TAMPA, Fla. -- It was the type of between-starts activity that Masahiro Tanaka has performed countless times throughout his six years in a Yankees uniform, spikes crunching on the gravel as he approached the George M. Steinbrenner Field bullpen to toss from a covered mound.
Yet as Tanaka followed those muscle memory actions Sunday, his pitches echoing as they thudded into the glove of bullpen catcher Radley Haddad, the Yankees right-hander was very much aware that the paces of this spring have become anything but routine.
“Obviously, it’s not normal,” Tanaka said, through a translator. “It's what it is. This is the reality right now. As for me, I just keep doing what I need to do. That's kind of the bottom line of it.”
Yankees players voted unanimously Friday that they would remain in Tampa, Fla., to continue working out, and a representative group went through their usual paces for the first two mornings since baseball’s coronavirus shutdown, taking indoor batting practice, tossing from mounds and performing fielding drills.
That group may soon thin following a directive issued Sunday by Major League Baseball and the MLB Players’ Association, instructing them to “avoid all activities in which players congregate in significant numbers or are otherwise unable to practice the ‘social distancing’ protocols” recommended by the Centers for Disease Control. General manager Brian Cashman said that he read the text of that memo to players on Sunday.
“After the meeting we had this morning, I asked the players to just get a head count of whose current intentions are to stay,” Cashman said. “I'm sure those numbers are going to change from what they had been prior, with all the information that's in hand.”
As Cashman detailed to the roster, a Yankees Minor League player tested positive for coronavirus after complaining of a fever and fatigue on Friday morning. In response, the Minor League complex has been shuttered and all Bombers Minor League players -- plus some coaches and staff members -- will be self-quarantined through March 25.
“It’s new information that I think that you have to allow our players to process,” Cashman said. “There's also new guidelines that have been handed down and suggestions handed down by Major League Baseball in conjunction with their union counterparts that are going to be helpful and informative for all parties involved. You have to give them the opportunity to process information and make the best decisions they feel on an individual basis.”
Cashman said that for players who decide to stay, George M. Steinbrenner Field will continue to be operational, albeit under a rolled-back workforce.
“Our gym will remain open for players and various aspects of our training room will remain open for players who were injured or rehabbing and are hoping to stay,” Cashman said.
Pitcher Zack Britton said that the Yankees had planned to take Monday off, adhering to a Grapefruit League schedule that had the stadium dark on that date. Tanaka said that he thought that he would return to work out again Tuesday, but he acknowledged his growing uncertainty in a world where developments seem to be coming rapid-fire.
“I wouldn't be able to say 100 percent for sure, just because everything is so fluid,” Tanaka said. “Everything is kind of changing, day by day.”
With Opening Day pushed back by at least two weeks, Tanaka said that he has decided not to continue to build at maximum effort, likely settling into something more closely resembling his offseason program.
“I don't know [what to do]. I don't think anybody does,” Tanaka said. “Obviously, we are experiencing something like this for the first time. What I can say, as of now, is that I will probably not maintain at the highest level; maybe back down a little bit, but again, everything is fluid. That could change as well.”
Tanaka said that he has noticed the coronavirus effect in his daily life, especially at the grocery store, where he has been unable to find items in stock. Eating out at restaurants has not been as much of a consideration, he said.
“For me, I don't go out that much, in the first place,” Tanaka said, with a chuckle.