With players scheduled to report to their teams for whatever we are calling not-Spring Training tomorrow a handful of players are exercising their right to opt out of the 2020 season. I want to be really clear that deciding to play or not during the COVID-19 pandemic is clearly every players’ right and I support their decisions. There is only a finite amount of time any player can perform as a major league ballplayer and choosing to give up some of that time for one’s health or the well-being of family members cannot be easy.
Four players announced they would not play in 2020 yesterday, but Ian Desmond’s Instagram post explaining his decision-making process really stood out.