Who Should Bear the Financial Brunt of the Coronavirus in Baseball?

Kevin Cash wore a mask for eight years as a major league catcher. He never needed one as a manager until this week, when his Tampa Bay Rays began voluntary workouts at Tropicana Field.

“We walk in with them on and basically leave them on,” Cash said by phone after Wednesday’s practice. “If we take it off for a second, it’s just to pull it down to catch our breath. The first day we didn’t have the air totally cranked up; today was better. It’s hot as hell down here.”

Not that Cash is complaining. He is eager for the familiar sights of a sport that has been shut down since mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic. About a dozen players, all local residents, have worked out in groups of two — playing catch, running and using weights set up on the field.

Players did not wear masks while working out, but were given temperature checks and forbidden to use the clubhouse, trainer’s room or batting cages. Even so, Cash said, it was encouraging to see tangible progress after weeks on pause.

“You get sick of phone calls and text messages; you want to see them,” Cash said. “It was awkward, though. Normally you’re giving a guy a hug or a handshake. Certainly didn’t do that. We tried to follow the protocols that we as an organization and M.L.B. have put in place.”

Major League Baseball outlined medical, testing and facility protocols in a proposal to the players’ union on May 15, calling for physical distancing in the dugouts, discouraging on-site showering and banning spitting, sunflower seeds, water coolers and other familiarities.

The league wants an 82-game regular season with teams using their home ballparks but without fans, at least initially. The loss of revenue from staging games with empty stands has set up a predictable but discouraging obstacle to returning: how to pay the players.

Team owners never formally presented their preferred plan — a 50-50 split of revenue with players — because officials knew the union would reject it. When the league finally proposed an economic plan on Monday, it hoped to invite a counterproposal. But the details so provoked the players that the union may not counter at all.

The players agreed on March 26 to prorated salaries based on games played. The sides agreed then to “discuss in good faith the economic feasibility of playing games in the absence of spectators.” To that end, baseball wants a sliding scale of salaries in which the lowest-paid players take the smallest pay cut, and the highest-paid players the largest.

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A player making the minimum salary ($563,500) would make $262,000 in an 82-game season, while a player earning $35 million would make $7.84 million. The strategy of the plan appeared to plead to the majority of the union membership. More than half of the players earn $1 million or less. But the union, whose higher-paid members bring up the average salary to about $4.4 million, is presenting a united front.

“After discussing the latest developments with the rest of the players there’s no reason to engage with MLB in any further compensation reductions,” Washington Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer said on Twitter late Wednesday. “We have previously negotiated a pay cut in the version of prorated salaries, and there’s no justification to accept a 2nd pay cut based upon the current information the union has received. I’m glad to hear other players voicing the same viewpoint and believe MLB’s economic strategy would completely change if all documentation were to become public information.”

Scherzer, who is a part of the union’s executive subcommittee, gave voice to the players’ long-held frustration that while their salaries are widely known, owners’ financial data is largely kept private. Teams do not share unexpected profits with players, but now want players to share in the burden for the absence of game-day revenue like tickets and concessions.

The players have favored a longer schedule — which, obviously, would pay them more of their prorated salaries — but teams believe that would only burden them more. Teams also fear that extending the schedule deep into November could overlap with a second wave of the coronavirus and threaten the lucrative postseason.

The Coronavirus Outbreak

Frequently Asked Questions and Advice

Updated May 28, 2020
- What’s the risk of catching coronavirus from a surface?
  
  Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus — whether it’s surface transmission or close human contact — is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks.
- What are the symptoms of coronavirus?
  
  Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.
- How can I protect myself while flying?
  
  If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. (Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)
- How many people have lost their jobs due to coronavirus in the U.S.?
  
  More than 40 million people — the equivalent of 1 in 4 U.S. workers — have filed for unemployment benefits since the pandemic took hold. One in five who were working in February reported losing a job or being furloughed in March or the beginning of April, data from a Federal Reserve survey released on May 14 showed, and that pain was highly concentrated among low earners. Fully 39 percent of former workers living in a household earning $40,000 or less lost work, compared with 13 percent in those making more than $100,000, a Fed official said.
- Is ‘Covid toe’ a symptom of the disease?
  
  There is an uptick in people reporting symptoms of chilblains, which are painful red or purple lesions that typically appear in the winter on fingers or toes. The lesions are emerging as yet another symptom of infection with the new coronavirus. Chilblains are caused by inflammation in small blood vessels in reaction to cold or damp conditions, but they are usually common in the coldest winter months. Federal health officials do not include toe lesions in the list of coronavirus symptoms, but some dermatologists are pushing for a change, saying so-called Covid toe should be sufficient grounds for testing.
- Can I go to the park?
  
  Yes, but make sure you keep six feet of distance between you and people who don’t live in your home. Even if you just hang out in a park, rather than go for a jog or a walk, getting some fresh air, and hopefully sunshine, is a good idea.
- How do I take my temperature?
  
  Taking one’s temperature to look for signs of fever is not as easy as it sounds, as “normal” temperature numbers can vary, but generally, keep an eye out for a temperature of 100.5 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. If you don’t have a thermometer (they can be pricey these days), there are other ways to figure out if you have a fever, or are at risk of Covid-19 complications.
- Should I wear a mask?
  
  The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people don’t need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks don’t replace hand washing and social distancing.
- What should I do if I feel sick?
  
  If you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.
- How do I get tested?
  
  If you’re sick and you think you’ve been exposed to the new coronavirus, the C.D.C. recommends that you call your healthcare provider and explain your symptoms and fears. They will decide if you need to be tested. Keep in mind that there’s a chance — because of a lack of testing kits or because you’re asymptomatic, for instance — you won’t be able to get tested.
- How can I help?
  
  Charity Navigator, which evaluates charities using a numbers-based system, has a running list of nonprofits working in communities affected by the outbreak. You can give blood through the American Red Cross, and World Central Kitchen has stepped in to distribute meals in major cities.

The league hopes to have a deal by Monday in order to restart spring training by June 10 or so. But that is a soft deadline, and in the meantime, the sides would seem to have far too much to lose to blow up a season over finances during a pandemic.

As for Cash, he said he just wanted to get back to lineups and pitching changes and how best to use expanded rosters. That tends to be a strength of the Rays, who won a wild card last season and thrive on a tight budget by shrewdly cultivating depth.

\"Kevin — Kevin Cash, the manager of the Rays, during a spring training game in late February.Credit...Michael Reaves/Getty Images

Cash can again see some of that team with his eyes, above a different kind of mask than the one he wore as a player. For the moment, though, he is caught in the middle, hoping that the owners and the players find a way forward.

“Being a really bad former player, I have a fairly good understanding of how these negotiations go back and forth,” Cash said. “You just hope that both sides recognize and appreciate that in some capacity, everybody’s going to have to take some type of a setback here. It would be unrealistic to think that that would not happen.”