Just one week after reopening bars and restaurants, the state of Florida is shutting back down having hit a record number of new coronavirus cases. The 3,207 additional infections on Thursday marked the biggest single-day count for the entire pandemic, and a Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistant coach may account for one of them. “One Buccaneers’…
Bucs’ Assistant Coach Reportedly Tests Positive For COVID-19, Two More Quarantined — NESN.com
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Mitch Marner hopes NHL playoffs won’t be derailed — Toronto Sun
Mitch Marner has one eye on July 10, the scheduled opening of training camps for 24 NHL playoff teams, and the other on a worsening COVID-19 situation in the United States.
Three months after the league shut down, could it be the dreaded second wave of the disease derails the methodical plan to finish the 2019-20 season? Marner, the creative winger on the Maple Leafs, has faith the league will take every precaution as it nears a decision on the two hub cities who will host the tournament, at least one of them expected to be south of the border.
“I think they’re going to do what’s best for their athletes and make sure that they’re willing to look after us and take care of us,” Marner said Thursday on a conference call with Toronto reporters.
As he spoke, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey reversed a previous decision and authorized local governments to require face coverings in public as his state was flagged as one of the current COVID-19 hot
Marner was asked about two key Leafs who are there in Scottsdale who’ve yet to come back for the workouts at Ford Performance Centre. Leading scorer Auston Matthews and house guest/goalie Frederik Andersen have been in Arizona almost since the start of the lockdown.
The duo’s reasoning is they’d rather stay in their regimen of daily workouts than come home and be unable to leave their residence for a full 14 days under the Canadian quarantine. As July 10 nears, they and others hope the Canadian NHL cities get a bit of a break from the government and that practice facilities would be designated as part of the players’ restricted zone for the 14 days.
“All that stuff’s voluntary,” Marner said of his friends preference to wait it out.
Toronto has been in and out of the running among 10 NHL cities initially identified by commissioner Gary Bettman as potential hubs. Together with Vancouver and Edmonton, there is a push to have the Canadian government alter the two-week quarantine rule so at least one of the cities can reap some economic benefits from empty hotels being occupied by up to 50 players and staff of the 12 teams. Las Vegas is believed to be a favoured American
Marner and five to six Leafs at a time continue to work out in preparation for the best of five opening round series against the Columbus Blue Jackets, like the others, tentatively scheduled for sometime in August.
As expected, the Jackets announced Thursday that star defenceman Seth Jones will be ready for the series, activated off injured reserve with fellow blueliner Dean Kukan.`
From hard-line owners to hard-done by players to frustrated fans, we’re long past the point of having a Major League Baseball season that would satisfy all of the senses. Read More
Could unique circumstances of a shortened season break the Blue Jays way? — Toronto Sun
From hard-line owners to hard-done by players to frustrated fans, we’re long past the point of having a Major League Baseball season that would satisfy all of the senses.
But with news on Wednesday that MLB and its players association are finally negotiating face-to-face and in good faith, we can for the first time start imagining what such a season would look like and the potential implications for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Whether 60 games or 70 (and most likely closer to the latter given the indication from sources on Wednesday) the Jays will certainly be one of the most intriguing organizations to watch in whatever form 2020 takes.
Seen by many around baseball as a rapidly moving towards contention club, it is conceivable that the Jays could be a surprise factor given the reduced sample size whatever form of a protracted schedule may bring and the expanded playoff format that has already successfully been negotiated.
As is the case with all 30 MLB teams, an abridged season comes at a potential cost for Jays management, which for the most part feels it was on the right track before the COVID-19 pandemic intervened. But it also creates a unique set of circumstances that could benefit the Jays as much or more than many of its rivals.
Here’s a look at some of the concerns no doubt filtering through the minds of team president Mark Shapiro, general manager Ross Atkins and the rest of the baseball operations department as a season moves closer to reality.
PROSPECT PROSPECTUS
Firmly entrenched in the draft and development playbook, the Jays certainly have reason to be optimistic with some of the groundwork already in place.
But how will a 65-70 game season affect those on the accelerated path to becoming potential MLB stars?
It was difficult not to be captivated by the 2019 emergence of players such as Bo Bichette, Vlad Guerrero Jr., Cavan Biggio and Lourdes Gurriel Jr.. And part of the excitement of 2020 was to track the continued growth of that group and others. Will that progress get stunted because of a shortened season and the reduction in at-bats and playing opportunities defensively? We shall see.
One of the great unknowns of 2020 — regardless of the big league season — is what will happen to the minor leagues. The consensus seems to be that there won’t be any farm team action, which could be devastating to a group loaded with prospects.
