The St. Louis Cardinals are making roster moves even as the season is on hold because of the coronavirus outbreak. The club moved right-hander Jake Woodford, infielder Edmundo Sosa and outfielders Austin Dean and Justin Williams to Triple-A Memphis. For Sosa, this is the last year he can be optioned to the minors. Next year he has to make the major league squad or be placed on waivers.
Boston Red Sox lefty Chris Sale will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the 2020 season. Boston made the announcement two weeks after saying that the seven-time All-Star had a flexor strain near the elbow, but at the time the team had hoped Sale could recover without surgery. Sale is entering the second season of a six-year, $160 million contract. After helping the Red Sox win the 2018 World Series, he was 6-11 with a 4.40 ERA last year.
Major League Baseball called off what was to have been its first two regular-season games in Mexico City, along with a three-game series in Puerto Rico because of COVID-19. Arizona and San Diego were to have played on April 18th-19th in Mexico City. The New York Mets and Miami had been scheduled to play a three-game series in San Juan from April 28th -30th. If the games are rescheduled, they would be at the home teams’ ballparks in Phoenix and Miami.
Major League Baseball is working on a plan to compensate its minor league players. The MLB announced yesterday that all minor-leaguers will be paid through April 8th, and they are working on a deal to compensate them after that. Each player will get a 400-dollar-per-week allowance for each of the next three weeks.