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While Jon Daniels is ‘optimistic’ about baseball’s return, Rangers’ Elvis Andrus still sees challenges

The shortstop, a member of the MLB Players Association’s Executive Board, is a test case on social distancing.

They will train in Arlington. They might play a couple of exhibition games, but intra-squad games are OK, too. They have started the process of roster construction. They have even engaged in some internal conversations about contracts and possible extensions.

On Tuesday, for the first time in 10 weeks, Rangers general manager Jon Daniels actually talked about baseball again as if the possibility of a season is really tangible.

“I’m optimistic,” he allowed.

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It’s not “it’s all gravy, baby,” but probably about as close as he’s going to come.

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“There are two major topics to discuss,” Daniels said. “The first and most important is health and safety for everybody. If that can be worked out, the other item in the bucket, the financial element, I think will fall into place.”

And then I talked to Elvis Andrus.

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The shortstop, also the team’s player rep and a member of the MLB Players Association’s Executive Board, is a test case on social distancing. Nobody is in his teammates’ hair as much as Andrus. If he’s not patting Adrian Beltre on the head, he’s the first one out of the dugout on home run celebrations, the creator of complex high-fives, the dumper of Powerade.

Forget the money and the pre-game protocols on testing, new rules of travel and the lack of clubhouse showers for a minute. How exactly is Andrus supposed to play baseball if he can’t simply express the joy the competition brings him?

“It’s going to be too hard,” Andrus said. “Really, really, really hard. I feel like the first recommendation is a beginning, but from a player perspective, I think it’s a little off. We know it’s not going to be a normal season. And it’s easy to talk about a lot of regulations from the outside, but it’s not baseball as I know it. I’ve been high-fiving people my whole life. Stuff that happens on the field comes from an emotional moment. That’s a big adjustment to make.”

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Taken on its own, being demonstrative is hardly a make-or-break issue for getting the game back. But fans aren’t going to see players having their temperatures taken. They aren’t going to see players restricted to their hotels on road trips. Those are far more suffocating. And necessary.

But celebration and emotion has become a key element to the game. Baseball all but marketed the celebrations when it launched it’s “we play loud” campaign.

Now, players are going to be asked to take all the risks of exposure — and for less money — and they can’t express themselves while doing so?

“We have to go through the due diligence,” Andrus said in his best union rep voice. “We want to be safe, but we also want to put a good product on the field for people. We want to feel free to play the game. We feel like with all the risk we are taking, we’ve earned the right to do things our way. For me, if you change the game that much, is it worth it at all?"

Andrus isn’t alone. A week ago, Kyle Gibson, one of two Rangers players with a compromised immune system, said he couldn’t imagine pitching without licking his fingers between pitches. Forbidden. Joey Gallo couldn’t spit sunflower seeds. Players would have to be separated in the dugout. Teams promote the idea of bonding and “chemistry.” The protocols run completely contrary to those ideals.

The game would have a foreign enough look and a distant enough feel with no fans in the stands. Add in enough other small disruptions, and at some point, it does become too much of an obstacle.

The good news here is MLB is being thorough. The guidebook is a recommendation. It is far easier to identify and discuss as many potential health risks as possible, no matter how small, and rescind some of them than it is to enter a surreal season unaware.

“We had the Bash Brothers in ’80s; we had fist-bumps, I think we’ll find some alternative,” Daniels said. “To me, those kinds of things aren’t going to be a major issue. This is about reducing our risk. We aren’t going to be able to eliminate it.”

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What is becoming clear is that players know that to play the game, they will have to accept some health risks along the way.

Andrus’ point: Worry about health and safety off the field. Let the players — with full knowledge of the issues — worry about it on the field.

“I want to play this year,” Andrus said. “I’m still counting on playing. I’m crazy about playing. But I want us to feel as comfortable as possible on the field when we are doing that.”

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