The Marlins’ season on pause until at least Monday. This is what needs to happen next.
The Miami Marlins’ season has been temporarily paused until at least Monday as they remain quarantined in Philadelphia following the latest round of COVID-19 testing.
Major League Baseball announced the decision Tuesday to postpone the Marlins’ games against the Baltimore Orioles set for Wednesday and Thursday as well as their weekend home series against the Washington Nationals. The Marlins’ two home games against the Orioles scheduled for Monday and Tuesday were already postponed.
The team’s most recent test results showed four more positive tests among players, according to two sources. That brings the total to 15 players among the 33 who traveled for their season-opening series and 17 members overall of the organization’s traveling party.
However, one of the players who had previously tested positive produced a negative result Tuesday, according to a source. Two consecutive negative tests taken more than 24 hours apart are required to be involved in team activities or use team facilities.
“Given the current circumstances, MLB believes that it is most prudent to allow the Marlins time to focus on providing care for their players and planning their Baseball Operations for a resumption early next week,” the league wrote in a release.
Marlins CEO Derek Jeter said in a statement that the Marlins will move to a daily testing schedule while they continue to remain quarantined and isolated and are also enacting “additional preventive procedures with our traveling party.”
The team is remaining in Philadelphia while they gather information. Jeter, in his statement, also alluded to the fact that the Marlins did not experience new positive tests during their three weeks of summer camp workouts at Marlins Park before “experiencing challenges” when they started the season on the road.
“We continue to take this entire situation very seriously,” Jeter said. “All of our players, coaches and staff are, understandably, having a difficult time enduring this experience. After receiving additional test results on our Major League team this morning, we reached out to the Commissioner’s Office with concern for the health and safety of our team as well as our opponents.”
The Marlins are next scheduled to play at home, against Philadelphia, on Aug. 4 through 6 before going on the road to play the New York Mets. MLB said it will have information regarding schedule updates for next week’s slate of games in the coming days.
But even those games against the Phillies are in question.
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez indicated Tuesday that everyone in the Marlins’ traveling party — including players and coaches who tested negative — are required to quarantine for 14 days once they arrive back in South Florida.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has final say on the matter, and he previously issued an exemption to sports teams, allowing them to waive the 14-day quarantine period.
“I would say unless the governor gives an exemption ... I would think the rules apply to them too,” Gimenez said Tuesday in a press conference done virtually.
“They should follow the medical protocol. If somebody has been exposed, just like any other person, they need to be tested and self-quarantine for a while. That’s the normal protocol. That’s what we would ask them to do. By law, if you come from certain states, and certain areas, hot spots, you’re supposed to be quarantined for 14 days. There is no law that says you have to self-quarantine and self-isolate and all that, unless you come from these hot spots. I would assume that they would follow the medical protocols and I would assume they would also follow the law, unless they have some sort of exemption.”
If DeSantis agrees with Gimenez that the Marlins’ entire traveling party should remain in quarantine for 14 days, the Marlins could attempt to fill their roster with players who have been training in Jupiter. But that wouldn’t be nearly enough to fill a 30-man roster.
Gimenez, in a text message to the Miami Herald, said he would defer to DeSantis, whose office said it would inquire about his position on the matter.
“My position is that they need to follow the Governor’s order, as the quarantine requirements are based on his orders,” Gimenez said. “I also understand that the Governor has exempted professional teams from that order.”
The COVID outbreak has been limited to the Marlins. MLB said there have been no other new positive tests among on-field personnel from any of the other 29 teams since Friday. The league conducted more than 6,400 tests in that time.
“The difficult circumstances of one Club reinforce the vital need to be diligent with the protocols in all ways, both on and off the field,” the league wrote in its statement. “We will continue to bolster our protocols and make any necessary adjustments. The realities of the virus still loom large, and we must operate with that in mind every day.”
The Marlins are continuing to undergo daily testing while quarantining at their team hotel in Philadelphia.
They’re also not sure when they will be returning to South Florida or when games will be played. Those who test positive must remain in quarantine in Pennsylvania.
To add to the calamity: A majority of Nationals players earlier Tuesday had voted against going to Miami for their three-game series at Marlins Park that was supposed to begin Friday, according to The Athletic. This was before the league postponed the series.
The Marlins’ schedule isn’t the only one being impacted. The Phillies will not play again until Friday “out of an abundance of caution,” meaning their four games against the New York Yankees (Monday and Tuesday in Philadelphia, Wednesday and Thursday in New York) were also postponed.
