One SF Giants beat writer is extremely upset about MLB's coronavirus-related clubhouse ban

Oakland Athletics warm up with partially constructed new scoreboard in background before playing San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, March 25, 2019. Oakland Athletics warm up with partially constructed new scoreboard in background before playing San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, March 25, 2019. Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 32 Caption Close One SF Giants beat writer is extremely upset about MLB's coronavirus-related clubhouse ban 1 / 32 Back to Gallery

On Monday afternoon, four major American professional sports leagues announced collectively that media would be indefinitely banned from clubhouses as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Many sportswriters did not like this move. Andrew Baggarly, the San Francisco Giants beat writer for The Athletic, was particularly incensed.

"Asinine," Baggarly wrote on Twitter. "This is opportunistically restrictive and not grounded in common sense at all. In what other transactional relationship is this going to be the policy? Do players have to maintain 6-8 feet from waiters, bank tellers and the dude behind the Starbucks counter, too?"

Baggarly wasn't done.

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"If true, this is not a sensible precaution," Baggarly wrote. "This is brain dead, simple-minded, follow-the-leader, fear-paralyzed, suspension-of-reason bulls—."

Baggarly was far from the only scribe expressing his frustration with MLB's measures. Some Giants beat writers shared Baggarly's tweets; others responded with jokes. The Baseball Writers' Association of America issued a statement, acknowledging that maintaining a healthy workplace in this enviornment is "paramount" but ultimately calling the decision "disappointing."

And the eminent Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic penned a column, expressing the fear that the temporary ban is just a soft way to introduce permanent expulsion from the clubhouse.

"My concern, and the concern of many other reporters, is that MLB and the other leagues will find the temporary arrangement rather satisfying and make closed locker rooms the new norm," Rosenthal wrote. "That would be a problem, and not because we would be prevented from doing our jobs. We could still do them, just not as well, and readers would be less enlightened as a result."

For low-risk populations, the CDC recommends practicing social distancing — defined as maintaining a distance of six feet — only if an individual is displaying flu-like symptoms.

Michael Rosen is an SFGATE digital editor. Email: michael.rosen@sfgate.com.