19 Marlins have tested positive for COVID-19 as MLB investigates team’s past behavior
With 19 Miami Marlins — including 17 players — having tested positive for COVID-19 in the past week, Major League Baseball has launched an investigation into the team’s on-field and off-field behavior in an attempt to determine how the Marlins’ outbreak happened and try to limit the likelihood of a similar outbreak in the future.
MLB also has updated its COVID-19 safety measures in the wake of the Marlins’ issues.
Among the updates to the protocol, as first reported Wednesday night by ESPN: requiring the use of surgical masks instead of cloth masks while traveling, having teams travel with a compliance officer who ensures team members follow the league’s protocol and encouraging players not to leave hotels in road cities except for games.
Another Marlins player returned a positive COVID-19 test result, a source confirmed Thursday. That brings the total to 19 members of the team’s nearly 60-person traveling party who have tested positive since Friday. One of the two coaches who has tested positive, however, has since received a negative test result.
Meanwhile, a Philadelphia Phillies coach and home clubhouse staffer tested positive for COVID-19, the team announced Thursday. The Phillies coach marks MLB’s first known positive test among on-field personnel (coaches and players) outside the Marlins organization since Friday. The Phillies canceled workouts at Citizens Bank Park scheduled for Thursday in light of the new positive tests and said in a release the ballpark is closed until further notice. The Phillies’ series against the Toronto Blue Jays in Philadelphia scheduled for this weekend has also been postponed, Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo told reporters Thursday.
ESPN also reported that MLB’s investigation into the outbreak includes exploring speculation by a USA Today writer that Marlins players might have left the team hotel at night while in Atlanta for a pair of exhibition games before arriving in Philadelphia.
When asked about the validity of the report of players leaving the team hotel in Atlanta, a Marlins team spokesperson said Thursday that MLB and the Marlins are trying to make sure that everyone has as many facts as possible.
The Marlins played the Braves on July 21 and 22 but only stayed one night in Atlanta. The team flew into Atlanta the day of the first exhibition game and flew straight to Philadelphia after their second game ended.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on July 15 issued an executive order limiting gatherings to no more than 50 people and strongly suggesting (but not requiring) that those who go out wear facial coverings. Neither the state nor Cobb County, where the Marlins played the Braves, has a curfew in place.
The travel section of MLB’s operations manual for the 2020 season states that members of a team’s travel party “should avoid leaving the Club hotel for non-essential purposes, and should not congregate in public areas of the hotel, for any reason unless approved in advance by appropriate Club personnel.”
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, in an MLB Network interview Monday, defended the league’s protocols but acknowledged the league has made adjustments “on an ongoing basis.”
“It’s an evolving situation,” Manfred said, “and we continue to reevaluate where we are in the protocols and what we can do to keep the players as safe as possible.”
The team was tested again Thursday morning and would be “hard-pressed” to leave Philadelphia before the weekend, according to a source. Miami’s season has been put on hold until at least Sunday.
The Marlins’ immediate future beyond that also remains in flux as they wait for MLB to provide clarity as to what it would take for the team to be cleared to begin playing again. They are also waiting to see how much next week’s schedule is changed.
The Marlins are scheduled to play Philadelphia at Marlins Park on Tuesday through Thursday, and Gov. Ron DeSantis said the Marlins will be permitted to play at home next week. But there has been discussion about the Marlins possibly remaining on the road next week or possibly playing a different opponent instead. Those conversations are ongoing.
Miami is also still attempting to fortify its roster as it will need to replace more than half of its Opening Day team when it returns to the field.
The team has already added four veterans in infielder Logan Forsythe and relief pitchers Josh D. Smith, Mike Morin and Justin Shafer. The Marlins are also reportedly signing catcher Wilkin Castillo, who was part of their Triple A team most of last year, and relief pitcher Pat Venditte, who was with the team in spring training.
Ramirez recovering
Marlins outfielder Harold Ramirez, one of 17 Marlins players who has tested positive for COVID-19, told Telemundo that he had symptoms earlier this week but has improved.
“Thank God I feel a little better,” he said. “I don’t have a cough anymore. And my body aches have gone away.”
Ramirez said he started feeling symptoms three days after catcher Jorge Alfaro tested positive for COVID-19 on July 24. Ramirez then learned he had tested positive for the virus.
Ramirez said the team remains quarantined in its Philadelphia hotel and “nobody can leave their rooms. But we have the medicine and hydration we need.”
He suggested that in retrospect, MLB would have benefited from playing in a bubble, like the NBA and NHL are doing.
“I think it would have been a good option to prevent what happened to us,” he said.
Ramirez’s advice to people regarding COVID-19?
“Just listen to the doctors,” he said. “It’s not easy to stay enclosed. But just take care of yourself and listen to the doctors.”
Working out
Marlins players, who are quarantining in their hotel rooms, face challenges with staying in shape.
According to two sources, the Philadelphia hotel where the Marlins have been staying since last Thursday set up a meeting room for players to work out, including putting mattresses against the walls so they could throw pitches and not break walls.
But the Marlins decided not to have players use the room “out of an abundance of caution.”
One Marlins player told a close associate that players were dressed and eager to use the room before the plan was scuttled. But that player understood the Marlins’ concerns about having the players leave their rooms.
Miami Herald sportswriter Anthony Chiang contributed to this report.
This story was originally published July 30, 2020 at 1:27 PM.
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