THE NEW YORK TIMES, MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 2020 N D3BASEBALL
When Mets Manager Luis Ro-
jas realized that Yoenis Cespedes,
one of his most powerful hitters,
was not at the ballpark in Atlanta
on Sunday morning, he sent his
outfielder a text message and fol-
lowed with a phone call. Cespedes
did not reply.
The Mets then sent a security
detail to the team hotel. Cespedes
was not there, and his belongings
were gone, too.
Hours later, the Mets learned
from Cespedes’s agent that the
player was healthy and not in dan-
ger, but that he had decided to opt
out of the 2020 season for what
General Manager Brodie Van Wa-
genen called “Covid-related rea-
sons.”
“It was surprising, without
question,” Van Wagenen said of
Cespedes’s decision after the
Mets’ 4-0 loss to the Braves.
For the Mets (3-7), it was one
more blow on a day that ended
with a fifth consecutive defeat. As
concerns about coronavirus out-
breaks among the Miami Marlins
and the St. Louis Cardinals have
forced players to reconsider plans
to play a 60-game season, Ces-
pedes became the 19th majorleaguer to opt out, according to
Baseball America. He was the
first Mets player to do so.
Cespedes, 34, had been ex-
pected to provide power to the
Mets this season. After missing
the majority of the last two sea-
sons with a variety of injuries, he
hit a home run in the season
opener this year to propel the
Mets to a 1-0 win over the Braves.
It was his first home run since his
previous major league game, on
July 20, 2018.
But he struggled in the days
since, hitting .161 with two home
runs over all. On Saturday, Rojas
noted that Cespedes was on the
first bus to the stadium, and the
manager talked to him about pro-
gressing to the point of playing left
field after starting the season as a
designated hitter, which is being
used in both leagues this year.
In that night’s game, Cespedes
struck out twice, finished 0 for 4
and left five runners on base in a
7-1 loss. Rojas said he did not
speak to Cespedes afterward and
had not told Cespedes he would
not be in the lineup on Sunday.
“We felt with him, the more at-
bats he got, the more ready he was
going to be,” said Rojas, who did
not learn about Cespedes’s deci-sion to opt out until after Sunday’s
game. “No conversations about
diminishing playing time or any-
thing like that.”
Rojas said he did not believe his
players or coaches would look at
Cespedes, an All-Star in 2014 and
2016, any differently because of
his decision.
“Everyone on this team looks
up to Cespedes because of his abil-
ity to play the game and what he
has done and the way he carries
himself in the clubhouse,” Rojas
said.
“Everyone has a good relation-
ship with him. I’m sure I wasn’t
the only one who was texting him
trying to find out where he was
pregame.”
But Saturday’s game may endup being Cespedes’s final one as a
Met. His four-year contract ex-
pires after this season. The Mets
acquired him from the Detroit Ti-
gers just before the trade deadline
in 2015 and rode his bat to the
World Series before falling to the
Kansas City Royals.
That off-season, he signed a
three-year contract worth $75 mil-
lion to remain a Met. He exercised
his opt-out clause the next winter
after hitting 31 homers and driv-
ing in 86 runs.
Injuries followed. He had opera-
tions on his heels and had what
Van Wagenen described as a “vio-
lent” fall on his ranch in Florida
while rehabilitating.
Still, Van Wagenen, who negoti-
ated Cespedes’s contract with theMets when he was a player agent,
expressed disappointment that
the team and its fans had not been
able to see a healthier Cespedes
for a longer period of time.
Cespedes was viewed as the
perfect complement to Pete
Alonso, the reigning rookie of the
year in the National League, as
well as Jeff McNeil, a utility fielder
who emerged as the team’s most
consistent hitter and made the All-
Star team last season during Ces-
pedes’s absence.
Earlier Sunday, the Mets traded
right-hander Jordan Humphreys
to the San Francisco Giants for
Billy Hamilton, a defensive-
minded outfielder.
After the game on Sunday, the
Mets were already trying to look
forward. Jacob deGrom, the
team’s ace, was scheduled to pitch
on Monday in Atlanta.
“As we pick up the pieces here
now, it’s a matter of going for-
ward,” Van Wagenen said.Time Up In New York?
