Some are quite skeptical of a proposal called the Arizona Plan, in which all 30 teams would play their regular-season games at spring training sites in the Phoenix area without fans present. Part of that plan would include players living in isolation, most likely away from their families.
White Sox catcher James McCann is one such player who would be turned off if he was asked to be away from his family for more than a few weeks.
"I will preface this by saying there is no one who wants to play more than I do," McCann said from his home near Nashville, Tenn. "I have talked with a lot of players, and we all are on the same page that we want to play. We are certainly up for anything on the table that allows us to play. My concern is that there are a lot of details that have to be hammered out before that becomes a possibility. That said, with me being married and having two young kids, I am not a huge fan of leaving them for the potential of five months. If there was a potential of being in isolation for the first two weeks but there is a plan in place for the entire country where things would open up, where we can isolate for spring training and then things would open up -- that is a different story."
McCann was more pointed in further comments.
"Telling guys they have to leave their families indefinitely and then go isolate themselves?" McCann asked. "I don t know if that is the right answer. If you try to isolate players, then you have hotel staff and chefs. Many people preparing food and a lot of details -- that makes me think this would be difficult to come to fruition. As players, we have to be understanding of the situation."
From his home near Jupiter, Fla., White Sox reliever Steve Cishek agreed with his teammate.
"That would be a definite concern for me," Cishek said of players leaving family members for an extended stretch. "When I saw that come out, it seemed like early talk. It probably should not have come out that early. If they asked us to be away from our families for the duration of the season, I would have a hard time agreeing to play under those circumstances. It just wouldn't feel right leaving my family in the middle of a pandemic. I don't think I would be a good husband or dad in that regard. There would be some major conversations between my wife and I, but right now I don't think I could do that."
Cishek and McCann both emphasized they want to return to action as soon as it's safe to do, but they believe the timing is off in some of the ideas being floated now as masses of people are ailing.
"We need to know a lot more about what's going on," Cishek said. "Every time we hear something in the news, it seems like a different answer. Clearly we don't have control over this virus. So for me, I want to know more absolutes so we could be tested without going ahead of the rest of the country or taking tests away from anyone who would really need it.
"If they have some kind of vaccine they come out with, that would be helpful and work. Those two things would be ideal. If we don't have those two things (tests and a vaccine), if one person gets sick, the rest of us will get sick. Health care workers are the biggest heroes. The last thing we want to do is to make more work for them."
In the meantime, both Cishek and McCann are trying to pitch in to make life better in their local communities.
"The 'No Kid Hungry' thing, I was reminded of a few weeks ago," Cishek said of his video to help feed people and save lives. "There was an option to choose the charity. I also want to be involved in the community. (Former MLB pitcher) Tom Koehler is trying to raise money in our area in Florida for hospital workers' food and first responders. In Chicago, we donated for the Greater Chicago Food Depository. In our home in Massachusetts, we sent a check to help our local food pantry there."