KNBR
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — For so many years it’s been that as Buster Posey goes, so go the Giants.
What if Buster Posey doesn’t know where to go, though?
That is the uncertain present and more uncertain future that the Giants are stepping into after MLB ordered group workouts to be banned and Monday pushed back the re-start of baseball for at least eight weeks.
At a newly scrubbed Scottsdale Stadium, the spring home of the Giants until it closed last week for a deep cleaning amid the growing coronavirus spread and panic, players were packing up their things and hauling it to their cars. Over the weekend, the Giants pledged to stay together. As quickly as the pandemic spreads, though, plans change.
“Everything’s changing all the time. I don’t have anything concrete,” Posey said leaving the Giants complex Monday, though he was a rare player who wasn’t emptying his locker into his car. “… Like everybody else, gathering information and making decisions based off that.”
The Giants are, in some part, disbanding, socially distancing themselves and huddling with loved ones in the face of a global scare that is turning sports off like never before. Doors were held for players who entered and left the facilities, and most players were rubbing in hand sanitizer upon exiting. Just like the message is being sent throughout the country, it’s been delivered to the Giants.
Their coaches, too. Some of the staff, Ron Wotus included, picked up their stuff at the building and headed home, unsure when they would see the rest of the team again. Baseball announced it would follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisories to postpone “events of more than 50 people for the next eight weeks.” That means no baseball until mid-May at the earliest, and even then a second spring training likely will be needed.
In the meantime, players on the 40-man roster should be able to stick around Scottsdale and work out by themselves and get treatment from trainers, though MLB is encouraging players to go home. Coaches will not be around and neither will non-essential employees, like cooks. So many weren’t sure what they would do — Logan Webb didn’t know his next move, Trevor Gott said he’s “still in limbo” — as the world is changing fast. San Francisco reportedly was set to announce a “shelter in place” order for all residents Monday.
The Giants minor leaguers have been sent home (at least those who could safely return home). Players not on the 40-man roster are in a trickier area, and the Giants have plenty.
“I’m fortunate that the guys I worked out with this offseason, they’ve all been sent back by their respective organizations. They’re back home in Nashville and we’ll be able to pick up where we left off this offseason in offseason 2.0,” pitcher Andrew Triggs said as he packed his car to head home.
“It’s very odd.”
He will have a place to work out, even if so many gyms have shuttered or will close in the coming days. Jerry Blevins, another pitching flier, will not be allowed at team facilities because he is a non-roster invitee. He found a house nearby in Arizona where he and his family will be staying.
“Guys are just assessing what they need to do with their families first and foremost, trying to keep safe,” Blevins said. “Everyone’s trying to stay in shape and be ready to go when we get a timeline. But for the most part, everyone’s just trying to figure out where best to — for lack of a better phrase — weather the storm.”