Yoenis Cespedes helped lead the Mets’
second-half charge into the 2015
playoffs. But for the last few years, the
outfielder has missed a season and
parts of two others to injuries.AGE YEAR G H.R. R.B.I. AVG.29 2015 57 17 44 .287
30 2016 132 31 86 .280
31 2017 81 17 42 .292
32 2018 38 9 29 .262
33 2019 DID NOT PLAY
34 2020 8 2 4 .161
Source: Baseball-Reference.comYoenis Cespedes, who has struggled since homering in the
opener, is healthy and is not in danger, according to his agent.JOHN MINCHILLO/ASSOCIATED PRESSCespedes Opts Out
After Not Showing Up
The Mets Cite ‘Covid-Related Reasons’
By KEVIN ARMSTRONGWith the Major League Base-
ball season becoming more pre-
carious seemingly by the day
amid a slow but steady stream of
new coronavirus cases among the
teams, the league’s commissioner,
Rob Manfred, issued something of
a rallying cry.
“We are playing,” Manfred told
ESPN on Saturday. “The players
need to be better, but I am not a
quitter in general and there is no
reason to quit now. We have had to
be fluid, but it is manageable.”
Those words bothered some
players in the sport and some
health experts outside it. Two out-
breaks — 20 cases among the Mi-
ami Marlins and six among the St.
Louis Cardinals, as of Sunday af-
ternoon — less than two weeks
into the season have wreaked hav-
oc on the schedules of eight teams
and raised questions about
M.L.B.’s protocols and the role of
the players’ individual responsi-
bilities in stopping the virus.
In saying the games would go
on, Manfred thrust the onus on the
players.
“I don’t know Rob’s situation,
and I don’t want to put my foot in
my mouth on that one,” Chicago
Cubs pitcher Jon Lester told re-
porters on Saturday. “But I do
know we — not only the players,
but families — are making sacri-fices day in and day out. I don’t
want to put my foot in my mouth. I
guess I’ll stop there.”
M.L.B.’s 113-page operating
manual for the 2020 season, which
was crafted with input from the
players’ union, has details on ev-
erything from how a team should
travel to proper spacing in the
dugout to what to do if a player
tests positive. But it does not ex-
plicitly state what should happen
after an outbreak or what the
threshold is for postponing
games.
Kathleen Bachynski, an assist-
ant professor of public health at
Muhlenberg College, took issue
with Manfred’s comments, writ-
ing on Twitter that the virus
thrives “when people insist on
sticking with a poor plan to the bit-
ter end.”
Bachynski said in a phone inter-
view that her biggest concerns
were about the plan itself. She said
she was shocked when she read
that the M.L.B. manual did not de-
tail steps for the league and play-
ers to follow after an outbreak.
“You can certainly say you want
to encourage safe personal behav-
iors,” she said. “There’s nothing
wrong with that. But that doesn’t
make up for not having a written
policy. And the responsibility has
to be on the league to provide safe
conditions to play in.
“I just don’t think it makes
sense to put the burden of all of
this on the players.”
M.L.B. stopped the Cardinals,
who registered their first two pos-
itive cases on Friday, from playing
the Brewers, and put the brakes
on the Phillies, who have not had a
player test positive, for seven
days because of their exposure tothe Marlins.
But on July 26, the fourth day of
the season, the Marlins played the
Phillies despite knowing they had
four players test positive, a deci-
sion that has been questioned by
some non-Marlins players and
health experts.
“It doesn’t matter how quick the
testing turnaround time is if
you’re not taking appropriate ac-
tions based on the results of those
tests,” Bachynski said.
Since their series against the
Marlins a week ago, the Phillies
have had three staff members test
positive. But M.L.B. said on Satur-
day that it appeared that two of
those tests were false positives,
and “it is unclear if the third indi-
vidual contracted Covid-19 from
Marlins players and staff based on
the timing of the positive test.”
The Phillies are set to resume play
on Monday against the Yankees.
“The protocols are a series of lit-
tle things that people need to do,”
Manfred told The Associated
Press on Saturday. “We’ve had
some problems. In order to be bet-
ter, it’s another series of little
things. I think it’s peer pressure. I
think it’s players taking personal
responsibility."Several players have decided to
opt out of the season after seeing
the virus infiltrate team rosters.
