Troubling Sign

The generally uptempo news from the first weekend of baseball "summer camp" was marred by two storylines: Masahiro Tanaka of the Yankees being hit by a line drive off the bat of Giancarlo Stanton -- which, while disturbing, wasn't strictly related to Covid-19. More troubling were the stream of reports of players testing positive for the virus.

From Miguel Sano to Scott Kingery, then DJ LeMahieu and Luis Cessa, familiar names were being sidelined. The scariest report came out of Atlanta, where Braves 1st baseman Freddie Freeman not only had the virus, but was experiencing symptoms. Saturday night, his wife Chelsea posted on Instagram that he "has had body aches, headaches, chills and a high fever since Thursday. He’s someone who literally never gets sick and this virus hit him like a ton of bricks."

We're still two and a half weeks away from opening day. And since baseball will not be operating under the same bubble-and-isolation plan the NBA will use, we can likely expect to see more of these reports. While officials can ask or even demand players stay out of restaurants or other public places, is the commissioner going to employ an army of Paul Drakes to be certain?

Then there's the rising number of players who, for personal or family reasons are opting out such as veterans Ian Desmond, David Price and Felix Hernandez. Then the uncertainty of superstar Mike Trout and several others whose wives are close to giving birth.

In a season unlike any other, we could see the thinnest talent pool in recent memory, likely since the peak of the Korean War.

As fans hold their breath and cross their fingers that the ranks won't be even thinner.