Mariners close Arizona complex amid coronavirus concerns, instruct players to go home
The Peoria Sports Complex will be the latest MLB spring training facility to shut its doors.
Seattle Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto said during a conference call Thursday, the club has decided to shut down its operations in Arizona, and has instructed its players to return home amid growing concerns about the coronavirus outbreak.
“We decided (Wednesday) afternoon to just close the completely,” Dipoto said. “Now we are down to a very skeleton staff of clubhouse personnel trying to get everything locked up, and we will see how this thing plays out.
“But, for the foreseeable future, we’re not planning on any activity here in Arizona, and the players have effectively been asked to head home and be safe.”
When MLB announced it would suspend spring training camps and organized on-field workouts six days ago, but would permit players in big league camp to continue to use their facilities and work out individually or in small groups, most of Seattle’s qualifying players and staff members opted to stay.
Dipoto said that number dwindled from 39 players on the 40-man roster deciding to stay as of Friday, to just 28 by Monday morning.
This week, the remaining players broke into small groups of about 10 apiece and had workout sessions of about 90 minutes that were staggered to avoid overlap. Only a few staff members would work with each group. Of those groups of 10, Dipoto said only about half were showing up.
“As we got to the point yesterday where we pulled the plug, there were about 10 or 12 guys that were actually coming in and taking advantage of the workout time,” he said.
The Mariners had also grown more concerned about the idea of group gatherings of any sort, Dipoto said, following Wednesday’s news that a Reds staff member based in nearby Goodyear had tested positive for COVID-19. The Yankees, who conduct their spring workouts in Florida, have had two minor league players test positive for the virus.
Though no Mariners have been tested or shown symptoms — Dipoto said the teams medical personnel check in with players daily — the club still decided shutting down until further directives are given from the league was the appropriate choice.
Many players have returned to their offseason residences, and the Mariners’ facility in the Dominican Republic has also closed. Dipoto said the club’s six Venezuelan players who are unable to return home will remain in Arizona and will have locally based Mariners employees check in with them regularly.
Once the Peoria complex is shuttered in the next two days, Dipoto plans to drive back to Seattle, and like many others, work from home until there is resolution.
“We’ve urged the guys is to go where they feel safest, and that is from a health standpoint,” Dipoto said. “There have been a lot of guys who have now made their way back to their natural homes or somewhere that they feel good going, and we told them to view this as — where do you feel comfortable for the next two months? And then we will reassess.
“We don’t know where this will go. ... Right now our only true concern here is health and well being throughout. It’s a strange time in the world for everybody, and for baseball players too. We’re just trying to make the right decisions to keep everybody in a safe place.”
MLB has already delayed Opening Day until at least mid-May, and without a definitive timeline or the ability to work out together, Dipoto has urged Mariners players to “go into offseason mode” psychologically and emotionally, and understand when baseball does resume, there will likely be some period of time to ramp back up.
With so many public and private gyms around the nation closed, Dipoto said the Mariners staff has developed a strength program and a moderate throwing program for players during this hiatus to remain in shape and help avoid injury.
There has been no direction from the league yet in terms of how much time teams will have to ramp up their players’ — particularly their pitchers — workloads when there is a firm return date, so Dipoto is preparing for several scenarios.
“We will monitor internally and we’ll make whatever adjustments we have to,” he said. “We don’t even know what that looks like right now outside of discussion — it could be anything from three inning starts to 10-man rotation, just to make sure we are properly taking care of the future health of the pitchers.”
There is currently no league freeze on roster moves, meaning the Mariners could still option or reassign players to start situating their rosters for when the season does start, but Dipoto said he doesn’t anticipate making any in the immediate future.
“Our primary concern isn’t really preparing for a baseball season, it’s making sure that we stay as healthy as we can,” Dipoto said. “Again, we are doing our part, in a public health crisis, to not spread this thing any further than it ultimately has or will.”
This story was originally published March 19, 2020 at 10:41 AM.
