In the space of four days, the Twins have received a blueprint for playing baseball in 2020, the go-ahead to implement it — and a vivid reminder that it all could come to a halt at any moment.
The first cases of COVID-19 among Twins players were detected this week, President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey announced Thursday, and those players — "it was a few," both major and minor leaguers, Falvey said while declining to be more specific — are quarantined until they can clear MLB's virus protocols.
That will require at least two negative test results, spaced a few days apart, so "we are likely to not have our [full] complement of what would have been 60 [players] to start camp" Wednesday at Target Field, Falvey said during a video call with Twins reporters.
The tests were administered "after reporting either close contact with someone who was COVID-positive in one case, and in one [other] case having some level of mild symptoms. … Prior to that, we had no known cases, staff or players or otherwise," Falvey said. "I don't think this is necessarily a surprise that we may have some positive cases. We'd expect it."
The Twins are at least the seventh MLB team to reveal positive tests over the past week, following the Phillies, Blue Jays, Yankees, Red Sox, Mariners and Tigers. Unlike some of the other teams, the Twins players were not exposed to the virus at a team facility but tested positive in their home cities. Regardless, the Twins' offseason headquarters in Fort Myers, Fla., has been closed like all training camps for a thorough cleaning and decontamination.
Teams have been planning for potential outbreaks all along, Falvey said, and everyone realizes that the continued spread of the coronavirus remains a threat to baseball's plans for playing a 60-game season. But "I would say I remain cautiously optimistic as we get everyone back together, if we appropriately follow protocols," Falvey said, including every-other-day virus tests for players. "It's going to take a real effort and a coordinated effort between players, staff and anyone who ever comes in contact with players to help manage this."
The Twins are doing their part over the next week by redesigning Target Field's clubhouses, dugouts and even concourses. Tables, chairs, buffets and anything that encourages players to congregate are being removed from the clubhouse, and outdoor areas are being built to allow players to stretch and warm up at safe distances from each other. Extra bus trips between the team hotel and ballpark will be added on the road, and masks will be provided for when players aren't on the field.
They will be told to spend as much time as possible outdoors at the ballpark, and as little as possible in the clubhouse.