Yoenis Cespedes of the Mets on
Sunday became the fourth player
to opt out since the Marlins’ out-
break, joining more than a dozen
who had made the decision before
opening day.
After news of the Marlins’ out-
break surfaced, David Price, the
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher who
opted out of the season before it
began, tweeted: “Part of the rea-
son I’m at home right now is be-
cause players health wasn’t being
put first. I can see that hasn’t
changed.”
Among those who are still play-
ing, there is some acknowledg-
ment that both protocols and per-
sonal behavior can improve.
“Everyone can do better. This is
a learning process,” Yankees out-
fielder Giancarlo Stanton said on
Sunday. “We learn things every
day from how to do better with
this on both sides. Both sides can
be better. And by the time the sea-
son is over, there can still be im-
provements of what we could’ve
done better.”
From the start, M.L.B. and the
players’ union recognized the sea-son’s policies would evolve. The
manual’s opening page states that
it does not address every aspect of
the season’s operations and that
additional guidance may come
throughout the year. Last week,
M.L.B. informed teams of tight-
ened regulations, including desig-
nating a compliance officer for
each club. More changes could be
coming.
The Marlins were found to havebeen lax in following protocols: At
least some of them did not strictly
adhere to all of the rules. But play-
ers on many teams have been
spotted high-fiving or spitting or
getting too close too often in the
dugout — all in violation of the
manual.
Even diligent teams and consci-
entious players are worried about
contracting the virus unknow-
ingly while in their community or
traveling. The Dodgers have gone
above and beyond the M.L.B.
rules, deciding as a team to re-
quire all players to wear face cov-
erings in the dugout and limit
when coaches can be there during
games, according to third base-
man Justin Turner.
While high-fives or fist bumps
are lower-risk activities and
health experts believe players
and staff members are more likely
to be infected away from the sta-
dium, Bachynski said she worried
that those smaller lapses sug-
gested a larger culture of ignoring
the rules even away from the field.
“If your leadership is showing
how important it is and you’ve got
the front office, like we have here,
taking it very seriously, then
that’ll trickle down to the players
taking it seriously,” said Yankees
pitcher James Paxton, who sits on
the players’ union executive sub-
committee.
Mike Zunino, a catcher for the
Tampa Bay Rays who has two
young children, said he thought
often about not continuing to play
this season after the Marlins’ and
Cardinals’ outbreaks.
“I’d be lying if I told you it didn’t
cross your mind every day when
you see positive tests come out,”
he said, adding later: “I have a lot
of trust in the team here, the guys,
we’re doing stuff the right way. It’s
a real conversation I have every
day just to see how the dynamic of
the league is going.”
While he is not opting out, the
Boston Red Sox’ top pitcher, Ed-
uardo Rodriguez, will not play this
season because he is still recover-
ing from myocarditis, the inflam-
mation of his heart, which he de-
veloped after contracting the vi-
rus before the season.
“Hopefully if somebody does
test positive, we don’t just imme-
diately point the finger that
they’re doing something wrong,”
Lester told reporters on Saturday.
“They could have gone to Target
and needed soap and got it there.
Hopefully, we can get away from
pointing fingers immediately to
the bad side of things. Hopefully,
the real stories come out, and
maybe they’re good. And if they
are bad, then that sucks — it’s un-
fortunate that guys made bad de-
cisions on that.”Commissioner’s Optimistic Tone Fails to Reassure the Players
GENE J. PUSKAR/ASSOCIATED PRESSOn Saturday, Lorenzo Cain, top, the Brewers’ center fielder, decided to opt out. Cubs pitcher Jon
Lester, above with catcher Willson Contreras, is counting on the players to handle this together.NAM Y. HUH/ASSOCIATED PRESSBy JAMES WAGNERLeague guidelines do
not explain how to
handle an outbreak.
W.N.B.A. SCHEDULE
All Times E.D.T.
Sunday, Aug. 2
Phoenix 96, Liberty 67
Indiana 93, Atlanta 77
Las Vegas 79, Dallas 70
Monday, Aug. 3
No games scheduled.
