Elephant Rumblings: Arizona will open for pro sports on May 16

Good morning, Athletics Nation!

The latest news in the sports world comes out of Arizona, where the governor announced that major pro sports could resume in the state on May 16, which is this-coming Saturday. Any games played would have to be without fans in attendance.

This is especially interesting news given that Arizona is one of the primary locations mentioned in past plans by the league and players union. Those one/two/three-state concepts aren’t currently under consideration anymore, but it’s nice to know that one of the more potentially useful locations will be available if and when it comes time to start playing again.

Before it comes time to figure where to play, though, MLB still has other major hurdles to jump through. One is the safety of the whole operation, with lots of players and personnel needing to be in various levels of contact or at least proximity. Will they be able to get tests, and personal protective equipment, etc.? What happens if someone tests positive? The league sent a safety proposal to the union this week for feedback and approval.

The other is money. The owners want to cut player salaries to make up for the lack of fans in attendance, but it sounds like that’s not something the players are ready to accept. Both sides seem to be digging in their heels, so hopefully they can come to an agreement so that salary disputes aren’t the reason we don’t have baseball later this summer.

The two sides will continue negotiating today. Stay tuned to find out more!

A’s Coverage:

• Hickey: Athletics Can Be Happy MLB is Making the Move to a Universal Designated Hitter
• Hickey: What if MLB Owners, Players Can’t Agree? Athletics Would Be Badly Impacted
• Slusser: A’s Gone By: Reggie Jackson thinks baseball could be back soon ($)
• Nico: Baseball Olympics Reach “High Hurdles” Event
• Hall: Today in Oakland A’s history (5/12): Chief Bender throws no-hitter in 1910

MLB News & Interest:

• Associated Press: Arizona governor says pro sports can resume without fans May 16
• Bickley: Arizona opens doors to major sports leagues looking to resume
• Passan: Passan’s 20 questions: Why financial battle over 2020 MLB season is about to get really, really ugly
• Rosenthal: MLB to submit health, safety protocols to union for input, approval ($$$)
• Kuty: Ex-Yankee Mark Teixeira: Players shouldn’t fight owners’ pay proposal to restart baseball
• Mayo: Here are the top prospects for the 2020 Draft
• McWilliams: What I learned after watching a week’s worth of Korean baseball
• Clair: Nothing can top a walk-off homer hit from the knees
• Langs: Best performances by position players pitching
• Byrne: Remembering The No. 1 Picks: 2000-09
• Stavenhagen: Beyond perfect: Armando Galarraga, 10 years after the call ($$$)
• Today in Baseball History

Best of Twitter:

Sounds like a big step!

Welp

Counterpoint

Only a 6-tweet thread this time

More importantly, would they still have traded Harden for a then-unknown Josh Donaldson in 2008?

But if we’re using at-bats instead of plate appearances, than Jose only even reached 500 five times, and 600 three times, so ...