12:30pm: First baseman Garrett Cooper and outfielder Harold Ramirez are also among the Marlins who have tested positive, according to Robert Murray and Jon Heyman of MLB Network. And since these results were discovered on the road, the Marlins find themselves in an unfortunate position; Cooper and the other players will have to quarantine in their Philadelphia hotel for about two weeks and, for the time being, are unable to travel back to Miami with the rest of their team. From a purely baseball perspective, the news represents a considerable blow to the Marlins’ depth: Between Alfaro, Cooper, and Ramirez, they’re losing three regulars, not to mention a key piece of the rotation in Ureña.
11:32 am: “Multiple” Miami players are dealing with COVID-19 issues, tweets Craig Mish of Sportsgrid. Heyman hears the same, tweeting that two of the club’s starting position players have also tested positive for the coronavirus. Catcher Jorge Alfaro was placed on the injured list for an undisclosed reason Friday, although it remains unclear if he is among those who have tested positive.
11:08 am: Marlins right-hander José Ureña was scratched from today’s scheduled start, as noted by various reporters (including Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald). Ureña tested positive for COIVD-19, tweets Jon Heyman of the MLB Network. Fortunately, Ureña “feels fine,” Heyman adds, but this is simply the latest reminder of the threat the coronavirus continues to pose to players and teams leaguewide.
Even if Ureña remains asymptomatic, he’ll need to twice test negative at least 24 hours apart before he’s permitted to return to the club. Miami has not yet made any roster moves related to the situation, tweets Joe Frisaro of MLB.com. With there being no minimum length for stints on the COVID-19 injured list, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Miami decide to place Ureña on the IL, even if they believe he’ll be ready to return in short order.
Ureña is ticketed for a return to the Miami rotation after splitting last year between the starting staff and the bullpen. Right-hander Robert Dugger, who started seven games for Miami down the stretch last season, will take the ball in Ureña’s stead this afternoon against the Phillies.
Here we go. Just going to take 1-2 of these things tearing through a clubhouse before the whole thing just has to fold
There’s a reason they went with 60 man rosters and expanded playoffs
Exactly Haworth. People overreacting.. protocols are in place to manage this well. No reason to be concerned, season is adjusted to reflect the danger presented
No, it will depend on the severity. If it ravages too many teams, the season is a farce.
Protocols may be in place, but the validity of the protocols is very much still up for discussion.
There is every reason to be concerned – 1/3 is the Marlins roster has tested positive during a series.
At this point, risk-averse players (such as Trout) are very aware of how this is being handled.
Miami-Dade hit the hardest in the state. All it takes is 1 player breaking the bubble.
There is no bubble
Not by definition, but certainly in practice. Teams are attempting to keep players as isolated as possible in hotels and clubhouses, asking them not to go out at night, have food and entertainment brought to them.
Have food and entertainment brought to them? Somebody needs to tell them to lay off the hookers.
Read Whiffle’s response.
And none of them will get sick.
what bubble??
The one players should be self-imposing during a pandemic? The same bubble we’re trying to abide by? Unless you break windows and riot. That’s perfectly fine.
you make a great point there. even if there us no bubble, there should be some level of personal responsibility. limit your travels. dont go to crowded places. as someone who works in a field where you come in close contact with others so often, there is a level of responsibility to have. maybe not even that you can’t go anywhere, but just be judicious and play it a bit safer then you would prefer to.
I think it was you that made a good point regarding team to team contact of passing this virus (forgive me if I am wrong). Because it seems some teams are seeing a spread, but one team isn’t passing it to another team that we know of.
That means you have 1 player, maybe more, going off and doing something he probably shouldn’t and exposing himself to someone with the virus. Coaches, upper management, doctors, trainers and politicians are all warning the players. It’s ultimately up to them to listen and obey.
Maybe the player didn’t do anything “wrong”. It’s all about the old Breck shampoo commercial: “They told two friends. Then they told two friends, and they told two friends.” …and so on. It’s about contact.
2+2=4
4+4=8
8+8=16
32, 64, 128…
It’s so not just about players or coaches. It’s umpires, catering, hotel, airports and on and on. A player may contact Covid-19 and be spreading it long before ever testing positive.
Sigh. By October 1, the USA is going to be shut down snd it’s all because we think certain groups are ‘immune’ due to age or fitness. The reality, the sheer numbers of humans involved is going to spread this from airport to airport, hotel to hotel, bus to bus and taxi to taxi.
Players won’t fill the hospitals, but folks and their families contacted through supporting mlb will.
There is absolutely no bubble. Plus what do u expect? It’s like any other job… Wal-Mart didn’t shut down cause of an employee getting covid, neither should baseball
Walmart employees don’t fly from state to state spreading the virus to groupies across the country. Really Walmart’s should be shut down as well. Baseball without fans is stupid anyway.
Yea you’re right, people don’t need to eat.
The fact that teams are even playing in Florida, Texas, Arizona and California is a bit ridiculous. They should have been moved to minor league stadiums in lower risk states.