To their credit, the Jays by all accounts are among the more progressive organizations in terms of player development but it will take all that creativity and more to come up with ways to continue the progress shown by a group of players such as infielder Jordan Groshans, this year’s first-round pick Austin Martin, plus would-be stud pitchers such as Nate Pearson and Alek Manoah.
RYU THE DAY
When the Blue Jays braintrust was given clearance to break open the Rogers Communications bank on a four-year, $80-million deal for ace left-handed starter Hyun-Jin Ryu it was heralded as a signal that this management group was serious about winning now. Or very soon, at least.
Given that Ryu turned 33 two weeks after baseball (and the rest of the world) was halted, it’s not a stretch to suggest that the Jays anticipated the best performance years to be at the front end of that deal. A shortened season certainly has the impact to diminish the impact of the signing.
Having to pay Ryu a maximum of 40% of that first $20-million might assuage the Rogers beancounters, but they pursued Ryu in part to help accelerate the young core’s move towards contention.
As for the dreamy side of the Ryu influence, should the South Korean southpaw emerge as a true ace, his value in a shortened season may actually increase. Sure, he might top out at 15 starts, but if those turns in the rotation turn out to be virtual guaranteed win nights, the chance of the Jays being a surprise factor increases.
WHAT ABOUT NATE?
Other than tracking the development of Ryu and his young position player teammates, one of the highlights of the month in Dunedin (way, way, way back in February and early March) was seeing flame-throwing right hander Nate Pearson in action.
The first-round pick regularly hit triple digits with his fastball and showed every sign of being the Jays No. 2 starter in Grapefruit League play. The plan was always for Pearson to start 2020 in Buffalo, but with no triple-A season and an arm in need of innings, few would be surprised if Pearson was in that rotation at some point early on in the 2020 season 2.0.
The management and fan perspective would differ on Pearson’s season, but may have the same end game. The kid needs meaningful innings and the big leagues seem far and away the most viable option. And for the fans, having Pearson in the lineup is not only incredibly exciting, but significantly increases the team’s chances of being in contention.
Back to the Jays fans dream sequence: A Ryu-Pearson one-two punch in the rotation could be both fascinating and formidable stuff.
ROGERS THAT
Given the corporate structure of Jays ownership, we’re guessing it is a safe bet that Rogers Communications was not part of a minority group who favoured scrapping the season altogether.
Consider that it’s all one happy family — a baseball team, a TV network and a radio network — that thrives on the synergies and a reduced schedule is already exacting a price.
Television ratings were surprisingly strong the past two seasons, fuelled in part by the young guns and the nature of being ideal summer-time programming. It can be argued that few (if any) teams in baseball benefit more from its TV deal than the Jays given the inherent boon of 162 games of in-house programming with good numbers.
Lopping 100 or so off of that is no doubt a hit to Rogers Communications, so just like the players, the more games MLB is able to cram into the limited window, the better.
PLAYOFF CONTENDERS?
Shapiro and Atkins won’t publicly venture down this road, but fans sure will. So the question is a valid one: Are the above factors trumped by the fact that the Jays may actually be sitting on a superfecta of factors that make them one of the most intriguing contenders in MLB?
Online bookmaker sportsinteraction.com was among the quickest out with odds on the proposed MLB season. With a caveat of a minimum 60 games being played, the over/under on the Jays win percentage was set at 46.5%.
A shortened-season, expanded playoffs, Ryu and Pearson plus all the young guns certainly sounds like fun, doesn’t it?
The league’s plan also spells out how training rooms and meeting rooms will be utilized, the procedures for practice-court usage – three-hour blocks per team, all scheduled, with one open hour in between sessions for cleaning and sanitizing – and even how team and player laundry will be handled.
NBA lays out its vision for Disney restart to teams, players — WFLA
y: The Associated PressPosted: Jun 16, 2020 / 10:19 PM EDT / Updated: Jun 16, 2020 / 10:19 PM EDT
Here’s some of what awaits NBA players going to Disney next month: game rooms, golf course access, cabanas with misters to combat the heat, fishing areas, bowling, backstage tours and salon services.
It only sounds like vacation.
The NBA described very specific plans to players and teams for the restart on Tuesday, doing so in a memo and handbook both obtained by The Associated Press. With safety being of the foremost importance during the coronavirus pandemic, players were told they will be tested regularly – but not with the deep nasal swabs – and must adhere to strict physical distancing and mask-wearing policies.
The league and the National Basketball Players Association have been working on the terms of how the restart will work for weeks, all while constantly seeking advice from medical experts including Dr. Anthony Fauci, perhaps the best-known physician in the country when it comes to the battle against COVID-19.
