Mariners Moose Tracks, 7/4/20: Mike Trout, Cleveland’s name, & baseball excitement/concern

Happy Fourth of July to those of you in the United States! To those of you outside of the U.S., happy fourth of July. Lots of tidbits to read through today as you work brisket and potato salad out of your teeth.

In Mariners news...

• Friday was the first day of in-building workouts for the Mariners, using both T-Mobile Park and CenturyLink Field to get space for all their players. That meant looks at old faithfuls...

exciting young’ns...

and completely fresh faces, welcome Emerson Hancock:

• Players were in motion, even, with some Kelenic BP,

and Scott Servais having slightly more trouble:

• Despite the cancellation of the minor league season, the Tacoma Rainiers still put on a fireworks display for all within eyesight and earshot.
• The Mariners have already had at least a few positive COVID-19 tests.

• Félix Hernández weighed in with some encouragement to teammates and others league-wide.

Around the league...

• Jayson Stark spoke to some epidemic experts, and dug into the questionable ethics of having the season’s continuation solely in the hands of the commissioner.
• The 2022 All-Star Game will be held in Los Angeles, hosted by the Dodgers, as a makeup for the cancellation of the 2020 ASG which L.A. would have hosted.
• Ken Rosenthal and Zack Meisel at The Athletic report that Cleveland is considering a new name for their baseball team, following a similar statement from Washington D.C.’s football team.
• Cleveland’s star shortstop, Francisco Lindor, showed up to camp with a new bubble-gum aesthetic that graces this article’s header photo.
• The Brewers are just having too much fun now.

• Astros slugger and Rookie of the Year, Yordan Alvarez, is not in camp for an undisclosed reason.
• Mike Trout laid out a number of concerns with the league’s health and safety protocols, and noted he did not feel comfortable with playing and was still undecided on if he would ultimately play in 2020.

• Rays ace Charlie Morton echoed Trout’s discomfort, with uncertainty about how to handle things in the short-term.
• Bryce Harper wants J.T. Realmuto to be extended by the Phillies.
• Despite nearly his entire family testing positive and experiencing varying degrees of intensity from COVID-19, Archie Bradley has tested negative repeatedly for the virus.
• Gerrit Cole’s son was born healthy, and took the opportunity to note Aaron Hicks may be a historical anomaly.

• Over at FanGraphs, Ben Clemens looked into how rotation depth might play a role in an abbreviated season.
• Not to be outdone by Lindor, Ronald Acuna Jr. has a new look himself.

• Giants RHP Jeff Samardzija did not mince words, in a helpful barometer for where some players are at in their sense of faith in team owners.

• Is Tropicana Field’s parking lot built on and old graveyard? Well... some folks want to find out.
• MLB and MLBPA released the first, large round of testing data results:

John’s pick...

• I thought these were donuts at first...