S T. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Tampa Bay Rays ace Blake Snell showed up for work, after all.
Snell, 27, made the headlines in May when he said he opposed the idea of players taking more pay cuts to start the season during a pandemic – that it wasn’t worth the health risk. But he said Friday it wasn’t difficult to start playing again after the players’ deal with Major League Baseball included their prorated wages.
“I would say it was not difficult when it came down to what [union] agreed, “he said.” I like to continue what I say. So for that to be the case, definitely happy about it. … With all the precautions MLB takes, it makes it easy to play. Everyone here is very attentive about it, so I feel very comfortable about it. “
Snell is looking to recover after being hampered by injuries last year. The left-hander was 21-5 with an American League 1.86 ERA in 2018, winning the Cy Young Award. But he was 6-8 with a 4.29 ERA last season.
He accepted a five-year, $ 50 million contract in March 2019 that included a $ 3 million signing bonus, a $ 1 million salary last year, and a $ 7 million salary this season.
Snell said most of what he said in May was “correct.” He said that if he had to apologize for something, it would be the way he started his comments by stating that he had to get his money to play.
“The only thing I didn’t like with what I said was ‘I have to get mine.’ That was bad enough,” he said. “Everything else I said in the past was quite correct. But just as I started it, I was able to see how I could piss people off, so I would apologize for that. Everything after that was quite accurate with what we are doing right now.” . “
Tampa Bay’s training at Tropicana Field included 32 of the 37 players who were initially expected to train at the team’s regular-season home.
Manager Kevin Cash did not identify who was not there, however infielder José Martínez, pitchers Yonny Chirinos and Chaz Roe, and non-listed receivers Chris Herrmann and Kevan Smith were not among the participating player pools. .
Instead, Herrmann and Smith were at the club’s spring training facility in Port Charlotte, where the rest of the group of 60 players works. The state of Martínez, Chirinos and Roe was not clear.
“Given all the protocols, guidelines that we are trying to follow, we are not going to go into detail,” Cash said. “There were a variety of reasons why we weren’t 100% in attendance. But as for today’s training, everything went very well.”
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