BASKETBALLN.B.A. SCHEDULE
All Times Eastern
All games in Orlando, Fla.
Sunday, Aug. 2
Nets 118, Washington 110
Boston 128, Portland 124
San Antonio 108, Memphis 106
Orlando 132, Sacramento 116
Milwaukee vs. Houston
Dallas vs. Phoenix
Monday, Aug. 3
Toronto vs. Miami, 1:30 p.m.
Denver vs. Oklahoma City, 4 p.m.
Indianapolis vs. Washington, 4 p.m.
Memphis vs. New Orleans, 6:30 p.m.
San Antonio vs. Philadelphia, 8 p.m.
L.A. Lakers vs. Utah, 9 p.m.
HOCKEYN.H.L. STANLEY CUP
QUALIFIERS SCHEDULE
All Times E.D.T.
Sunday, August 2
Arizona 4, Nashville 3
Philadelphia 4, Boston 1
Colorado 2, St. Louis 1
Columbus at Toronto
Minnesota vs. Vancouver
Monday, August 3
Rangers vs. Carolina at Scotiabank Arena, 12p.m.
Winnipeg vs. Calgary at Rogers Place, 2:30 pm.
Washington vs. Tampa Bay at Scotiabank Arena,
4 p.m.
Dallas vs. Vegas at Rogers Place, 6:30 p.m.
Montreal vs. Pittsburgh at Scotiabank Arena,
8 p.m.
Chicago at Edmonton, 10:30 p.m.
GOLFST. JUDE INVITATIONAL
Sunday
At TPC Southwind
Memphis, Tenn.
Purse: $10.5 millionYardage: 7,277; Par: 70
Final Round
J. Thomas, $1,820,000....66-70-66-65—267 -13
D. Berger, $695,000 .....71-67-67-65—270 -10
B. Koepka, $695,000.....62-71-68-69—270 -10
T. Lewis, $695,000 ......73-70-61-66—270 -10
P. Mickelson, $695,000... 67-70-66-67—270 -10
J. Day, $268,333........68-67-69-67—271 -9
X. Schauffele, $268,333... 68-70-67-66—271 -9
M. Fitzpatrick, $268,333... 70-64-69-68—271 -9
S. Lowry, $268,333......68-69-67-67—271 -9
L. Oosthuizen, $268,333.. 68-67-68-68—271 -9
C. Reavie, $268,333 .....66-67-70-68—271 -9
D. Johnson, $166,667....69-68-68-67—272 -8
W. Simpson, $166,667....69-66-69-68—272 -8
B. Hun, $166,667....... 68-65-66-73—272 -8
A. Ancer, $131,400......67-75-65-66—273 -7
R. Fowler, $131,400 .....64-67-69-73—273 -7
R. Palmer, $131,400 .....69-69-71-64—273 -7
S. Scheffler, $131,400....69-67-69-68—273 -7
B. Todd, $131,400 ......64-65-69-75—273 -7
C. Bezuidenhout,.......71-69-64-70—274 -6
J. Dahmen, $106,200 ....72-67-65-70—274 -6
H. Matsuyama, $106,200.. 68-71-67-68—274 -6
C. Morikawa, $106,200... 70-71-67-66—274 -6
E. van...............71-70-68-65—274 -6
C. Champ, $87,200......71-68-67-69—275 -5
B. Horschel, $87,200.....70-70-68-67—275 -5
K. Kisner, $87,200.......70-68-72-65—275 -5
M. Kuchar, $87,200......66-72-71-66—275 -5
B. Watson, $87,200......68-70-71-66—275 -5
C. Conners, $72,000.....72-68-66-70—276 -4
B. DeChambeau, $72,000 67-73-69-67—276 -4
A. Landry, $72,000...... 70-72-66-68—276 -4
J. T. Poston, $72,000 ....70-68-70-68—276 -4
J. Spieth, $72,000.......68-69-68-71—276 -4
T. Fleetwood, $56,111....72-67-73-65—277 -3
P. Cantlay, $56,111......73-72-65-67—277 -3
