After another week when it seemed promising that Major League Basbeall owners and players association would finally work all their issues out, we still are not any closer to knowing if baseball will actually happens this season.
If the league were to resume somewhere around the Fourth of July, the clock is nearing midnight for baseball to get its act together. June is starting on Monday, and teams will need at least two if not three weeks of a second spring training to be ready to play again. Maybe, finally forced up against a hard deadline, they will make their decision one way or another.
States are starting to open up, and some players have started working out together at Dodger Stadium. Chris Taylor was on “Live from the Sunset Strip”, a live Instagram show with pitcher Ross Stripling, and talked about who had been taking advantage of being close to Dodger Stadium while quarantining.
“I’m good. I mean, I guess as good as I can be. We can finally get into the stadium the last couple weeks, so that’s been good. … It’s been me, Seager, Barnes, J.T., DJ (Peters), Kenley, Woody and Scotty. They basically let two to three guys come in at a time and we get like two hours.”
Enrique Hernandez, Cody Bellinger, and Julio Urías have been working out at Camelback Ranch. Urias, Alex Wood, Scott Alexander, and Kenley Jansen have all taken advantage of being able to pitch off the mound ahead of a possible start to the season.
In other news, hundreds of minor league players were released from their teams, and hundreds more will be released in the coming week. While there are always players released in this way, this is especially devastating to players who will not be able to realize their dream of playing in the big leagues. There will most likely not be any minor league games this season with the pandemic wreaking havoc on the league. Major league rosters will be expanded if there is baseball, adding to the difficulty of fielding minor league teams.
There is no word of which Dodger minor leaguers were released, if any. The Dodgers organization has pledged to continue to pay their minor leaguers through the end of June. Each will be given a weekly stipend of $400.
In an incredible act of generosity, pitcher David Price is going to donate $1000 of his own money to all players within the Dodgers farm system not currently on the 40-man roster. Reportedly, Price did not want this to be publicized, but a minor leaguer leaked it. For someone who has not pitched a meaningful game yet for his new team, it just goes to show what a class act the Dodgers acquired in the trade with the Boston Red Sox that also included Mookie Betts.