The problem is, even those “lower risk states” could become high risk states at any time. There really is no way to do this safely, which is why a lot of people were saying “cancel the season.”
The virus is still simply too unpredictable.
problem is this is an evolving sutuation. hot spots have changed over time, so another statw may be safe for a bit but not later.
But it’s ok for the NBA to play in Florida? Nobody is complaining about that. And before you bring up the whole “isolation” rhetoric, already stories of players breaking protocol, going to strip clubs and trying to get women in and out of that alleged bubble.
That all said, certain parts of each of these states are worse than others.
At least the NBA is trying. They have a bubble. There are consequences for those who leave the bubble. I think it should be even stricter. If you leave the bubble you’re either done or have to quarantine for three weeks. But in baseball, there isn’t even a bubble. I would not leave it to the players to act professional because many do not act like that to begin with and it only takes one or two to infect the majority of the team. There has to be rules and they need to be strictly enforced or else it doesn’t work. We all knew that this wasn’t going to work for MLB.
I fear a team could lose half or more of its players to infections. Them what? Basically it’s a minor league team playing against major leaguers.
A real problem for sure. But that’s where teams will be rewarded for developing a deep system and not just trading away the farm for a few top notch players. Teams like the Rays and the Yankees will be rewarded for their depth if it comes to that.
I’m more concerned with the players health, E Rodriguez, Freddie Freeman didn’t seem to have a good go of it as healthy professional athletes. I could only imagine tearing through an entire stadium causing both teams to have health concerns, I have to work everyday with a mask and it’s a risk, these guys are in a similar boat hope it all works out and everyone can stay healthy!
Isn’t that the Marlins already?
@antibelt… 2-1 to start the season says otherwise my friend.
that’s going to be the struggle of the season. teams will have to cope with this. does it suck? yeah, but the willingness of teams to play and players to not opt out shows a willingness to go for it.
If enough frontline players on one roster test positive (not necessarily show symptoms) and have to field a AAA or worse team, you wonder if there isn’t an “integrity of the game” clause that might shut things down.
a bit extreme, no? good luck selling the owners on that if less then half the teams are dealing with an outbreak.
Even at significantly less than half, I wonder what happens if, say, a half dozen teams are all seriously affected at the same time. You’d have the possibility of six teams fielding most if not all of their preferred roster versus AAA teams, or games where neither team was at MLB strength. Like everyone else in the world, I have zero idea what COVID will do next, but I’d have to think if it rages through multiple MLB clubhouses, something extreme will have to be done.
again, dont see anything happening if you cant sell at least half the owners on it. they’re in charge of the league when it comes down to it. now really, how do you believe an owner is going to want to shut things down when they dont dont have an issue? in fact, if an affected team is a powerful division rival, they’ll even want less to do with a shut down. if the owners had less power then i can see the league office stepping in, but isnt it clear the commissioner is just their puppet?
Yeah, absolutely true in regards to the commish. This whole season could take one of the ugliest turns in history if things get bad. Could wind up being an absurd example of “money is more important than people.”
Looking at the update, I hadn’t even considered until just now the consequences of testing positive on the road. Nightmare.
“Integrity of the game” went out the door when they decided to let over half the league into the playoffs. I get it is just for this specific year, but I don’t think “integrity” can be used to describe anything about this season.
I have integrity. Go Rangers ⚾️
TV contracts to honor, man.
So this probably means the Phillies will be positive as well. And the Phillies will be playing the Yankees next….and so it goes.
i will say, it is a good sign that we havent noticed this going between teams yet. obviously its just been a short time, but if it remains contained the issue is relatively minor. it keeps outbreaks a bit more isolated and allows specific teams with more knowledge of the specific players and their actions to be best able to deal with their outbreaks and deal with contact tracing. its possible that it could spread between teams, but spread within a team is a lot easier as the team will be on the bench, in lockerrooms, doing drills, etc together. the threat of interaction with other players is only limited to interactions during the game, and its mostly limited to players being near another player while on the basepaths. clearly there can be some transmission in these situations, but its not like anyone an infected player comes near during these encounters will become infected.
We’re only a few games in. Passing to other teams seems inevitable.
What worries me is the high risk guys. Like Didi Gregorius who had a previous health risk. And a guy like Garrett Cooper, who tested positive, on the field with Didi at the same time for two days in a row!
If they’re gonna continue, there needs to be regular testing done and quick response times…
Which isn’t widely available to the general public. Why should MLB players have more efficient and rapid response access to testing than the public? Let’s be honest with ourselves here.
Obviously because they’re more valuable than us. I say this not in spite, but just a fact. We live in a society and everything and everyone has a value. Sometimes entertainment value (a lot of times) outweighs practical value.
Why does the city of Philadelphia have to take on the burden of housing these guys? MLB can’t put them on a private plane and have them fly them home?
The fun begins.
