(670 The Score) For now, the White Sox are keeping their players and staff in Arizona and their spring training facility open for those who wish to continue to train and engage in activity amid the coronavirus pandemic, general manager Rick Hahn said Friday.
The team's current play is for the next several days through the weekend as they await more directives from MLB, which has cancelled spring training games and pushed back Opening Day by at least two weeks. The White Sox came to that decision after holding a team meeting.
Hahn cited the "contained environment" of the facility and medical professionals being easy accessible as the primary reasons for why the decision was reached.
"Everyone agreed that being here as a resource for the players over the next couple of days makes the most sense," Hahn said on a conference call. "Everyone is on board with doing that."
The White Sox have no players or staff in their big league or minor league camps who are currently displaying coronavirus symptoms, Hahn said.
Like every other MLB team, the White Sox weighing their players' health concerns with how to best prepare for a baseball season that will start eventually. No player has expressed a desire to leave camp at this time, Hahn said, but the team would be flexible with and understanding of any needs of players should they need to tend to their families, Hahn said.
Work at White Sox camp is optional right now, Hahn said while adding they had full player participation Friday.
"We hope to get back on the field soon, but we're going to follow the direction of local and national public health and government officials and coordinate with Major League Baseball," Hahn said.
"On a more nuanced level, we're also continuing to prepare to the best of our ability for the start of the season, when that comes."
In another note, White Sox senior vice president of communications Scott Reifert indicated that the hope is still to play 162 regular-season games in 2020, even though the start of the season has been pushed back to at least April 9 and almost certainly longer.
"Right now, the long-range plan is that we will play 162 games," Reifert said. "So that's the hope. Whether that ends up being the reality, we'll see down the road."
