When Major League Baseball completed its 113-page protocol document to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 during the 2020 season, it was intentionally left lazy.
In the absence of his many restrictions and preparations there were any threshold of cases to close a team or pause the season. The goal of those omissions was flexibility, and after the Marlins revealed 18 positive tests, including 16 players, a week in action, it’s fair to say that the decision was quite prophetic. His season is on hiatus, but baseball continues.
But changes are coming. And some are already here.
In Jeff Passan’s latest on ESPN, he dives into the outbreak in Miami, explaining the order of infection and the gaps in protocol the league must address. For those reasons alone, it’s worth his attention (he was certainly curious to see what exactly happened in Miami).
But in addition to that half of the story, Passan reports that following MLB’s investigation into the outbreak, some material changes to the protocols were made and described in a memorandum already distributed to teams on Tuesday. Among them:
• Discourage players not to leave the hotel in highway cities (or even meet in common areas)
• Require the use of surgical masks, rather than cloth masks, during the trip.
• Create the compliance officer position
It is this last point, I suspect, that will cause the most friction. The new compliance officer role (also known as the least desirable job in MLB) will be granted Tier 1 credential status, generally reserved for players, managers, coaches, and training personnel (in other words, full access). He / she will also be responsible for creating seating charts on buses, specifically for “separate groups of friends most likely to conflict with the 6-foot rule,” according to Passan, monitoring hotels and submitting compliance reports to the league.
That’s indeed a hall monitor and for a group of 20-year-old ball players, in other words … it’s going to suck. It simply is. Probably necessary given the conflicting motives, beliefs, and concerns of … people. But it sucks nonetheless. Yes, baseball is a game, but it is also a job. And to be able to relax, let off steam and have fun Off the field is an important part of keeping these players happy and productive. For the Cubs, I hope that the Mental Skills Coordinator, John Baker, has some ideas to keep everyone sane.
In any case, the MLB investigation is ongoing and more rules and restrictions may emerge in the coming weeks. Given how tenuous this season has been, I have felt that it is unfortunate, but necessary. Let’s hope MLB only adds smart / truly effective rules and that players and team staff strictly follow them.
Surgical masks instead of cloth masks. Do not leave the hotel on the road. A mandatory compliance officer (i.e. coronavirus room monitor).
In the wake of the Miami outbreak, MLB is changing its protocol. Details and much more about the latest game news: https://t.co/sPpniBeAks
– Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 30, 2020
