:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66500312/1204799762.jpg.0.jpg)
On Friday, a day after announcing a delay to the start of the regular season, the MLB announced that all Spring Training operations will be suspended.
Confirming our reporting on the options for players. ... #sfgiants pic.twitter.com/n8zjzH7DhB
— Henry Schulman (@hankschulman) March 13, 2020
The statement reads as follows:
After an in-person meeting with MLBPA officials in Arizona, Major League Baseball announced today that Spring Training camps will be suspended, effective immediately. Major League players can elect to return hom, remain in their Spring Training cities, or return to their Club’s home city. This step is in the best interests of players, employees and the communities who host Spring Training.
MLB will continue to monitor ongoing events and undertake the precautions and best practices recommended by public health experts. We send our best wishes to all the individuals and communities who have been impacted by coronavirus.
That leaves San Francisco Giants players with three options amid this pandemic: They can stay in Scottsdale, Arizona, head to San Francisco, or return to wherever their offseason home is.
The team’s Spring Training facility is currently undergoing a deep cleaning, and players wishing to stick around can’t return there until Monday.
Giants have closed Scottsdale Stadium for the weekend to do deep cleaning. It will open to players and staff Monday. No word yet on how many will stick around.
— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) March 13, 2020
Once the facility is open again, we can expect that a decent number of players will stick around to prepare for the upcoming season — whenever it may be — while others will head elsewhere.
After texting with a sampling of Giants players, some are for sure staying in Arizona to work out at Scottsdale Stadium (which will reopen Monday after a deep cleaning) and others aren’t sure. They are all meeting as a group soon to talk about it together and support one another.
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) March 13, 2020
This is certainly an unprecedented situation, and there’s no one right way for players or teams to handle it, as long as health and safety is the first priority.