Rizzo on employee payments, season prep and Nats charities

In addition to paying all full-time employees' salaries through at least the end of May, the Nationals have not yet discussed asking for the organization's highest-paid employees to reduce their salaries while baseball is shut down during the coronavirus pandemic.

General manager Mike Rizzo, during his regular conference call with reporters today, confirmed the Lerner family's recent commitment to pay all full-time employees full salary and benefits through May, following a trend established by nearly every Major League Baseball club in recent days.

"The Lerner family committed to pay Nationals employees full pay and benefits through the month of May, which we appreciate," Rizzo said. "It's an evolving situation. Nobody knows how it will play out. But we're grateful to the Lerner family for their loyalty."

For now, Nationals ownership hasn't made any decisions about payments beyond May. A decision by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred this week to suspend all Uniform Employee Contracts due to the national emergency opens the door for any clubs to lay off, furlough or suspend payments to full-time employees, but to date, no teams are known to have done so.

Manfred did agree with other senior staff at MLB's league offices to reduce their salaries by an average of 35 percent this year, and a handful of clubs reportedly have considered similar changes.

The Nationals, though, have not brought up that possibility yet, according to Rizzo.

"The topic hasn't been broached," he said. "Like I said, this is a very evolving situation, and we'll take it as it comes. Props to ownership for allowing us to continue to take care of us, at least through the month of May."

Other highlights from Rizzo's conference call ...

* The GM continues to believe there will be a 2020 season in one form or another, but he's not ready to comment on any of the specific proposals that have leaked out to date about holding games in Arizona, Florida or other locations without fans in attendance and all baseball personnel living inside a "bubble" to try to prevent anyone from getting sick.

"These are all hypotheticals," Rizzo said. "We're at that level right now. The commissioner recently told us that he fully anticipates playing a baseball season in 2020. And I'm behind him on that. I support that. Like we've said in the past, there are going to be some outside-the-box ideas. But I think the commissioner is committed to playing, and I trust that we will find a way."

* Rizzo believes his players - most notably his pitching staff - will be ready for an abbreviated second round of spring training that would need to be held before any season can commence. Pitchers have been instructed to keep their arms in shape during this unprecedented break and are expected to report ready to throw more pitches and innings than they normally would when six-week camps typically open in mid-February.

"I think whenever you have to expedite a spring training, that's probably the most impactful decision you have to make: how to ramp them up," Rizzo said. "Fortunately all of our pitchers are under the care of (pitching coach) Paul Menhart and (senior advisor for player development) Spin Williams, so we've got a good protocol and a good plan in place for each and every one of them. They're in constant contact with them. And hopefully when we do begin a spring training, we'll be at or ahead of where we need to be to prepare for the season."

* Several Venezuelan players remain sequestered at a hotel in West Palm Beach, a return to their home country having been deemed less safe than remaining in Florida during the shutdown. They are working out on their own within CDC guidelines for social distancing, Rizzo said, and their accommodations continue to be covered by the Nationals.

* The "Nats4Good" Community Response Fund recently created by the organization's philanthropic arm has raised over $300,000 to date. All funds go to nonprofit organizations addressing food, health and human services.

Also, Chef Jose Andres' World Central Kitchen will have prepared over 100,000 meals by the end of the week out of Nationals Park's facilities, to provide food to local residents in need of help.