a possible day for Ohtani’s weekly pitching start. Per Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com:
“That’s a nice day,” Maddon said with a smile when asked about Wednesday starts. “I think if you look at it, there’s a lot of common sense.”
Anthony Rendon ranked fourth in a remarkably deep third base pool, from a fantasy standpoint, per Paul Sporer at FanGraphs.
Mike Trout’s top 10 home runs in the Statcast era, per Brent Maguire at Crashing the Pearly Gates.
MLB needs to step up for minor leaguers during baseball’s postponement, per Marc Normandin at Baseball Prospectus.