Report: Rays to reopen Tropicana Field for player workouts next week
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The Tampa Bay Rays will reopen Tropicana Field on Monday for individual player workouts, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Workouts will be limited to those players who are on the Rays' 40-man roster, according to Topkin. They'll also do their work in small groups of no more than a few players. Only playing catch, running and other cardio exercises, and some light weight work will initially be permitted; pitchers won't have access to the mound.
This will be the first official team activity for the Rays since a group of players gathered at the team's spring-training facility in Port Charlotte, Florida, on March 17.
It's unclear how many players will attend the workouts once Tropicana Field reopens. Rays manager Kevin Cash told Topkin that a majority of his players are either in the Tampa Bay area or in Port Charlotte.
Some teams, including the Miami Marlins, are starting to reopen their spring facilities to players, while a few other clubs have kept their spring headquarters open for a select few players to work out.
MLB and the players' association are still negotiating plans for what would be an 82-game regular season that would likely begin in early July. Teams would need to reassemble for a second spring training before the season.
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