Agent Scott Boras, whose clients include Mets outfielder Michael Conforto and Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, spoke at length Wednesday afternoon with Chuck Todd and Katy Tur on MSNBC Live about the intricacies and sensitivities surrounding potentially starting the 2020 MLB season amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Noting that the players could be the best model to use, Boras suggested it could be time to "start returning employees to work and creating a functional environment. And give America its pastime back."
By "employees," Boras meant the players, of which many are his clients.
Boras said he has spoken with epidemiologists and virologists regarding the situation and was not worried about players potentially viewing themselves as "guinea pigs."
"I think baseball players are very compassionate. They have great empathy for what's going on in our country," Boras explained."... Our medical data is now advanced in the last -- daily if not the last six weeks -- the therapeutics, the potential now for a vaccine. We have got a number of dynamics to talk about (including) this age group.
"I think players understand that isolation is still a requirement, and what we do is have a functional isolation. That is we return players initially in small groups, they're tested before they come, they're testing when they arrive. They are going to work at the ballpark, they're going to isolate at a hotel. They're even willing to be separated from their families for 30 days to implement this and do it safely and responsibly."
While there are currently many scenarios being discussed regarding the potential start of the season -- with a decision perhaps coming before the end of May -- Boras was talking mainly about soon starting a second spring training of sorts and what that could lead to.
"Certainly with my clientele, the players I've talked to, not one of them was not for the idea to return to play and get ready," Boras said. "All of us are trying to put schedules together and determine what's best. The medical information is evolving daily, and so our hope is that we get the players ready and then we make a decision of when they go out and play."
Asked about players who were skeptical and maybe unwilling to sign on to plans that could require isolation away from their families (such as Mike Trout), Boras said those players could've been balking at what they thought would be an entire season of isolation.
"I think the thought was maybe with those players (that it would be) the entire year," Boras said. "This (training idea) is basically a 30-day evaluation period to phase in players, to get them ready to play. It's not actually playing in the league. It's getting them ready to play and demonstrating that we have a healthy and effective model that now can be transformed into league play. It's really about training that I'm advocating, doing that now. Get the groups together, create the control... and then I think governors and mayors and scientists can look at this, and we can say 'this control operated in an effective way.'
"This is the new normal in the sport. But I think the way to do it is before we begin play, we set up an early training attitude and function to allow the players to initiate at least with their teams, and then we'll talk about what we do with the league later."
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