SEATTLE -- After seeing the number of players working out at their Spring Training complex dwindling by the day -- and noting a Reds employee tested positive for the coronavirus in nearby Goodyear, Ariz. -- the Mariners have decided to completely shut down their Peoria facility until further notice.

Although 47 players initially chose to stay in Arizona to work out when Major League Baseball first pulled the plug on Spring Training, Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto said only about 10-12 players were still using the facility by Wednesday.

• Opening of regular season to be pushed back

“Frankly, we were concerned about group gatherings of any sort, particularly after we got news of a positive test from a baseball staffer from another club,” Dipoto said.

Team trainers and medical staff are checking in with players every day, but Dipoto said no Mariners staffers or players have shown any symptoms of the coronavirus, so none have been tested to this point.

While many players won’t have access to workout facilities near their homes since most gyms and college facilities are closed, Dipoto said that isn’t the biggest issue to worry about in this unique time.

“Right now, as we expressed to them starting last week, our primary concern isn’t preparing for baseball season,” Dipoto said. “It’s making sure we stay as healthy as we can and that we’re doing our part in a public health crisis to not spread this thing any further than it already has or will.”

The Mariners had already sent most of their Minor League players home after the league sent out guidelines earlier this week restricting facility access to just those on the 40-man roster. The club’s complex in the Dominican Republic is also closed. Dipoto said six players from Venezuela are staying in Arizona and “while they don’t have a facility to work out in, they’re housed and cared for and we know they’re being fed properly, which is as safe as we can keep them right now.”

The toughest issue will be for pitchers to build up their arms in time to compete on shorter notice than normal, once baseball does resume.

“Many of our guys can’t access gyms,” Dipoto said. “We’ve built moderate throwing programs and told guys to go into offseason mode pyschologically and emotionally and understand when we get back, you will have time. We’re not going to ask guys to go from zero to 60 without time to ramp up.”

Since no one has an idea of when MLB will return or how long of a Spring Training will be enacted before games resume, Dipoto said the Mariners will be as flexible as needed when the time comes.

“At this point, our general thought is to be as creative as we need to be, whether [it’s] smaller pitch counts for the entirety of the season or making sure we have enough of a Spring Training runway to prepare our guys to throw a higher pitch count,” he said. “We’ll monitor it internally and make adjustments as we have to. We don’t even know what that will look like. It could be anywhere from three-inning starts to 10-man rotations to make sure we take care of our pitchers.”

All those baseball questions pale in comparison to the overriding issue facing the country, however.

“What we’ve urged [to] guys is to go where they feel safest, and that is from a health standpoint,” Dipoto said. “A lot of guys have made their way back to their natural homes or somewhere they feel safe. ‘Go where you feel comfortable for the next two months and then we’ll reassess.’

“We don’t know where this will go. We may adjust up or down. Right now, our only true concern is health and well-being throughout. It’s a strange time in the world for everybody and baseball, too. We’re just trying to make the best decisions to keep everybody in a safe place.”