A’s utility man Chad Pinder is home in Charlotte, North Carolina getting plenty of things done. Watching Netflix, painting nursery furniture, and getting in decent workouts in his garage.
Productive, but not reassuring.
“This is kind of unprecedented in our lifetime, basically to have the nation on hold right now,” Pinder told NBC Sports Bay Area this week. “It is a very scary time, especially in some the areas that are affected bad right now.”
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It was only a few weeks ago Pinder and his Oakland teammates were in Mesa, Arizona getting ready for a highly anticipated 2020 MLB season.
They, like most of the country, didn’t fully interpret the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic at first.
“I don’t know if we initially realized what was going on,” Pinder said. “Thought maybe this would be a two-week break, month maximum. The more information you get, the more you see going around, you realize this is a long-term thing.”
Pinder, a highly-regarded clubhouse leader, now keeps in touch with teammates mostly through text messages.
Oakland Athletics
“We have a group thread, everybody’s talking,” Pinder said.
Their main conversations are about MLB developments, and to keep each other in the loop of when baseball could resume. Players don’t have any more assurances or insights than the average fan does these days. But there are some certainties.
“Even when we resume stuff, there will be residual effects of what’s been going on,” Pinder said.
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That aforementioned nursery project is indeed preparation for Chad and his wife Taylor’s first child, due in the late summer months. He is certainly seeing different perspectives of events right now, as they relate to the future.
“The way we handle this, the way we come out of this,” Pinder said. “We’ll look back on the rest of our lives and remember this time.”