Testing not an easy process for Red Sox
Lags and uncertainty leave Roenicke with a tough task
When it comes to COVID-19 testing, the Red Sox have operated relatively smoothly through the first five days of summer camp, but there were inevitably going to be some hiccups along the way.
Some camps around baseball have had to temporarily shut down due to various issues with tests. The Red Sox have not, but that doesn’t mean everything has gone perfectly. Four players, including No. 1 starter Eduardo Rodriguez, have tested positive for COVID-19, and in some cases, the tests haven’t yielded immediate results, which have made operations for manager Ron Roenicke and his staff more difficult.
It’s resulted in some less-thanideal circumstances for Rafael Devers, was isolated from the team and had been working out at Boston College, the Red Sox’ secondary camp site, this week. Roenicke revealed Wednesday that the star third baseman was part of a group that was possibly exposed to somebody with coronavirus.
That group, according to Roenicke, has tested negative three times and will continue to be tested just to make sure, and Devers returned to Fenway Park later on Wednesday to take live batting practice. He could be in the lineup for the Red Sox’ first intrasquad game on Thursday, but the situation has put him a bit behind schedule, even if he was getting some work in at BC.
“If he’s ready, I’d like to get him an at-bat or two (Thursday), and if he’s ready, we put him back at third base on Friday,” Roenicke said. “With missing a couple of days because of the testing, he felt like he was set back a couple of days.”
The Red Sox are right to be extra cautious, especially with a key player, but the testing procedure has hit some snags and been less accommodating to them. It certainly hasn’t been as bad as some other camps in baseball, but they’re going through their own myriad challenges.
“These tests that we get, it’s not always coming back positive or negative,” Roenicke said. “We get a lot of pendings, which means we’re still waiting for results, and we get some that are inconclusive. If it’s inconclusive, we have to hold the player out for that day until we get a reading on it. That makes it difficult. The guy is still negative, but because we haven’t got the results back, we almost have to treat it like he’s a positive and separate him.”
The circumstances of this season were already challenging for Roenicke in the first place — taking over for the departed Alex Cora after the fallout from MLB investigations in February, then being away for three months from the team due to the pandemic before trying to piece everything back together for a 60-game sprint — and this has added layers.
“It becomes really difficult on our workouts, and it becomes difficult for me explaining it to you guys,” Roenicke said of the testing snags. “I know you want to know, but there’s just so many moving parts, and that’s why we have the schedule, when I talk about the A and B schedule, it’s because all these things come up, I have to move guys around. When I talk about being overly cautious, that’s why. We want to make sure we keep our guys as safe as we can and that’s why we’re moving all these parts around, and that’s why sometimes I’m just unable to tell you what’s going on with certain players.”
That’s not even to mention how the evaluation process has changed because of the lack of games and players either being at the remote BC site or being held out of camp altogether, which Roenicke admitted has made things even more challenging.
But the Red Sox are rightfully prioritizing their players’ health and safety in the face of these uncertain and scary times. During a 60-game sprint, the difference between the best teams and the rest might simply be who finishes the healthiest.
Roenicke credited Red Sox executives Raquel Ferreira and Eddie Romero for their preparation in ensuring the team’s health and safety, which has included isolating every player’s locker rooms into luxury suites. The unique challenges of a small ballpark like Fenway haven’t made things any easier either, but they’ve all reported they feel safe and comfortable.
“I can only speak for here, but we go through every precaution,” said Andrew Benintendi. “This is a new thing, so I’m taking every step that needs to be taken. Everything’s gone smoothly so far.”
Said Roenicke: “It has worked out really well so far. I didn’t know that it was going to, I wasn’t sure, but I think things have gone well, and when players feel that way, it certainly makes us feel like we’re doing our jobs right and trying to do the best we can in really a very difficult situation, to get three weeks of spring training in and do it on two fields and still get guys ready for the season.”