TAMPA — The Yankees don’t know when the coronavirus will loosen its chokehold on the world enough for big league baseball to resume.
What they do understand is this: When the season reboots, the Yankees want to be ready to take the initial step toward winning the organization’s first World Series since 2009.
At a meeting at George M. Steinbrenner Field on Friday, the Yankees could have voted to go home, go to New York or stay in Tampa.
“They gave us the option of what we wanted to do. We decided as a team we wanted to stay here and continue working out and getting ready for whenever the season is,’’ Zack Britton said while standing in the parking lot. “It was unanimous, everyone wants to stay here and get ready to go for when the season starts back.’’
Getting even 10 men to agree on anything is an upset. Egos, agendas and politics get in the way. Yet the Yankees found a way for 50 players to agree that it was important to remain together and believe it was safe in a time when the world has been smothered by the virus.
“Whatever guys wanted to do we were going to do but we wanted to be ready for whenever the season starts,’’ Britton said.
Major League Baseball released a statement Thursday informing teams the rest of spring training was being called off and at least the first two weeks of the regular season would be canceled. The belief of many in the game, however, is Opening Day will be delayed longer and could stretch into May.
The unanimous vote sent a message to everybody in the room.
“Guys are here to win. Guys are here to win a World Series. Whether or not we have a chance at it this year guys want to be ready for when that opportunity comes,’’ Britton said. “I was happy to know we are all pulling in the same direction. We have a great clubhouse and guys want to stick it out here. They could have easily decided to go home and be with their families and they decided we want to stick together.’’
Hal Steinbrenner made the vote easier.
“Hal Steinbrenner spoke to us and he is going to give us access to the facility, they are going to supply us with breakfast in the morning. It’s not crazy organized but we are going to have some structure to it for guys who want to hit or throw bullpens,’’ Britton said of the workouts, which will begin Saturday. “It was nice of Hal.’’
Britton said MLB and the Players Association are working to set guidelines under which clubs and players will work.
“Maybe we will have a better idea of a concrete schedule,’’ Britton said.
Since MLB decided to end spring training, the situation has changed almost hourly. That isn’t expected to change.
“I would say that on a daily basis moving forward, as we just recently experienced, things will continue to change and evolve and we will adjust accordingly,’’ general manager Brian Cashman said on a conference call. “As we move forward, our facility will be available and we shall provide support for players that choose to be here with informal abilities to allow them to get some work in at various times during the day.’’
According to Britton, the Yankees have been diligent about keeping the workplace safe.
“They had a company come in there and sanitize the clubhouse for a while now, like every morning and we are going to keep that up,’’ Britton said. “Having the Yankee doctors down here and all the resources, I feel like if we are going to get sick, it’s better off doing that here where we have the resources of the Yankees. I don’t think anybody feels scared of us getting the coronavirus, and if we do, we will combat it. Maybe somebody will get it, maybe somebody won’t. Who knows, right? Regardless of what happens, we are in a good spot being down here with the resources they have from a doctors standpoint.’’