Although in the middle of this week, Rob Manfred, Major League Baseball commissioner, put on the table a proposal that the thirty clubs play the 2020 season in Arizona complexes, without an audience, the idea does not look very liked by many figures Stellar, used to showing their talent in front of the fans.
Alfonso Naianceno, a columnist for the Cuban newspaper Granma, offers an analysis around the idea that he seems to consider, far above the interests of the players, the enormous financial gap left by the stoppage of the season that should have started at the end of last month, while neglecting the health security guarantee and isolating players with their families for at least four months.
Money vs. Health, is the title of Naianceno's work:
On the one hand, those who think that having suspended the big tent is already costing a lot; on the other, heavyweight players in their respective teams who, undoubtedly, will soon gain more followers for their refusal and their desire to explode the bubble ... or the balloon.
Four months, maybe a little more, is too long to get away from the family and please a president who manages any follower today, in order to satisfy his desire to open up the United States economically, despite the high price he pays. the population by COVID-19.
The same interest continues to dominate the scene: The restrictions to which the athletes will be subjected do not matter, because the essential thing is to recover part of the money lost by not having opened the season on March 26.
Clayton Kershaw, pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers; Ryan Zimmerman (first baseman of the Washington Nationals) and Mike Trout (outfielder of the Anaheim Angels) refuse to lock themselves in the "bubble" that they intend to create MLB in Arizona, where the 30 teams would only dedicate to play and return to the hotel, without public in the stadiums and without freedom of movement.
Donald Trump started the crusade to open the game. Now his top pandemic advisor, 79-year-old immunologist Anthony Fauci, has stepped on the bandwagon, who since 1984 (has served with six presidents, Republicans and Democrats, including Trump) is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from the United States.
Fauci, in the White House, said that his country could avoid so many deaths, an uncomfortable phrase for the tycoon president. But, in a move to tie the shares, the veteran doctor sought to satisfy the president, and this week he considered it possible to open the 2020 season, "playing in one place and without an audience."
In the face of the avalanche of pressure to start the campaign, which is joined by Rob Manfred, MLB commissioner Clayton Kershaw, assured: “I will not be away from my family for four months, without being able to see them. There are many things that are wrong with that proposal. ”
Mike Trout expressed himself in similar terms. “You can't just go from the playing field to the hotel room, and not be able to do anything. It's crazy. "
On the one hand, those who think that having suspended the big tent is already costing a lot; on the other, heavyweight players in their respective teams who, undoubtedly, will soon gain more followers for their refusal and their desire to explode the bubble ... or the balloon.
