Epstein: Cubs still in training camp, but expected to soon scatter
It was all quiet at the Cubs' training camp in Mesa, Ariz., on Friday.
A day after major league baseball suspended spring training games and announced a delay to the start of the regular season by at least two weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Cubs closed the Nike Performance Center and deep cleaned the facility.
When it will be used again is the big question.
Late Friday, Major League Baseball announced all spring training camps are suspended, although most of the players in Cubs camp are still around.
"We don't have final word yet on all the players, but it seems that for now a number of players from major league camp are interested in sticking around and using the facility for weight-room activity and some light baseball activity," Cubs President Theo Epstein said on a conference call Friday night. "We will not have any team activities, we won't keep the facility open and we have a reduced amount of staff there to help facilitate that.
"We'll work to manage the numbers so there's not too many players assembling at the same time. Try to adhere to the guidance of public health officials to not have too large of a group assembly."
Epstein expects the number of players in Mesa to decrease in the coming days.
"I anticipate the players that stick around, that number will dwindle as we get past March, as leases run out and as we get a little bit more clarity as a country and as an industry about how long it will be until we hopefully return to normal," he said. "For now, we expect to have a fairly significant number of players here."
Epstein said manager David Ross and his coaching staff are expected to head home.
As for the regular season starting two weeks late, which is the ideal target date, Epstein seriously doubts that is going to happen.
"It's not my place to speculate on that because I don't have full information," he said. "But connecting the dots of what we all see in the news, all of this science that we're all learning about now but not experts on, and then the fact the players are going home, that spring training has been suspended with the reality that teams would need probably 3-4 weeks of working out together to get ready for a season, I think you can draw your own reasonable conclusions about how realistic any type of early April Opening Day is."
The Cubs were originally scheduled to open the regular season on March 26, against the Brewers at Milwaukee.
That is obviously not happening. And like the rest of the world, Epstein is looking at a much bigger picture than baseball.
"I don't think most of us have had a chance to process it yet," he said. "It's all so new and changing so rapidly, and it's such a heavy subject and there are so many serious ramifications, not just for our organization, the industry, but for society as a whole. It's really impossible to get your arms around.
"I think at the end of the day, all of us have a moment before you put your head on the pillow where you realize just how much has changed and just what we're all dealing with and the potential consequences for society as a whole if we don't pull together and handle this in the best possible way.
"We're all in this together. I think it's time for us to make collective sacrifices to have each other's back and try to minimize the suffering and try to eventually return to normal as quickly as possible. It probably won't be until we're all somewhat back to normal before we can put it in proper perspective and fully process it."