Angels links: Empty stadiums, Griffin Canning, and the all-time first baseman

We don’t yet know when Major League Baseball will return, but we do know the owners and players are willing to consider just about anything that will get the games going again.

That includes the possibility, or likelihood, of at least initially having games played in front of no fans. Andrew Heaney, the Angels’ union representative, said on a conference call this week that playing in front of no fans is on the table.

From Jeff Fletcher at the Orange County Register:

While Heaney said that “no player wants to play in an empty stadium,” he conceded it could be a good way to get baseball back sooner.

“Baseball shows why it’s the national pastime in situations like this, difficult times for our country,” Heaney said via conference call Tuesday. “It seems to me that’s when the sport flexes its muscles. As players, we understand that too. Maybe (the word) therapeutic is overboard, but it can be helpful for people in tough times, tough situations, to flip on a game and see their team play.”

Links

An update on Griffin Canning, who had a PRP injection in his elbow in early March:

The $1 million per team pledge to help stadium workers was announced by MLB last week. But how the Angels plan to distribute that money has yet to be revealed, leaving many third-party concession workers concerned, per Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times.

Mike Trout is among the all-time greats considered by Bradford Doolittle at ESPN, wondering how this downtime will affect their legacies.

Fabian Ardaya at The Athletic wrote what he thought might have happened, including the Angels opening day roster, had the baseball season continued uninterrupted.

MLB.com is picking the best players at each position for every franchise’s history. Up now is first base, with the Angels’ choice coming from a selection of Rod Carew, Wally Joyner, Darin Erstad, and Albert Pujols.

It turns out there was one good April Fools joke on Wednesday: