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The Boston Red Sox Wednesday, April 22, 2020 * The Boston Globe Baseball is (almost) back in South Korea. Here’s an inside look at what it’s like Julian McWilliams When Josh Herzenberg landed in South Korea on Feb. 15, he thought he had walked into an apocalypse. Herzenberg, the quality-control coach and pitching coordinator for the Lotte Giants of the Korean Baseball Organization, had been with the team in Australia since Jan. 27 for spring training. There had been warnings of the COVID-19 pandemic making its way to Korea, but Herzenberg didn’t think things would be that desolate when he arrived. “When I got off the plane here on the 15th, everything was shut down,” Herzenberg said during a phone interview. “The stores were open and that was about it.” After approximately a two-week quarantine, Herzenberg said, everything slowly started to open up. He then got back to work. “It’s not normal [in South Korea], but it’s definitely better than what’s going on over there [in the United States],” said Herzenberg, a New York native. “There’s no quarantining, but big public places are still closed.” South Korea announced its first confirmed coronavirus case Jan. 20. The first case in the United States was reported just two days later. The KBO, Korea’s top professional baseball league, announced Tuesday it was planning to begin its season May 5. “We’re kind of treating it now like it’s extended spring training,” said Herzenberg. “Which in some ways is good. We can get some more hands-on time with our minor league guys, put them through individualized development programs. "But on the other hand, we’re here to compete. Our spring training started like Feb. 1, so we’re ready to go. But, yeah, it’s standard operation. Get to the park, get your treatment, get your lift in, play baseball. That aspect of it is pretty regular.” Herzenberg has an extensive baseball background. He played at both SUNY Oneonta and Georgetown before becoming an area scout for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2014. He went on to be an area scout, advance scout, and minor league pitching coach in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization for parts of three years, working closely with Gabe Kapler, who at the time was head of the team’s player development program. After Kapler was hired as the manager of the Philadelphia Phillies in 2018, Herzenberg stepped away from the game for two years, returned home to New York City and worked in finance. The decision to take the job in Korea was a leap of faith, but it also was a reflection of just how much Herzenberg wanted to get back in the game. He had a couple of offers from major league clubs, but he felt this opportunity made the most sense. Looking back, that bold decision turned out to be the best one. “In a lot of ways, we’re fortunate to be over here,” Herzenberg said. “There’s this whole dynamic of, like, we are actually playing baseball every day. It’s definitely a little bit odd to know back home people are staying home and other people are getting sick.” Herzenberg described South Korea’s testing as thorough. When people enter a building, their temperature is taken. Same-day testing is available, with a four-hour turnaround. If someone tests positive, they are immediately sent to a quarantine unit and subject to a thorough contact tracing protocol. At Busan Sajik Baseball Stadium, where the Giants play, Herzenberg said the stadium is equipped with a camera that detects whether your lungs are inflamed. Every part of the stadium is sanitized. The Giants also demand that players wipe down equipment after using it. The team suggested that players not shake hands, but Herzenberg noted handshakes aren’t excessive in Korean culture because many people bow to greet one another. The Lotte Giants have yet to have any confirmed cases of coronavirus. One player did have a fever. He was tested and the facility was shut down for a day before the player’s results came back negative. It’s not baseball as usual in South Korea, but it’s baseball nonetheless. “We’ve been OK here,” Herzenberg said. Minor League Baseball denies agreeing to drop major-league affiliation for 42 teams Michael Silverman A report in Baseball America suggested on Tuesday morning that the once vast impasse between Minor League Baseball and Major League Baseball over a new operating agreement was drawing to a sudden and unexpected resolution, with MiLB deciding it was OK with allowing 42 of its teams to lose major league affiliation. By Tuesday afternoon, MiLB came out with a flat denial of that premise. “Recent articles on the negotiations between MiLB and Major League Baseball (MLB) are largely inaccurate,” read the statement. “There have been no agreements on contraction or any other issues. MiLB looks forward to continuing the good faith negotiations with MLB tomorrow as we work toward an agreement that best ensures the future of professional baseball throughout the United States and Canada.” Not long after MiLB responded, Baseball’s America’s executive editor and author of the story, J.J. Cooper, tweeted MiLB’s statement and added, “Baseball America stands by our reporting, which has also been confirmed in a report by the Associated Press.” Early Tuesday evening, Major League Baseball got out its statement: “Major League Baseball looks forward to meeting with Minor League Baseball tomorrow and continuing our discussion about how we can jointly modernize player development and continue to have baseball in every community where it is currently being played — MLB’s goals since the beginning of our talks. "We remain committed to good faith negotiations at the bargaining table aimed at making progress toward these goals. We will have more to say on these issues as our discussions with MiLB warrant.” The sides are holding a conference call on Wednesday to resume their often contentious negotiations over a new Professional Baseball Agreement that would replace the current one, which expires in September. Baseball America said that MiLB was expected to inform MLB on the phone call that it was accepting contraction. The confusion and contradiction is par for the course for the talks, which began a year ago but turned bitter last October, when word leaked of the 42-team contraction plan. The Lowell Spinners (short-season A) were on the initial list of 42 teams to be contracted, but a baseball source indicated in December that the team was no longer on the list. In fact, MLB has maintained for months that the original list of 42 teams is inaccurate, but it has declined to update it. A spokesperson from MLB was not immediately available for comment. A concession on the contraction issue would represent a major flip-flop in philosophy for MiLB, which has been stridently and outwardly opposed to losing 25 percent of its membership. The organization, based in St. Petersburg, Fla., has led efforts among owners and politicians to fight the plan. With US Representative Lori Trahan of Lowell spearheading the effort, members of Congress created the “Save Minor League Baseball” Task Force, which included more than 100 bipartisan members of the House of Representatives. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in particular was outspoken against MLB’s plan, and Massachusetts senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey also voiced opposition. Minor League Baseball was winning the PR war up until talks and the storyline went quiet in February, when the pandemic began to spread across North America. The Baseball America report said that MiLB was willing to cede power to MLB to choose where its affiliates play. Part of the problem MiLB had initially had with MLB’s plan was for MLB to establish MLB-supported, independent “Dream League” or wood-bat leagues to play in contracted cities and stadiums. There’s no more mention of the Dream League, but according to Baseball America MiLB would want to work with MLB on maintaining teams in the affected cities. Numerous furloughs have been announced among minor-league teams in the wake of the sports freeze, and MLB told its clubs they could furlough staff beginning next month. * The Boston Herald As baseball restarts in South Korea, can MLB learn from the KBO? Jason Mastrodonato Baseball is back, just not in the United States. At 1 a.m. EDT on Tuesday morning (2 p.m. in South Korea), the Korean Baseball Organization, one of the top-three professional baseball leagues in the world, made its triumphant return. While MLB and Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball have yet to make solid plans to resume play, the baseball world is getting a good look at a potential return to play in South Korea. Though the first coronavirus cases in both South Korea and the United States were confirmed on the same day, there were just eight new cases of the coronavirus in South Korea on Sunday. In contrast, the CDC reported at least 25,000 new cases in the U.S. on Sunday. MLB is far away from a plan to return. Yet there will be a lot of eyes on South Korea, where former big leaguers like former Red Sox prospect Casey Kelly will suit up for a preseason slate that began Tuesday, with regular season games to begin on May 5. The KBO isn’t just a place for struggling big leaguers to make a paycheck. All-Star pitcher Hyun-Jun Ryu began his careers there. And guys like Eric Thames and Miles Mikolas restarted their careers there before returning to success in the big leagues.