“My confidence, it didn’t exist at the beginning of this virus because I was so frightened by it,” union executive director Michele Roberts told AP. “Now having lived, and breathed, and suffered through the hours and hours of understanding the virus, and listening to our experts, and comparing different alternative protocols, I can’t even think of anything else we could do short of hermetically seal the players that would keep them safe.”
Players must tell their teams by June 24 if they intend to play or not, according to a memo sent to NBPA members. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has said that if a player does not feel comfortable playing at Disney – whether for health reasons or because of social causes facing the country right now – then he does not have to report with his team and will not be disciplined, other than losing salary for games missed.
Most teams will arrive in Florida on July 7, 8 or 9. A person with knowledge of the situation said the reigning champion Toronto Raptors, the lone NBA team based outside of the U.S., will be permitted to gather for some pre-camp workouts – under strict guidelines that other teams will follow in their own cities – before that arrival date. The Raptors are likely to train somewhere in Florida, said the person who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity because no deal with a training site has yet been signed.
For the Raptors, it’s been an area of concern largely because of current Canadian government regulations that call for a 14-day quarantine for people returning to Canada. Some Raptors players are in Toronto right now; some are in the U.S.
Nobody on the NBA’s Disney campus, which has been loosely described as a bubble, will be allowed in anyone else’s sleeping room. The NBA also told players and teams that it will work with one or more outside health care companies to provide a medical clinic with X-ray and MRI capability on the campus – critical, since in theory the league would not want players and team staff leaving and potentially facing coronavirus exposure by going outside of the Disney property for such exams.
The league’s plan also spells out how training rooms and meeting rooms will be utilized, the procedures for practice-court usage – three-hour blocks per team, all scheduled, with one open hour in between sessions for cleaning and sanitizing – and even how team and player laundry will be handled.
It also addresses the polarizing issue of how the league and its players will be able to address social injustice and racial inequality — two issues of constant importance, particularly now across the country.
The NBA said it would be “a central goal of our season restart” to bring attention and what it called “sustained action to issues of social injustice, including combating systemic racism, expanding educational and economic opportunities across the Black community, enacting meaningful police and criminal justice reform and promoting greater civic engagement.”
The league said it remains in talks with the NBPA how best to make that happen. Some NBA players, such as NBPA executive board member Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard, have suggested that playing could take away from the movement to spur immediate and dramatic change on racial issues in the country.
Roberts lauded Silver’s willingness to work with players who may be uncomfortable restarting the season.
“The very fact that our players have the option of not playing, I think says a lot about the commissioner’s ability to appreciate how big an issue this is, not just for African-American players but for all of our members,” Roberts said. “There’s not been one ounce of skepticism about the sincerity of the players’ feelings about this.”
The NBA is planning on games in three arenas during the seeding-game portion of the restart, the ones where each of the 22 teams going to the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex will play eight games before the playoffs begin. Teams will be housed in three hotels, with between six and eight teams in each.
Other plans the NBA has for the restart include mental health professionals being available for players and coaches; pregame chapel services, done virtually; yoga and meditation; three meals a day and four meals on game days; and restaurant availability.
Teams can bring up to 35 people as part of the basketball operations group, which includes players, a senior executive, an athletic trainer, a strength and conditioning coach, an equipment manager and security.
A small group of NBA players are expressing concerns over the league’s return-to-play plan, and it seems at least one member of the Boston Celtics is among them. Jayson Tatum reportedly is one of the players reluctant to resume play at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla. in July, according to The New…
NBA Rumors: Celtics’ Jayson Tatum Among Players Reluctant To Resume Play — NESN.com
Major League Baseball and the Players Association have been at odds over a plan to play an abbreviated 2020 season for weeks. And while they still disagree about plenty of things, both sides agree they’d like to play baseball into the fall. A late-October or November completion date doesn’t appear to be out of the…
Dr. Anthony Fauci Urges MLB To Avoid Playing In October, If Possible — NESN.com
Major League Baseball and the Players Association have been at odds over a plan to play an abbreviated 2020 season for weeks. And while they still disagree about plenty of things, both sides agree they’d like to play baseball into the fall. A late-October or November completion date doesn’t appear to be out of the question just yet, though negotiations are at a standstill.
Should they come to some sort of agreement, however, Dr. Anthony Fauci thinks the season should go no longer than September. “If the question is time, I would try to keep it in the core summer months and end it not with the way we play the World Series, until the end of October when it’s cold,” the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said in a telephone interview with The Los Angeles Times on Tuesday. “I would avoid that.”
