Are We Gonna Baseball?

[westofyou]

The question is can votto still hit?

A hell of a lot better than Castellanos can play first base

[M2]

A hell of a lot better than Castellanos can play first base

Nick Castellanos has a leather allergy.

[Kingspoint]

Joey Gallo tested positive.

And then there's this from Kris Bryant:

https://twitter.com/sahadevsharma/st...107598849?s=20



Attachment 16228

Just shows how far MLB has to go. Chances of a season happening get slimmer every day.

[Kingspoint]

A hell of a lot better than Castellanos can play first base

Obviously, I have no idea. Would just love to see REDS' baseball and don't care "Who's On First?"

From MLB's poor efforts at testing everyone on Sunday, my confidence of a season happening matches Kris Bryant's.

[jhowdy54]

If we don't play baseball then we better close everything for as long as it takes to end this. We can go to the beach, hit up the bars, let kids play rec sports but we can't play pro baseball. EITHER STOP EVERYTHING OR PLAY BASEBALL!!!!!

[JaxRed]

I still think chances of playing are way North of 90%. Very few positives.

[M2]

From MLB's poor efforts at testing everyone on Sunday, my confidence of a season happening matches Kris Bryant's.

The news of FC Dallas having to pull itself from the MLS tournament ought to sober everyone up on how well sports are gong to fare in our current environment. We just had a team crash out before it got to a bubble. How well MLB does with a no-bubble plan seems dicey at best.

What happens when a whole team goes down? Because it's probably going to happen.

[Ron Gant]

If we don't play baseball then we better close everything for as long as it takes to end this. We can go to the beach, hit up the bars, let kids play rec sports but we can't play pro baseball. EITHER STOP EVERYTHING OR PLAY BASEBALL!!!!!

Not a single one of those activities should've been permitted in the first place.

[savafan]

Sean Doolittle weighs in.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usa.../amp/112063248

"It does, like, bring to mind kind of where we're at in our response to this as a country. Like, we're trying to bring baseball back during a pandemic that's killed 130,000 people [in the U.S.] We're way worse off as a country than where we were in March when we shut this thing down. And like, look at where other developed countries are in their response to this. We haven't done any of the things that other countries have done to bring sports back. Sports are like the reward of a functional society, and we're trying to just bring it back, even though we've taken none of the steps to flatten the curve, whatever you want to say.

"We did flatten the curve for a little bit, but we didn't use that time to do anything productive. We just opened back up for Memorial Day. We decided we're done with it. Like, if there aren't sports, it's gonna be because people are not wearing masks because the response to this has been so politicized.

"We need help from the general public. If they want to watch baseball, please wear a mask, social distance, keep washing your hands. Like, we can't just have virus fatigue and think, 'Well, it's been four months. We're over it. This has been enough time, right? We've waited long enough, shouldn't sports come back now?'

"No, there are things we have to do in order to bring this stuff back. And now you want to bring fans back? Is that safe? I mean, I don't know. I'm not a public health expert. But we should probably defer to them on some of these issues. So I don't know if it's safe or not. I really don't know. But that doesn't seem like something that - I don't know if that feels like a good idea or not."

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[NachoMan]

Not a single one of those activities should've been permitted in the first place.

I disagree on this a bit. We know enough now that being even on a crowded beach pretty safe. Kids rec sports, provided they occur entirely outdoors, are likely fine as well. Indoors at a bar/restaurant? Yeah, that one is a big no-no.

We need to focus on what the true risky situations are: large indoor gatherings, indoor workspaces, and cohabitation situations (particularly institutional settings like nursing homes, prisons and dorms). Masking indoors is a must. Limit indoor time in stores, businesses, etc. If you want to socialize, take it outside. Long, sustained indoor interaction needs to be limited to people you are pretty sure are also being careful. The idea that beach parties are bad but dinner parties are fine is backwards -- and that misconception will cause more infections.

MLB-wise, they need to focus their efforts on educating the players on what the largest risks are in their day-to-day lives. The 8,000 rules on when to dispose of balls, spitting etc. are fine I guess, but largely just theater. Each player is infinitely more likely to be infected off the field, and player-to-player transmission would primarily only happen either in the locker room, or with players hanging out away from the park.

[REDREAD]

Nobody with sense goes looking for risks that could be deadly. And nobody with empathy insists that others take risks just for my benefit or amusement.

We all take risks every day. Before covid, the players were risking their lives by just getting into their car and driving to the stadium. The players have the option to sit out, and a handful have. The players are freely chosing to play, they are not being forced to play for our amusement.

