MLB, union discuss health, test proposal

Major League Baseball hopes to test players and coaches multiple times per week this season as part of their presented health proposal to the Players Association.

This is according to a report by Jared Diamond and Louise Radnofsky.

MLB rosters are expected to be expanded to 30 players, and when factoring coaches, training staff and umpires, that will account for thousands of tests per week and tens of thousands over the course of the abbreviated season.

The league plans to partner with the Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory and turn it into a coronavirus testing facility. That facility currently performs the league's PED tests. MLB has said they do not want to hoard tests away from the general public.

A positive test would not result in a stoppage of play. Any person who tests positive will be quarantined, and their team will be more closely monitored.

The South Korean Baseball Organizaion, the KBO, has a provision that if a player tests positive, play would be stopped for at least three weeks. The KBO has also banned spitting, handshakes and high-fives to try to curb the spread, and while MLB could do something similar, it would be hard to enforce.

The health component is the most important part to both sides as the Players Association and league negotiate a plan to start the 2020 season. Revenue sharing still represents the greatest obstacle though, as it would require players to take an even deeper paycut than the prorated salaries both sides agreed to back in March.