PORT ST. LUCIE — Max Scherzer isn’t personally affected, but he had a difficult time Wednesday comprehending the idea of a vaccine requirement to play baseball in New York.
“Hopefully logic prevails,” the Mets pitcher, who is vaccinated, said.
With almost a month before they play their first game at Citi Field, the hope among the Mets is players unvaccinated against COVID-19 won’t become an issue.
Mayor Eric Adams said during a press conference in Queens on Wednesday that he’s searching for a solution, but added the health of everyone in New York City is his top priority and any possible easing of COVID regulations would be on his timeline, not the schedules of the Mets or Yankees.
Brandon Nimmo, the Mets’ union representative, admitted he was caught off guard when he learned this week of the mandate. But the outfielder said there isn’t much concern in the clubhouse.
“Right now we are still 3 ½ weeks away, so a lot can happen,” Nimmo said. “When we get to that time, we can address it. Right now we’re just going to focus on baseball, we’ll see where all that stuff lands. If it comes time we’ll address that stuff.”
On Tuesday, The Post reported only about 55 percent of the Mets players were vaccinated at one point last season. Nimmo didn’t dispute that figure. Overall, the Mets had a 77 percent vaccination rate last season, but that figure included coaches and staff.
The Post asked seven Mets players Wednesday whether they were vaccinated. From that group, three players (Scherzer, Jeff McNeil and Robinson Cano) said they were vaccinated. Four others (Nimmo, Pete Alonso, Dominic Smith and J.D. Davis) declined to answer.
“I don’t know where we are now — we have many new guys,” Nimmo said. “I do know one thing: [A mandate] would affect baseball a lot more than it did basketball, so we’ll see where we’re at.”
Alonso said he isn’t concerned the Mets will be affected.
“I am sure that everything is going to get taken care of,” Alonso said. “It’s one of those things we have to navigate through. It’s a repercussion of the pandemic. It’s a complicated thing.”
The mandate has prevented Nets star Kyrie Irving from playing in home games this season. Alonso said he was unaware that Irving was prohibited from playing home games.
“I guess that is his prerogative,” Alonso said.
If the mandate stands, MLB players could be faced with lost pay and lost service time for games in which they don’t play.
“This is completely new,” Nimmo said. “We thought we had everything hashed out [in the collective bargaining agreement negotiations] and this is completely new.”
Nimmo mentioned the rule that reporters have to wear face coverings in the clubhouse — players and team employees are exempt from the edict — as an example of the inconsistencies occurring throughout the COVID fight. Nimmo said he argued against the face coverings for reporters in the CBA negotiations.
“I think there’s a lot of things that need to get hashed out and rethought,” he said. “Just because we did something one way for a while doesn’t mean it’s always the best decision. Saying, ‘That is the way we always did it,’ is not a good enough reason. Things change, information changes.”