[TOG]

We all take risks every day. Before covid, the players were risking their lives by just getting into their car and driving to the stadium. The players have the option to sit out, and a handful have. The players are freely chosing to play, they are not being forced to play for our amusement.

Exactly. 60 Feet 6 Inches.

Every Year we see pitchers get crushed with come-backers to their face/head/neck area. But, the game still has pitching.

[REDREAD]

Well, for a lot of us, things like twitter and facebook didn't exist when we started this job, and thus dealing with the absolute dumbest morons on the planet every hour of every day wasn't a part of the job. Fast forward some years and flat out switching careers isn't exactly something that is feasible for some. I'm definitely not speaking for myself here - but if you have a family in which your income and health insurance are tied to your continuing to work in a job that has some issues with it, you probably deal with some of those issues even if they make you an abrasive jerk to some of those previously mentioned absolute dumbest morons on the planet. Being able to keep a roof over your head and your family as healthy as possible is worth it.
.

Doug, I am saying this as a friend, please don't take this as a personal attack, it is not.
Lots of people (including me) work jobs with people that are jerks. Unfortunately, people are a lot less friendlier than they were 30-40 years ago. Try not to let it get to you. There's no need to respond to every
annoying post/email that you get. I understand that you probably want to respond to your subscribers. But
if a subscriber says something that gets you mad, wait a bit , then acknowledge their "point" in a non confrontational matter. You don't have to let it "Change you into an abrasive jerk" (Paraphrasing what you said). It's great that you are passionate about the Reds and their minor leaguers. Other people are too, but
don't let them get to you man.. If you let it get to you, you are just going to have health problems down the road from being stressed out.. Every job is about getting paid to support yourself, it's important to be able
to emotionally detach, especially in a job like yours which is basically "around the clock".. Glad to see you back here and posting more.

[WrongVerb]

We all take risks every day. Before covid, the players were risking their lives by just getting into their car and driving to the stadium. The players have the option to sit out, and a handful have. The players are freely chosing to play, they are not being forced to play for our amusement.

We accept risks when the marginal benefit is so great, such as driving a car or making millions as a pitcher. We, or at least the sane among us, don't go looking for risks when there is no real benefit.

[dougdirt]

Doug, I am saying this as a friend, please don't take this as a personal attack, it is not.
Lots of people (including me) work jobs with people that are jerks. Unfortunately, people are a lot less friendlier than they were 30-40 years ago. Try not to let it get to you. There's no need to respond to every
annoying post/email that you get. I understand that you probably want to respond to your subscribers. But
if a subscriber says something that gets you mad, wait a bit , then acknowledge their "point" in a non confrontational matter. You don't have to let it "Change you into an abrasive jerk" (Paraphrasing what you said). It's great that you are passionate about the Reds and their minor leaguers. Other people are too, but
don't let them get to you man.. If you let it get to you, you are just going to have health problems down the road from being stressed out.. Every job is about getting paid to support yourself, it's important to be able
to emotionally detach, especially in a job like yours which is basically "around the clock".. Glad to see you back here and posting more.

I don't respond or reply to a lot of the things I see. I stopped posting articles on facebook five weeks ago - it simply wasn't worth how insane some people were.

We've all got our stresses in life. I get it. This is going to sound crazy, given that I'm posting it on a message board - but never read the comments. It's always a losing proposition. It's just an unfortunate reality of the job - whether it's on twitter or in the actual comments section on whatever website I'm writing for that day. Some days the crazy people stay away. Other days they find me like I've got the tornado siren blaring above my head that is also a big red flashing light. Anymore I try to just hit mute and or block (if they are truly that bad) on twitter. I can't differentiate between a subscriber/non-subscriber if they aren't interacting via patreon. As far as I know, I've only blocked one such person on twitter - because he emailed me to let me know about how disappointed he was about it. He's still blocked.

I'm a nice guy until you start not caring about other people. When you start telling me that minor league players don't deserve to be paid better, I get abrasive. When we start talking about the global pandemic and you aren't taking it seriously, I get abrasive. When you say bad things about Joey Votto..... I just ignore you, usually.

It's just so tiring. It truly is. The job doesn't stop. I'm bad at time management and don't set aside enough of it for me. That doesn't help. Being eternally online probably isn't great. Not being able to go "to work" doesn't help much, either, I'd imagine. The last year in this job has been more stressful than any other "work related" time of my life and it hasn't even been remotely close. I'll be fine. I'll figure it out, just like I always have. And if not, well, I'll find something else to do.