S. Garcia, $56,111 ......67-71-68-71—277 -3
S. Im, $56,111 .........67-68-69-73—277 -3
G. McDowell, $56,111....68-70-70-69—277 -3
K. Na, $56,111.........72-64-74-67—277 -3
H. Stenson, $56,111.....69-69-70-69—277 -3
K. Streelman, $56,111....71-66-71-69—277 -3
N. Taylor, $ 56 ,111.......69-70-67-71—277 -3
NATIONAL LEAGUE
East W L Pct GB
Atlanta 7 3 .700 —
Miami 2 1 .667 1{
Washington 3 4 .429 2{
Philadelphia 1 2 .333 2{
Mets 3 7 .300 4
Central W L Pct GB
Chicago 7 2 .778 —
Milwaukee 3 3 .500 2{
Cincinnati 4 5 .444 3
St. Louis 2 3 .400 3
Pittsburgh 2 7 .222 5
West W L Pct GB
Colorado 6 2 .750 —
Los Angeles 7 3 .700 —
San Diego 6 4 .600 1
San Francisco 5 5 .500 2
Arizona 3 7 .300 4
SUNDAY
Cincinnati 4, Detroit 3, 7 innings, 1st game
Atlanta 4, Mets 0
Chicago Cubs 2, Pittsburgh 1, 11 innings
Colorado 9, San Diego 6
L.A. Dodgers 3, Arizona 0
Texas 9, San Francisco 5
Cincinnati 4, Detroit 0, 7 innings, 2nd game
Washington at Miami, ppd.
St. Louis at Milwaukee, ppd., 1st game
Philadelphia at Toronto, ppd.
St. Louis at Milwaukee, ppd., 2nd game
MONDAY
Cleveland (Plesac 0-0) at Cincinnati (Gray
2-0), 6:40
Philadelphia (Arrieta 0-0) at Yankees (Cole
2-0), 7:05
Mets (deGrom 0-0) at Atlanta (Soroka 0-0),
7:10
Chicago White Sox (Rodon 0-1) at
Milwaukee (Peralta 0-1), 8:10
Pittsburgh (Holland 0-0) at Minnesota
(Thorpe 0-0), 8:10
Kansas City (Duffy 0-1) at Chicago Cubs
(Mills 1-0), 8:15
San Francisco (Cueto 0-0) at Colorado
(Gonzalez 0-0), 8:40
L.A. Dodgers (Buehler 0-0) at San Diego
(Paddack 1-0), 9:10
BASEBALLAMERICAN LEAGUE
East W L Pct GB
Yankees 6 1 .857 —
Baltimore 5 3 .625 1{
Toronto 3 4 .429 3
Tampa Bay 4 6 .400 3 {
Boston 3 6 .333 4
Central W L Pct GB
Minnesota 7 2 .778 —
Chicago 5 4 .556 2
Cleveland 5 5 .500 2{
Detroit 5 5 .500 2{
Kansas City 3 7 .300 4 {
West W L Pct GB
Houston 5 4 .556 —
Oakland 5 4 .556 —
Seattle 4 6 .400 1{
Texas 3 5 .375 1{
Los Angeles 3 7 .300 2 {
SUNDAY
Cincinnati 4, Detroit 3, 7 innings, 1st game
Baltimore 5, Tampa Bay 1
Minnesota 3, Cleveland 1
Chicago White Sox 9, Kansas City 2
Texas 9, San Francisco 5
Oakland 3, Seattle 2
Cincinnati 4, Detroit 0, 7 innings, 2nd game
Houston 6, L.A. Angels 5, 11 innings
Philadelphia at Toronto, ppd.
Boston at Yankees
MONDAY
Cleveland (Plesac 0-0) at Cincinnati (Gray
2-0), 6:40
Philadelphia (Arrieta 0-0) at Yankees (Cole
2-0), 7:05
Chicago White Sox (Rodon 0-1) at
Milwaukee (Peralta 0-1), 8:10
Pittsburgh (Holland 0-0) at Minnesota
(Thorpe 0-0), 8:10
Kansas City (Duffy 0-1) at Chicago Cubs
(Mills 1-0), 8:15
Oakland (Montas 0-1) at Seattle (Sheffield
0-1), 9:10
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