The teams pay the hotel bills. Part of the players’ contracts. As for putting them on a private plane, maybe you could if they had no symptoms and you put them in clean-room outfits. They’d still be putting the crews of the hotels and the planes at risk.
Teams on the road need to have positive players quarantine at hotel for 2 weeks
vs 2 negative tests in 24 hours?
Are the covid rules for MLB published anywhere? Thanks.
So Cooper tested positive and literally every Phillies player that reached base the last 2 days were standing right next to him….
Just when we start to settle in for the fun times ahead, this is exactly the kind of reality that pulls the suspension of disbelief out from under our feet.
Was he at least wearing a mask when players got to first base? Hoskins was doing that for the Phillies.
Still have the exposure getting to ‘first base’ before the mask would be put on and then obviously batting.
I think catchers are at greater risk because they are crouched down and with a batter turning their head they are likely getting particles breathed out by the batter descending to them.
According to the CDC website, to get it from someone you need to stand within 6 ft of someone for about 15 minutes. unless he sneezed or coughed on them they should be just fine.
So if I stood next to someone for 14 minutes and 59 seconds, I’ll be good?
Cooper DH’d. Aguilar played first.
Pretty hard to get it outside. Most likely spread on airplane and buses and bars these guys visited together.
Enjoy baseball while it’s here cause it’s not gonna last long.
That settles it. Every team nominates one player for a winner take all home run derby for the title this year (jokes).
The governor of Florida is blaming the media for these coronaviruses on the Marlins
But DeSantis has proven himself so well in handling the pandemic so far… wait… never mind 😉
Players are still not wearing masks. Give it a week or 2, and it will be mandated for all players
Seriously, what the heck are they not wearing masks for? Baseball is one of the sports you actually can wear one while playing. This is absurd.
I’m a Dodger fan. In the final pre-season game against the Angels, I was alarmed at how the Dodger players were standing so close together in the dugout. No like usual, but considerably less than the Angels players. Can’t some of the players sit in the stands near the dugout? When Justin Turner was removed from the game, he sat in the left-field stands.
Welp, strap ’em on and buckle’em up.
First real in-season outbreak of “multiple players”. First test of MLB’s plan/season. It’s an enormous undertaking, serious.
I think the most difficult part of all this Covid stuff is the sheer unpredictability of… well, lots of things.
I ordered windows for a job back in May. Was told we’d receive them the first week of July. Well. Covid had other plans. The virus hit their manufacturing facility. Now I’ll get them “some time in September?”.
That’s just a regular guy doing regular guy stuff. Pales in comparison to a baseball season, man. I do remain hopeful we’ll have a season. But I fully expect it to be a bumpy ride.
Just scrap the season. I love baseball, but don’t need it like some people claim they do. If you’re bored without sports to watch, then you probably need to widen your horizons. Read books, start a garden, engage in something artful, or learn a new skill. Life is so much than sitting on the couch, drinking beer, and watching other people do stuff.
*so much “more”
I’m not convinced that the season needs to be “scrapped”, or whatever.
Baseball is one of my companions. I definitely don’t *need* it. I’m at a point in my life where I my interests, hobbies, and activities outweigh my available time.
For myself, I miss baseball like I miss a favorite hunting dog. It’s *supposed* to be in the truck with me when I’m going to job sites. Or in the rock dove blind. Or on the boat, etc.
You’re not wrong about the “do not watch”, imo. I’ve actually been reading/rereading all of Hemingway’s books. I’ll still get my dogs on the woods, prairie, or water a couple hundred times this year. Still. I’d like to have baseball as a part of those experiences. That may be selfish. But – well – there ya go.
Uh?
Larger scale I support MLB’s effort because it shows resourcefulness and determination. I admire those qualities.
I don’t see the point to playing games without fans. It is boring. Fans make the sport.
If you watch Baseball because of fans then you don’t like the sport anyway
Why is every single post i put up waiting for a moderator ok?
It’s a Mets fan thing. They need to check for Kinerisms and other mistakes.
Someone flagged a comment of yours probably. Not sure who. It wasn’t me .
It could be where you posting from. Device, secure network, blocked IP, VPN…etc.
Nope ,always from my phone.. how can i be flagged all the time if it never gets posted up in the 1st place.. a moderator here obviously doesnt like a post i once put up and now flags me every time..and i dont belittle ppl except for that 1 guy that thinks he knows it all, and started with me 1st
Could some kind of face shield be modified to fit the helmets and worn at all times? I wear a face shield and mask at work.
They can just wear a mask with the helmet
I see all the hi-fives and maskless interactions between players, coaches and umpires and know that in 2 weeks this season will be over. The wave of positive tests due to not practicing recommended guidelines will require this. Theses guys in the prime of life for the most part believe they are bullet-proof. Believe the science. The virus doesn’t care what you believe.
Yeah blame the commissioner. Stupid to have teams play in home ball parks and fly around the country.. And players should be wearing masks. I give the season two more weeks at most.
Nice ,deleted 2 of my comments and 1 from hours ago is still waiting for a moderator ok