CLEVELAND — The Guardians had boarded their charter to Kansas City for their inaugural series, with spring training complete and a 162-game season on deck.
And then the plane sat on the runway for about 25 minutes with no explanation. Something was wrong, and the prevailing narrative from at least several members of the tour party, sources said, was that the team was dealing with José Ramírez. The All-Star third baseman would be escorted off the plane and instructed to join his new club.
Of course that wasn’t the case. The delay was an entirely unrelated matter. And before long, Ramírez was telling everyone within earshot that he would remain with the organization for years to come.
That brief shock, however, was a fitting ending to a chaotic day that began with stalled contract renewal talks, required creative means of communication and included trade offers and a full-uniform pseudo-coach who called in a Lyft to broker a franchise-changing conversation in the office the guest manager at the Arizona Diamondbacks ballpark.
Terry Francona had dreaded April 5 for weeks. The Guardians had planned split-squad actions at Chase Field against the Diamondbacks and at Salt River Field against the Rockies. The problem was that the minor league players and coaches had already fled Arizona to join their affiliates. As a result, a lot of teenagers had to fill in in the late innings, and Agustin Rivero, the team’s interpreter who also assists the coaching staff, had to serve as Salt River’s first base coach.