Everyone wants to see baseball return as soon as possible. But the idea of taking all the players and quarantining them in one city for several months due to the global coronavirus pandemic is facing resistance.
Giants outfielder Hunter Pence and his wife Lexi joined NBC Sports Bay Area's Triples Alley hosts Friday for an interview, and they were asked for their thoughts on the proposal.
"It would suck for Hunter to go and be quarantined in a hotel or wherever they might do it, but it's such a double-edged sword," Lexi Pence said on the "Shelter On Base" show. "I feel like the world needs baseball right now, maybe not the world, but the US needs baseball right now, we need some sort of normalcy, we need something to look forward to on TV, we need something to root for and I feel baseball is such a great thing to do that for. It's America's pastime, it just makes sense.
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"But at the same time, selfishly, it's so hard to separate the guys from their families, especially for two or four months, I think they were saying, you're talking dads with their kids, you're talking moms being alone and having to raise their children, that's a huge ask and I do know guys get paid really well, and sure, that makes sense, but that's a really big ask."
The Pences don't have any kids, but Hunter was concerned how players with young kids or kids on the way would handle the situation.
"Yeah, I think you just have to look at the families, like Mike Trout came out and said his wife is about to have their first baby and he's not going to miss that," Hunter said. "There's so many things I can't imagine missing out on months and months of your kids growing up in their young ages. I don't have all the answers. I'm going to try to do my best to do whatever it takes to get baseball back running again and hopefully things work out in a calmer, clearer way.
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On April 6, ESPN reported that MLB and the players' association were working on a plan to hold the 2020 season in Arizona with players being quarantined in hotels, away from their families for up to four months.
[RELATED: Pence using wiffle ball to prepare]
A few days later, another reported proposal called for the league to undergo a radical one-year realignment based on spring training sites. Instead of the American and National Leagues, teams would be grouped by the Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues.
"It's great that they are coming up with options, but we also need to be realistic about the options," Lexi said.