Mariners notebook: Update on MLB in 2020 and ways to find some baseball

There have been bits and pieces of news this morning and a couple of questions I have managed to get answer so today we have a revival of the notebook.

Mariners 2B Dee Gordon’s good deeds recognized with Hutch Award

• I had a feeling we might wake up to baseball news of sorts Monday morning. The emphasis here is on “of sorts,” but nonetheless welcome when it comes to the article by ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

While there are no concrete answers on how or when baseball will return, Passan affirms what we have been consistently hearing – that the desire is strong to play ball. He takes it a step further, asserting that the consensus in the game is there will be baseball in 2020. Again, the hows and whens are not answered, but Passan lays out in detail the possibilities, including a super-size playoff scenario. A good read that will get you up to date on what could happen.

• While there is great optimism in Passan’s article for some form of a MLB season, things are not looking good for a minor league season. Not too long ago, Tacoma Rain asked this in the comment section about some younger Mariners players.

“Will this year count as a year of eligibility toward the Rule 5 draft? So a player like (Sam) Carlson will have one less year to prove he is healthy and achieve his goals the M’s organization has set upon him?

“Do players like Sam Delaplane, Joe Rizzo, Juan Then and Wyatt Mills become part of the 2020 Rule 5 draft if they are left unprotected? Or, in other words, do they have to be added onto the 40-man roster in December? This will greatly effect the lives/careers of Gerson Bautista, Braden Bishop, (Daniel) Vogelbach and (Dan) Altavilla.”

While the question of service time for major leaguers was addressed in the agreement between MLB and the MLBPA shortly after the stoppage, the minor leaguers were not part of that agreement as that was a major league negotiations. As of now, no determination of what will be done about Rule 5 or minor league eligibility has been made but those conversations have been ongoing.

• This week’s Mariners Classics, which can be heard on 710 ESPN Seattle each night at  7 p.m., will feature Game 4 and Game 5 of the 2001 ALCS on Monday and Tuesday, the Félix Hernández perfecto on Wednesday, Félix’s final start Thursday, the Chris Bosio no-hitter Friday, Mike Cameron’s 19th-inning walk-off home run game from 2000 on Saturday and James Paxton’s no-hitter Sunday.

• If you are looking for live baseball now, you might be in luck. The KBO League in South Korea is set to start its season May 5 and according to this report, ESPN is making progress in its attempt to secure the US rights to broadcast the games.

The Korean teams have been playing intrasquad games that have been broadcast on YouTube for the past couple of weeks. I’ve tuned in for a couple of them and for me, they did indeed feel like live baseball. There was even a familiar face at first base for the Lotte Giants: Dae-Ho Lee.

All eyes are on the KBO right now to see how they handle bringing back baseball in a pandemic. Everything from what they do they keep the players and staff safe to what the broadcasts look and sound like with no fans to start will be studied as MLB looks to come up with a plan of their own.

• If you are looking for more baseball content to keep you occupied while staying safe at home, why not a virtual tour of the Hall of Fame? The Museum is offering a series of free events and content that include virtual tours, access to the Museum’s Digital Collection, educational ciriculum, transcription opportunities, videos and more. Information can be found here.

Follow 710 ESPN Seattle’s Shannon Drayer on Twitter.

Former Mariners player Mark McLemore on MLB’s return, Astros scandal

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