CC Sabathia had high praise for Shohei Ohtani recently on the Uninterrupted's R2C2 podcast.

"He's the best baseball player I've ever seen in my life," Sabathia said of the Los Angeles Angels' two-way star.

"Are you kidding me? [He] can hit the ball 900 feet and throw the ball 99 mph off the mound," Sabathia continued. "Who else is doing that? Who else is doing that, bro? There's nobody else doing that at the big league level."

This year's Baseball Hall of Fame class will have to wait another year for their moment in Cooperstown.

The Hall of Fame announced Wednesday that it has canceled the July 26 induction ceremony because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The 2020 class will be included at next year'sfestivities -- along with any additional new choices -- on July 25, 2021.

Derek Jeter and Larry Walker were to be inducted with catcher Ted Simmons and the late Marvin Miller.

Next year's group of first-time eligible players has no odds-on favorites. Torii Hunter and Mark Buehrle are among the players who will be on the BBWAA ballot for the first time.

The Tampa Bay Rays are reportedly the first Major League Baseball team known to plan furloughs of some full-time employees because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The club's temporary cost-cutting measures will take effect on Saturday.

Staff was informed of the plan by principal owners Stuart Sternberg and team presidents Matt Silverman and Brian Auld earlier this week. The Tampa Bay Times reported the furloughs are believed to involve less than half the club's 400-to-500 full-time employees.

Yadier Molina wants to play beyond this year, but his three-year, $60 million contract with the St. Louis Cardinals expires after the 2020 season.

Molina, 38, said before the coronavirus pandemic that he only wanted to continue his career if it was with the Cardinals. That has now changed.

"I previously said that if it wasn't with St. Louis, that I would go home. If we were unable to come to an extension agreement, that I would retire. But the situation with this pandemic has changed everything. Right now, I'm thinking of playing two more years," Molina said.

"Obviously, St. Louis is my first option. But if they don't sign me, then I'm willing to go into free agency. This situation has changed my mentality, and all I want to do is play."

Molina wants to continue exploring an extension with the Cardinals that reaches through 2022, but he is open to options elsewhere if no agreement is reached.

"Before this terrible situation happened, I thought there was a 50/50 chance that the 2020 campaign would be my last. Not now," the catcher said. "The most important thing right now is people's health and getting past this pandemic. It's a very difficult situation. After we accomplish that, after we're able to start the 2020 season, then I'd like to have that conversation."

Major League Baseball is searching for ways to start the 2020 season and a report indicates that July 4th could be a key date.

"The most realistic time range for Opening Day — somewhere between mid-June and July 4, in the view of most officials — would allow for an 80- to 100-game regular season, with the schedule running through October," Ken Rosenthal reports. "An expanded postseason at neutral sites might follow, with the World Series ending in late November or early December."

MLB's owners and players both have the goal of maximizing the number of games in the season and thus maximize revenues.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are suspending retirement benefits for members of the club's baseball operations staff amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Ben Cherington says the team has been searching for ways to find savings with the 2020 season on hold. The temporary suspension of retirement benefits is part of an effort to avoid any potential personnel cutbacks.

"We did identify the retirement contributions at least temporarily as an area where we might find some savings without too much impact on people, in terms of their every-day lives," the general manager said. "Our full expectation is that the contribution will go back into effect as soon as possible."

Manny Ramirez misses baseball and hopes to return to the game in Taiwan at age 48.

Ramirez, 48, briefly played in the Chinese Professional Baseball League in 2013.

In an interview published Wednesday by the Taiwan Times, Ramirez told the newspaper that he hopes to land a roster spot this year in the CPBL.

The league has attracted worldwide attention in recent months as the first major professional baseball league to start its 2020 season amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Trey Mancini doubts he will play this season if Major League Baseball does return.

The Baltimore Orioles outfielder revealed he is recovering from stage 3 colon cancer and is facing six months of chemotherapy.

Mancini had a port put into his chest on April 6 and began chemotherapy on April 13 to treat stage 3 colon cancer. He'll have chemo every two weeks.

"I'm getting chemo at a hospital in Baltimore, and I have to drive up there alone," he wrote on The Players' Tribune. "Nobody is allowed to come in with me, and that's completely fine by me. I don't want anybody else being put at risk -- people that are close to me and that I love, and other people in the hospital. You just never know. COVID-19 has spread so quickly. I'm definitely trying to follow all the protocols, not only because it's the right thing to do, but also because I don't want to expose myself to anything, especially before going into chemotherapy."

New York governor Andrew Cuomo says he can envision a scenario where there are baseball games played in Yankee Stadium and Citi Field this season.

"If players could get paid more than staying home and owners would get some revenue versus total shutdown, why not? I'd love to watch." Cuomo said during a Sunday press briefing, noting he has spoken with owners of professional sports teams, but he did not identify which ones.

"It would have to be up to them, that they do an economic analysis that says, yeah, some revenue is better than no revenue, and my players are willing to negotiate a contract reduction," Cuomo added. "Everybody has to think outside the box, right? Because there is no box."

Longtime Major League Baseball scout and executive George Zurow has died in Florida at 89.

Zurow was a longtime scout for the Cincinnati Reds and executive for the Seattle Mariners.

He started his scouting career with the Pittsburgh Pirates and worked for Cincinnati from 1968 to 1988 during the glory years of the Big Red Machine. Zurow went from Cincinnati to Seattle, where he was an assistant vice president. He also worked for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Tampa Bay Rays before retiring in 2007.