Bleeding Yankee Blue: YANKEE PLAYERS AT SPRING TRAINING TALK ABOUT "PLAN-B"

Monday, March 23, 2020

YANKEE PLAYERS AT SPRING TRAINING TALK ABOUT "PLAN-B"

We all want our baseball back. The players just want to get out there and play. In the meantime, some of our guys are still in Florida at George M. Steinbrenner Field working out and waiting for the Coronavirus pandemic to slow down. But it sounds like the Yankees may need a backup plan.

It's getting bad everywhere. New York is bad, California is bad and Washington is STILL bad. Now Florida is considering taking further actions which would greatly affect the Yankees who have chosen to stay in Florida, read more from the New York Post HERE.

A lot of us have already had to adjust our everyday lives thanks to the Coronavirus. Now Florida officials are reportedly considering a stay-at-home policy which would make the field off limits to the players who have chosen to stay. That also means that Aaron Judge's regular routine and treatment for his stress fracture on his rib and collapsed lung(!) would stop.

It also means that the great weather that DJ LeMahieu has been enjoying in Florida may mean more consideration to a ticket home to Michigan with it's cold temperatures. LeMahieu said he thought it was "the best place to be right now" and "all the gyms in Michigan are closed" but realistically, that is going to be the same case in Florida and every other state right now.

Even Tyler Wade sounds like he is considering other alternatives if he can't stay in Florida. It sounds like the Yankees are is doing everything they can to maintain a sanitized facility but if he can't stay in Florida his next consideration is "Maybe Arizona, there are a lot of guys out there" but that is likely a short term solution.

Take it from this New York transplant now living in Arizona, things are not greener here. Picking up and leaving for Arizona is not going to give any long term resources he may be looking for. Although our governor has not yet said he was looking to shut us down or use the words "stay-at-home" we are a little behind the eight ball here.

As of the time of this post, Arizona has taken some steps like many other states to slow the spread of the virus. We've all heard about "social distancing" and the governor has closed all bars, clubs and gyms here. ALL public schools and universities are closed. Arizona State University and University of Arizona have asked all college students to move out of campus housing and move back home or other make other living arrangements with less people. Some school districts are supposed to start "E-learning" today. Grocery stores have greatly reduced hours as they try to restock the empty shelves and the National Guard was just activated to help grocery stores restock shelves which will HOPEFULLY start happening by midweek. But this is all in response to challenges within our state that have very little DATA yet.

As of Sunday afternoon, Arizona had two deaths with 152 confirmed cases and 87 tests still pending. Numbers sound low, right? That's due to very little testing. Multiple AZ stations report that the state has the resources and the capacity to complete 450 tests per day but so far the testing really hasn't been happening. The numbers are greatly under estimated. So once we get real data, Arizona's response will likely be like Florida's and many other states.

I wish Wade and the rest of the Yankees could run and hide here, but it just isn't realistic at this point. So is there really a Plan B? If there is I am all ears....we all want the good news right now.