The Yankees and Orioles are now playing in Baltimore on Wednesday and Thursday.
The Herald, while confirming that 15 players have tested positive through sources, is not disclosing the names of players who have tested positive without their consent but is acknowledging reports by others after the fact. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman has reported that pitcher Jose Urena, first baseman/outfielder Garrett Cooper, outfielder Harold Ramirez, catcher Jorge Alfaro and shortstop Miguel Rojas are among the players to have tested positive.
According to MLB’s operations manual for the season, players and staff members are not allowed to travel or access club facilities following a positive test until after they have two negative tests at least 24 hours apart, show no fever for at least 72 hours, complete an antibody test and are cleared by a team physician as well as the MLB COVID-19 joint committee.
Commissioner Rob Manfred said Monday that the criteria to shut a team down isn’t necessarily the total number of players with COVID-19 on a team but whether the absence of players because of COVID “rendered it completely non-competitive.”
“Whether that was shutting down a part of the season [or] the whole season, that depends on the circumstances,” Manfred said. “Same thing with respect to leaguewide. If you get to a certain point leaguewide where it does become a health threat, we certainly would shut down at that point.”
Even with 15 players testing positive for the virus, the Marlins would still have enough players to field a team because MLB authorized teams to have a 60-player pool to open the season.
To fill out their roster, the Marlins would need to promote players — mostly prospects — who have been training at the team’s spring training complex in Jupiter. They could also sign veteran free agents.
Miami already made a couple of roster moves over the past two days, claiming relief pitchers Josh D. Smith and Justin Shafer from the Cincinnati Reds as well as Mike Morin from the Milwaukee Brewers. Urena, Cooper and Ramirez have been placed on the injured list.
Among those practicing and available in Jupiter:
▪ Outfielder Lewis Brinson and starting pitcher Jordan Yamamoto, both of whom were part of the big-league club last year. Brinson is currently on the IL.
▪ Fourteen of the top-30 prospects in the Marlins organization — six pitchers, three infielders, four outfielders and one catcher, although Will Banfield is on the IL for unspecified reasons. Pitcher Sixto Sanchez, first baseman Lewin Diaz, shortstop Jazz Chisholm and outfielders Monte Harrison and Jesus Sanchez are the most MLB-ready of the bunch. Infielder Eddy Alvarez, not part of the top-30 prospects, is also a candidate.
▪ Catcher Ryan Lavarnway and relief pitchers Nick Vincent and Josh A. Smith, all on minor-league deals but primarily worked out with the main group at Marlins Park during summer camp practices. Fellow relief pitcher Aaron Northcraft was part of the Marlins’ taxi squad in Philadelphia.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said Tuesday on “Good Morning America” that he does not believe at this time the Major League Baseball season needs to canceled following the Miami Marlins’ recent coronavirus outbreak but added that it could be the first step of putting the 2020 season in jeopardy.
“First off all, I’m concerned,” Fauci said. “I hope the players are all right. I heard almost a dozen of them have gotten infected. Even though they’re young, vigorous and very healthy, I hope they’re OK. You have to watch this because this could put it in danger. I don’t believe they need to stop, but we just need to follow this and see what happens with other teams on a day-by-day basis.”
But not all infectious disease experts agree with Fauci.
Dr. John Swartzberg, Clinical Professor Emeritus at the School of Public Health Division of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology at the University of California-Berkeley, said in a phone interview Monday that it would be prudent for MLB to suspend the Marlins’ season for 14 days.
In an email on Tuesday, he said news that four more players tested positive for COVID-19 made him even more convinced that a temporary shutdown would be the correct move.
“Everybody on that team including the coaches and staffs need to go into 14 days of quarantine,” Swartzberg said. “The writing is on the wall here. I know MLB tried really hard and worked hard with the players union to put together something that would work. But contagion of this disease is beyond tools they have to control it.”
The Marlins and MLB believe players who test negative can continue playing. Swartzberg said that’s not the right move.
“It’s a little hard for me to understand how most of those players and staff wouldn’t have had pretty significant contact,” he said. “Anybody in close contact needs to be in isolation for 14 days.”
Playing a season like this “is not going to be feasible,” he said. “If it’s the Marlins this time and Yankees next time and Phillies next time — how many of these can baseball sustain?”
This story was originally published July 28, 2020 at 10:42 AM.
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