San Diego Padres News: Spring training canceled amid coronavirus outbreak

Major League Baseball canceled the remainder of spring training and at least the first two weeks of the regular season. What now for the San Diego Padres?

Welp, the worst possible news came on Thursday when Major League Baseball followed suit of the NBA, NHL, the NCAA basketball tournament, among others, and canceled the rest of spring training. The San Diego Padres’ Opening Day is going to be pushed back at least two weeks as well.

Per AJ Cassavell, the team was called into a meeting to discuss the remainder of spring training, but it sounds like players will remain at Peoria Sports Complex training and pitchers throwing. And while reps in the exhibitions aren’t necessarily important, having what is likely to be a month off before game action is not going to be productive.

We can only hope that two weeks of the regular season is all that’s missed. This is a surreal moment in history, and it’s usually a very exciting time in sports with the tournament, the Masters, and the start of the baseball season, all coinciding within a month.

Other News

• The Padres cut five more from the roster – before spring training was canceled – and Adrian Morejon and Taylor Trammell were among those cuts. Morejon recently turned 21, but he had a rather disastrous spring. And after surviving the first waves of cuts, Trammell is likely to start the year at Triple-A and could be called up later in the season.
• Pierce Johnson was among those most vocal about the situation, stating that when MLB first posed the idea of playing without fans, “Everybody wants to play in front of fans for the atmosphere, but fans thrive off that atmosphere, too.” Johnson was in a battle for one of the final bullpen spots, so it’ll be interesting to see if he latches on here.
• Around the league, the Governor of Illinois has asked that Chicago Cubs fans not attend home games until May 1, which would make the Padres-Cubs series April 21-23 less exciting.

Stay safe, friends.