South Jersey native, baseball superstar and Philadelphia Eagles fan Mike Trout expressed his desire for the Eagles to add a wide receiver in an interview with NBC Sports Philadelphia's John Clark yesterday. That was not the only media appearance that Trout made yesterday, however. Appearing on NBC Sports Network with host Mike Tirico, Trout had some concerns with potential plans to return to play in Major League Baseball. For Trout, it's much bigger than the inconvenience of being quarantined in a hotel. It's about family.
Trout expressed concern over his family life, as he and his wife Jessica are expecting their first child:
My wife is pregnant; what am I going to do when she goes into labor – am I going to have to quarantine for two weeks after I come back? Obviously, I can't miss the birth of our first child.
Major League Baseball's collective bargaining agreement with the MLB Players Association allows for paternity leave for players.
Obviously, this situation would be much different.
Jeff Passan of ESPN reported early last week that Major League Baseball was considering a plan that would use Arizona's 10 Spring Training facilities and Chase Field in Phoenix to re-start baseball. The plan would include players being quarantined in nearby hotels to protect them from the COVID-19 outbreak. A second plan discussed included the Spring Training facilities in Florida, but Arizona seems to be the preferred location from experts such as infectious disease specialist Dr. Anthony Fauci and New York governor Andrew Cuomo, who expressed a desire to see the New York Yankees back in action to lift America's spirits.
Trout had some more practical concerns, such as the day-to-day lives of the players, saying, "It can't be sitting in our hotel rooms, and just going from the field to the hotel room and not being able to do anything. I think that's pretty crazy." Indeed the lives of the players under the quarantine would be very limited.
On Wednesday, both MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and MLB Players Association president Tony Clark acknowledged there were many challenges between now and resuming play. Both expressed that the public health needs are more important than play. Rapid testing, antibody treatments, and a vaccine could very much change things, if developed.
But for now, we wait.
