As the Yankees organization is engulfed with coping with the sweeping changes COVID-19 has thrust on everyone, there is some baseball news to report on.
Yankees beat writers, as well as blog authors like myself, have nowhere to go. Players, who are the usual source for a sitdown and a story are scattering themselves across America.
Even Yankees manager Aaron Boone has returned to his home in Connecticut to help sort out the altered lifestyle underway for his family, joining the force of all Moms and Dads charged with normalcy in the face of chaos.
Yankees GM Brian Cashman, single and not attached to a nuclear family, has opted to remain in Florida with hopes that somehow – someway – he can accommodate the players who are choosing to stay at the Tampa complex to work out – and “play” baseball.
Yankees Cashman: “I’m Not Going Anywhere”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Cashman said, standing outside of Steinbrenner Field. “The only way I’m leaving is if things are OK. If they’re not OK, I’m not going anywhere.”
When things “are ok” for Brian Cashman means that he can be assured the second Yankees minor league player testing positive is not the tip of the iceberg – and his players are ok.
Yankees reliever Zack Britton, who is also the team’s union player rep, expresses the dilemma he and his teammates are facing this way.
“Most guys wouldn’t have a workout alternative in Tampa, maybe even not at home, so guys are in a tricky spot.” (NJ.com)
J.A. Happ echoes Britton, and we can suspect most Americans: “I’ve certainly never gone through anything like it. I don’t think any of us have. Again, it’s starting to hit home a little more every day; it seems like. Just preparing and trying to be as smart as we can, paying attention.”
Yankees Fans: A Solemn Admission – There Is No Baseball News
Life today has taken a turn. No one saw it coming, but here we sit with no baseball as we scream towards an Opening Day for the 2020 season we can only imagine.
There are no games and box scores for Yankees fans to pour over, and the expectation there will be baseball soon is not based on reality.
As a writer for my blog Reflections on Baseball, my self-appointed “job” is to find the so-called angle in a previously reported story that is of interest to a reader.
In normal times, this is a challenge, and now even for rock-bedded newspapers like the New York Daily News and the New York Post, this has become an arduous and useless task.
There are no Yankees baseball-related news stories to report or comment on, and that will continue for the unseen future.
Adapting To The New World Order
As Yankees fans, we consider ourselves part of “The Family”. No, not really, but you know what I mean.
We follow the team, and we follow individual Yankees players. We don’t get crazy about it, but we devote a portion of our daily routine to checking on “the latest”.
There are no Yankees latest, games, box scores, quotes, or game highlight videos (thank you ESPN at least for that) now or for the foreseeable future.
Still, there are human interest stories emerging from the Yankees that can help lead us through.
Gerrit Cole’s wife Amy posted this photo of her husband coping with life away from baseball, taking a time-out – holding on and waiting.
The News Is What It Is
News about baseball and the Yankees is what it is. And any reporter who attempts to fabricate a story only to have a story is a disgrace to his profession.
All it takes is a few strokes on a keyboard to create an overnight sensational story on the internet. I can do it, and so can you.
But I don’t make the news, and if the news coming from the Yankees camp continues to focus on COVID-19, then so be it.
I want to know how my Yankees are coping with the same adjustments to their lives as I am. At the moment, that’s almost as good as a box score.
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