Several MLB players and coaches reportedly have tested positive for the coronavirus of late, leading the league to wonder if it’s even safe to begin a season at this time. And with cases expected to spike in September, Fauci believes it’s probably a good idea not to let the season go much further than that. (Underscore the “probably” part, he says.) “This virus is one that keeps fooling us. Under most circumstances — but we don’t’ know for sure here — viruses do better when the weather starts to get colder and people start spending more time inside, as opposed to outside,” Fauci said. “The community has a greater chance of getting infected. “The likelihood is that, if you stick to the core summer months, you are better off, even though there is no guarantee. … If you look at the kinds of things that could happen, there’s no guarantee of anything. You would want to do it at a time when there isn’t the overlap between influenza and the possibility of a fall second wave.” The clock is ticking, and MLB is running out of time, and fast.
Read more at: https://nesn.com/2020/06/dr-anthony-fauci-urges-mlb-to-avoid-playing-in-october-if-possible/
The NBA’s full-steam return from its hiatus next month has lost some momentum as players have begun expressing dissent in the last week over the plan to return to play in Orlando. And reports indicate that differences of opinion could divide the Lakers locker room as the team considers chasing its 17th championship. An ESPN…
Report: Lakers’ Avery Bradley among player coalition skeptical of NBA’s plan to return — Daily News
Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliot reportedly was one of a several professional football players from the state of Texas to test positive for COVID-19 on Monday. Both the Cowboys and Houston Texans had players test positive for the coronavirus, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. Well, Elliot clearly isn’t happy that his name was the…
Ezekiel Elliot Angry His Name Was Included After Positive COVID-19 Test — NESN.com
June 14, 2020 | 8:10pm If LeBron James wants the NBA to return, then that’s what will happen. That’s Patrick Beverley’s prediction, no matter what Kyrie Irving, Dwight Howard or anyone else says. The Clippers’ pesky defensive-minded guard went on Twitter to make that clear, writing Sunday that “Hoopers say what y’all want. If @King…
LeBron James will win NBA restart battle: Patrick Beverley —
The NBA is putting a return-to-play plan in place, and one of the United States’ top doctors is “very pleased” with what he’s seen. Dr. Anthony Fauci on Saturday told Stadium he’s impressed with the plan the league has put together ahead of resuming its 2019-20 season. The league will bring 22 teams down to…
Dr. Anthony Fauci ‘Very Pleased’ With NBA’s Proposed Return-To-Play Plan — NESN.com
NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball appears headed to its shortest season since the 1870s. Continuing a contentious back-and-forth in a bitter dispute over pay, baseball players told the commissioner’s office on Saturday night that additional talks to start the season during the coronavirus pandemic are pointless and said owners should order a return […]
Baseball players say talks futile, tell MLB to order return — PCPatriot
Kyrie Irving apparently isn’t on board with the idea of restarting the NBA season, believing it will divert attention from the protests against police brutality and racial inequality dominating the national conversation. But a few players disagree. LeBron James reportedly thinks he can play basketball again while simultaneously inspiring societal change, and Houston Rockets guard…
Rockets’ Austin Rivers Counters Kyrie Irving’s Argument Against Restarting NBA — NESN.com
Kyrie Irving apparently isn’t on board with the idea of restarting the NBA season, believing it will divert attention from the protests against police brutality and racial inequality dominating the national conversation. But a few players disagree. LeBron James reportedly thinks he can play basketball again while simultaneously inspiring societal change, and Houston Rockets guard Austin Rivers also had a counterargument against Irving. Rivers made the point that the NBA coming back puts money in players’ pockets, which they could then turn around and donate to the Black Lives Matter movement. Not to mention, Rivers brought up that, “99 percent of the NBA hasn’t made the money a guy like Kyrie has,” and those players need that money. “NBA basketball is predominately African American … and a lot of our audience is too,” Rivers’ said Saturday on Instagram, via ESPN. “Us providing entertainment and hope for kids is important. Also keeping SOME kids indoors and watching basketball games on TV instead of maybe going out and getting into trouble, (due to the unfair and unequal environments a lot of African American kids are placed in) is important too. “NOT saying basketball is a cure for that but basketball can maybe provide a distraction.” Austin Rivers responds to Kyrie Irving being opposed to resuming the NBA season in Orlando. pic.twitter.com/D7A7jbpUE2 — ESPN (@espn) June 13, 2020 Rivers also made note of the ramifications of not playing this year and how it will impact the CBA, money from television networks and a number of other economical factors. “I love Kyrie’s passion towards helping this movement,” Rivers said. “It’s admirable and inspiring. I’m with it … but in the right way and not at the cost of the whole NBA and players careers. We can do it both. We can play and we can help change the way black lives are lived.”
Read more at: https://nesn.com/2020/06/rockets-austin-rivers-counters-kyrie-irvings-argument-against-restarting-nba/
The view from left field 