The coronavirus pandemic that brought professional sports around the world and other aspects of society to a halt in March and postponed the start of the 2020 Major League Baseball season.
On Monday, Miami Marlins CEO and New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter took a big step to address the financial concerns of club employees directly affected by the situation.
Sports talk radio host Craig Mish reported that Jeter has indefinitely forgone his Marlins salary and that other team executives accepted cuts in pay.
Per sources : Miami #Marlins CEO Derek Jeter has forgone his salary indefinitely and members of the organization’s executive team have taken pay cuts. With no start/schedule for 2020 the club is still evaluating impact on the business side.
— Craig Mish (@CraigMish) April 20, 2020
Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald reported on Monday that members of the Marlins operations staff will be paid in full through the end of May, and the Marlins committed $1 million for Marlins Park employees who are out of work because of the virus outbreak.
On Friday, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic and Fox told Chris Myers he believes the plan to quarantine players in Arizona for a shortened season remains the most likely scenario for baseball to take place in 2020.
The "Arizona Plan" still appears to be the likeliest plan for baseball to return this year.@Ken_Rosenthal joins @The_ChrisMyers to discuss the latest: pic.twitter.com/UHFILBkFzZ
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) April 17, 2020
Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw told Arash Markazi of the Los Angeles Times he's not enamored with that idea:
"We all want to play baseball. I get that; I want to play baseball too," Kershaw said. "But there is something about being in the big leagues and you can't compromise that. Playing in spring training stadiums and quarantining for months without your family and certain things like that, I don't think that's doable if you're talking about doing it for four to five months."You just lose the product on the field because guys aren't in their natural element. We're all ready to take drastic measures to make this season happen, but there's also certain things that will affect the product on the field, and that's what you have to be careful about."
Los Angeles Angels slugger Mike Trout also spoke out about the so-called "Arizona plan" last week:
.@miketrout wants MLB to come back soon as possible, but brings up a number of issues that would have to be worked out logistically before baseball returns in any fashion. #LunchTalkNBCSN pic.twitter.com/TdPfIVI8Jp
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) April 15, 2020
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