Giants Suspend Workouts At Oracle Park, Await COVID-19 Test Results
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS / AP) -- The San Francisco Giants suspended all team workouts Tuesday, joining a growing number of MLB teams that have paused working out while awaiting coronavirus test results.
According to a Giants statement, the team is waiting on results of tests conducted this past weekend.
Giants players had been working out at the ballpark since late last week, in anticipation of a 60-game season that is expected to begin later this month. It was not immediately clear when workouts would resume.
During a Zoom chat Tuesday afternoon, Giants Manager Gabe Kapler said the team expects test results sometime Tuesday and planned to resume workouts as soon as possible.
He also noted that some players, pitchers in particular, were able to get a workout in Tuesday morning prior to the announcement.
Kapler was hopeful of getting his club back on the field Wednesday.
"Nobody expected this to be easy and everybody is doing the best that they can," Kapler said.
Other teams, including the defending World Series champion Washington Nationals and reigning American League champion Houston Astros called off training camp practices after not receiving test results from Friday. The St. Louis Cardinals also scrubbed their scheduled workout for similar reasons.
The cancellations come amid delays around Major League Baseball, with some players opting out, and in the aftermath of Nationals reliever Sean Doolittle criticizing slow test results and a lack of some personal protective equipment.
"Without accurate and timely testing, it is simply not safe for us to continue with summer camp," Washington general manager Mike Rizzo said. "Major League Baseball needs to work quickly to resolve issues with their process and their lab. Otherwise, summer camp and the 2020 season are at risk."
Astros general manager James Click said the delay in testing results and the contagious nature of the coronavirus led to the decision to cancel a full day of workouts.
"Despite these delays over the holiday weekend, we're optimistic that this process will be ironed out and we'll be back on the field and ready to compete for a championship soon," Click said.
Hours later, the Astros said they had received the delayed test results and would work out Tuesday.
MLB said in a statement that 95% of its intake testing had been completed and the Utah laboratory it's using had reported 98% of results, a majority of those a day after samples were collected. MLB said it addressed delays caused by the holiday weekend, doesn't expect them to continue and commended teams for canceling workouts.
But frustration is building around the majors over testing delays.
"We got camps being shut down and people going three and four days without tests. You just don't know what's going on," Los Angeles Dodgers star Mookie Betts said. "And I know it's hard. I'm not blaming or saying this, that and the other. It's hard. But somebody's got to do it. And we have to just figure out the right way to do it."
The Oakland Athletics finally got on the field for their first full-squad workout Monday night after awaiting test results for position players and canceling Sunday's planned session. The start of Monday's workout at the Coliseum was delayed by more than 90 minutes.
"We are here, everybody who went through the intake process has had their results sent to us and I'm looking down at the field at a bunch of position players. We made it to this point," said A's general manager David Forst, who was frustrated by the process.
© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
