The Washington Nationals' spring facility in West Palm Beach, Florida, is the latest to be turned into a testing area to fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

"Our [spring] complex is being used as a coronavirus testing site until further notice," Mike Rizzo said. "So we're going to shut it down to all players and staff completely while the county and National Guard use it for testing."

At first, spring training facilities were left open during the shutdown, but with more shelter-in-place orders, parking lots and stadiums are being repurposed.

Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, FedEx Field in Washington and Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, are just a few of the others that have been turned into testing centers.

As Major League Baseball considers various ways to create a schedule for whenever the coronavirus pandemic subsides, players have shown concern about what that could mean for their health.

"The player safety piece is a big thing," Tucker Barnhart said.

Barnhart is a union representative for the Cincinnati Reds.

"Moving forward, I don't think you can do things that are going to compromise the integrity of next season, as well. What I mean by that is forcing the issue of getting so many games in that you risk injury, and you risk major injury to players, because you are trying to get in as many games as you can," he said.

"This is all assumptions and thoughts from me specifically -- it's not from the union -- but you're going to have to protect us as players," Barnhart continued. "And if you can't do that, I think that would be where I personally would kind of draw the line."

Amid all the possible contingency plans for the 2020 Major League Baseball season, the fate of the All-Star Game hangs in the balance.

The festivities are scheduled for July 10-13 at Dodger Stadium.

MLBPA executive director Tony Clark told reporters there has been no decision regarding the All-Star Game yet.

"The players are open to having a discussion about just about everything. Obviously the calendar is going to dictate a lot of what can and cannot be done. But right now no door is closed," Clark said.

MLB and the MLBPA both want to play as many games as possible, which could mean canceling the All-Star Game and using the four-day All-Star break to make up regular season games.

Scott Boras doesn't agree with the agreement reached between Major League Baseball and the players' union to possibly shorten the draft and limit the financial pool for amateur players.

Under terms of the agreement, Rob Manfred has the discretion to shorten the 2020 draft from 40 rounds to as few as five rounds, according to sources.

"For owners to do this to these young men, who are so passionate about baseball, is something that they need to examine their conscience," Boras said. "More kids will have to go to [college]. And anyone not taken among the top 200 players will have to go back to school."

Players drafted in 2020 will get only $100,000 of their bonus this year. The remaining amount will be split into payments made in July 2021 and July 2022, according to sources.

"I'm a big proponent of college, so I want these kids to get their education, but what really bothers me is that kids outside the fifth round deserve their bonuses," Boras added. "And now they're freezing their [bonuses] for the next two years, and are paying them late."

Two Chicago Cubs employees have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.

The pair attended an annual training session at Wrigley Field on March 8.

According to a club spokesman, one was hospitalized and the other was recovering at home.

The Chicago Sun-Times first reported the positive results.

Rob Manfred says Major League Baseball has completed its investigation into allegations that the Boston Red Sox stole signs illegally during the 2018 season.

"We are done with the investigation," Manfred said. "There's been a delay in terms of producing a written report, just because I, frankly, have not had time to turn to it with the other issues. But we will get a Boston report out before we resume play."

Major League Baseball was supposed to begin play on Thursday.

The Chicago White Sox have optioned Michael Kopech to Triple-A Charlotte.

The 23-year-old missed last season after he had Tommy John surgery in September 2018, but he hit triple-digits on the radar gun during his first spring training appearance on March 10.

Chicago acquired Kopech in the December 2016 trade that sent Chris Sale to the Boston Red Sox.

Fanatics, the company that manufactures uniforms for Major League Baseball, has suspended production on jerseys and is instead using the fabric to make masks and gowns for hospitals in Pennsylvania and nearby states.

Michael Rubin, founder and executive chairman of Fanatics, came up with the idea to turn the 360,000-square-foot facility in Easton, Pennsylvania, into a factory for the COVID-19 virus fight.

While Rubin considered how he could make it happen, St. Luke's Hospital in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, reached out late last week about the possibility of the company manufacturing masks. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and Attorney General Josh Shapiro each contacted Rubin over the weekend and told Rubin the state was in "dire need" of more masks and gowns.

Fanatics developed a prototype that was approved by the state's emergency agency and by Tuesday the company halted production of all baseball jerseys.

Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association have agreed to a deal on salary and service-time issues, allowing baseball to prepare for a season delayed indefinitely by the coronavirus pandemic, according to sources.

The agreement came after nearly two weeks of negotiations that involved players, owners, agents, executives, union officials and commissioner's office staff.

Both sides want to play as many games as possible, with an eye on returning to training camps in mid-May and starting games as early as June -- even if they are played with no fans in attendance.

The flexibility of both sides was seen in the willingness to extend the regular season into October, play neutral-site playoff games in November and add doubleheaders to the schedule.

Players pushed to receive, and did win, a full year of service time, which counts days toward free agency, arbitration and pension, even in the event of a canceled season.

The best-case scenario for the baseball season looks like a return to play in June, something that Major League Baseball and the union are hopeful can happen.

It remains to be seen whether that's a realistic goal.

A number of team executives have suggested that players will need four weeks to get ready for Opening Day.

In addition, MLB and the union have made significant progress on a service time agreement. Players would get the same amount of service time for 2020 that they got in 2019 if the season is called off, according to reports.

That would mean, for example, that Mookie Betts would become a free agent before ever playing a game for the Los Angeles Dodgers.