How Phillies might actually benefit from delayed start to season | Scott Lauber

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Let’s be clear: Nobody knows how this hiatus -- more like a mass exodus -- from spring training will affect the 2020 baseball season. Because when it comes to the coronavirus, nobody really knows anything right now.

Bryan Price has worked most of the last 35 years in professional baseball as a player, coach, and manager. But the Phillies pitching coach doesn’t have a roadmap for this. There isn’t precedent here. Not the work stoppage in 1995 that prompted the use of replacement players in spring training and lopped off nearly a month from the start of the season. Not even the one-week postponement of games after 9/11.

“I haven’t been able to reference any of that to this point,” Price said Friday morning as he left Spectrum Field under Major League Baseball’s orders not to return until at least Sunday -- and now, with players being told to go home, who knows when? “I don’t want to talk as the resident know-it-all on the best way to handle this. We don’t even have an opening day set yet.”

Price, like many players and staff members across baseball, is skeptical that the season will be pushed back only two weeks. The longer players are out of camp, the more likely it is that games won’t be played in April.

Eventually, though, baseball will return. And if you’re able to see the glass as half full -- never easy while living amid a global pandemic, we know -- it’s conceivable that some teams, including the Phillies, will actually benefit from the delayed season-opening.

Let us count the potential ways:

Had the season opened on March 26, McCutchen would have been on the injured list, the surgically rebuilt ligament in his left knee not yet ready for the rigors of game action.

Perhaps now the leadoff-hitting left fielder won’t miss any games.

When the Phillies ruled McCutchen out for opening day, they were optimistic that he could return in April after a minor-league rehab assignment. Surely he will still go through a ramping-up process. But with teams now likely to return to a modified spring training before jumping into the season, he might be able to test his knee in that environment and rejoin the Phillies sooner.

The same goes for relievers Tommy Hunter and Victor Arano, both of whom were ticketed for the season-opening injured list while working back into game shape after surgeries last year.

And the spring-training shutdown will give the Phillies more time to assess reliever Seranthony Dominguez’s setback in his recovery from last year’s elbow injury.

Other teams will benefit from the extra time, too. The Washington Nationals, for instance, are dealing with nagging injuries to outfielders Adam Eaton (hamstring) and Victor Robles (side). But the Phillies will have far fewer roster questions if Hunter, Arano, and especially McCutchen and Dominguez aren’t missing.

Many players prefer to call off talks on a contract extension if it drags into the season. Realmuto has said he isn't sure how he feels about that, but given his extreme focus and intense preparation, it's doubtful the All-Star catcher would welcome the distraction of a negotiation.

Phillies executives aren’t exactly twiddling their thumbs during the spring-training shutdown. Their plates are actually more full than before. But with more time before the season begins, the window to getting a deal done with Realmuto is open for at least a little while longer.

Realmuto’s agent, Jeff Berry, argued at last month’s arbitration hearing that he should be compensated according to the pay scale that is applied to comparable players at other positions, not only fellow catchers. Although Berry lost that case, it’s likely that Realmuto’s camp is taking the same stance in extension talks.

If the Phillies are willing to match, say, the St. Louis Cardinals’ five-year, $130 million extension ($26 million per year) for first baseman Paul Goldschmidt last spring, they might have a deal. If they stop at Joe Mauer’s catcher-record $23 million average annual value, well, Realmuto probably will opt for free agency, even if the season doesn’t begin until Memorial Day.

If games were being played this weekend, Vince Velasquez, Nick Pivetta, and Ranger Suarez would be continuing to compete for the No. 5 starter job. A decision likely wouldn’t have come until at least the middle of next week.

The runners-up either would have been sent to triple A or, given the injuries to Hunter, Arano, and Dominguez, relegated to the bullpen with only about a week to adjust to a different role.

"I don't think there would be an ideal amount of time [to adjust]. I think it's instantly," Velasquez said. "It's automatic. I mean, that's your job. You should be ready at any time."

Nice sentiment, but there’s always a measure of disappointment associated with a wannabe starter’s moving to the bullpen. It’s human nature. It might be mitigated now, though, with additional time before the season begins.

Then again, maybe not. Nobody knows anything right now. There's no playbook for this.

“Optimistically, we’re two weeks behind schedule,” Price said. “Is that realistic? I don’t have any idea. Once we have an opening day, we’ll have a better understanding of what we’re going to need to do. But at this point in time, we’re going to keep the guys in shape until we have a little bit more of a resolution.”