Dodgers: Alex Wood and Others Show Little Faith in MLB’s Arizona Plan
Dodgers’ lefty Alex Wood is all for getting games going as soon as the world is ready. Like most ballplayers, he has spent his last few weeks at home trying his best to stay in shape. Wood is still in Arizona and spent some time talking with Andy McCullough of The Athletic this week.
The Arizona Plan is, depending on your perspective, a ray of light during a moment of national disillusionment or a dystopian experiment with harrowing downsides.
We talked to a bunch of players about it.
“I think it will be really hard to pull off."https://t.co/QhwF6zHowP
— Andy McCullough (@ByMcCullough) April 8, 2020
When asked about MLB’s reported plans to have teams play all games in Arizona, Wood knew right away that there would be issues.
I personally don’t think that everyone would go for it. I think (the Arizona plan is) a possibility if we know for certain that that’s the only way we can play baseball. Does that make sense? I don’t have kids or anything like that. I’m down for whatever. I just want to play ball.
The difference between the Dodgers’ Alex Wood and the guys around the league who are not all in on this plan is often that the other guys have kids. Having to be away from your family for a few straight months is difficult, but it may be the only option for baseball right now.
Related: Players’ Families Will Be a Big Hurdle for Plan to Play
Chris Sale of the Boston Red Sox probably said it best when talking about the potential of playing games isolated from the outside world
I don’t know if I could look at my kids just through a screen for four or five months. The same thing goes for my wife, not being able to be around her. That’s a long time. But people have done it in harsh scenarios, I guess.
That’s the general sense we have seen from players across MLB, including the Dodgers. A mix of excitement and apprehension defines a plan that MLB has already denied being a part of. Of course players want to get out and play baseball, but there are too many question marks from the onset to have camps going by May.
Angels’ manager Joe Maddon also brings up a good point about playing all games in Arizona.
I’ll do anything. I’ll play on the moon, I don’t care. Whatever the schedule looks like, I’m good. The only thing about Arizona is that it’s going to be really hot. Even at night, it’s going to be really hot. Those games will be tough. You’re talking 100-degree tough. That’s the part that concerns me.
Whatever the case, I would not get too excited about the reported discussions just yet. This plan needs some work, and I cannot see every problem that goes along with it being solved fast enough to get camps started by May.
NEXT: MLB Issues Statement on Rumored Plan for Baseball’s Proposed May Return
Puts or military works career in perspective. Away can’t come home and many times can’t even contact family.
The one difference is the amount of money between our vets and baseball players and that is if the MLB players are “forced” to play awhile away from family. Think of Navy personnel on a carrier for 3 months or more before even docking anywhere.
Thanks Chris. When in the military you don’t get to go home, even on 18 month to 3 year deployments. Try spending 18 months in the jungle when writing letters is the only recourse. Didn’t matter what happened at home.
Today’s players are rich and spoiled. If something happened at home they needed to go home for, the clubs would have no problem letting them leave and rightly so.
This plan probably won’t happen, but if it were than players should suck it up and go play.
Play Ball! This plan would likely only be needed for the first few weeks of the shortened season.
The Arizona plan is a non starter because of the heat in Arizona. Why not consider all the cooler stadiums in CA and Florida? LA has two, San Diego has one, SF has two, and Seattle has one more, all cool. Add in the bigger minor league stadiums and maybe it can work. Also allow the wives and kids to come along and stay off site at the players discretion. Test the players who have contact with the wives and kids before they are allowed contact with the teams. There is a quick test coming and there is a antibody test coming.