Tigers sweep Astros, who lose 4 key players to virus protocols.
Already stumbling club loses Altuve, Bregman and three others to COVID protocols
The Astros will be without four key players — Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Yordan Alvarez and Martin Maldonado — indefinitely because of MLB’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
The loss of those four, plus infielder Robel Garcia, is a brutal blow for a team already in a mid-April funk and a reminder that baseball is still operating in a pandemic.
The fivesome went on the COVID-19 related injured list prior to Wednesday’s game against the Detroit Tigers. Astros general manager James Clickcould not confirm whether the team has had a positive test. Players or staff who test positive for the virus must give their team permission to disclose a diagnosis.
“It’s just a challenge for the rest of our guys to pick us up and get us back on the right track,” Click said before Wednesday's game at Minute Maid Park. “We’ve obviously scuffled a little bit the past four games. When it rains it pours. It’s a difficult situation.”
Placement on the COVID-19 injured list does not automatically indicate a positive test — it also could mean exposure to someone who has had a positive test or experienced COVID-19 symptoms, or adverse effects from the COVID-19 vaccine. There is no minimum or maximum length of stay.
Manager Dusty Baker revealed that all five players “had at least their first shots,” but it’s unclear when the players received their first dose.
The Astros made the inoculations available to all players and staff beginning March 29. Click did not give an exact number of players and staff members who have received the vaccine, but he intimated it is below the 85 percent threshold required to loosen some of the league’s health and safety protocols.
“We have had a high degree of interest in it, and quite a few guys, including myself, have gotten it,” Click said. “A lot of us are just excited to get that second shot and try to get back to normal.”
Both Click and Baker described a late night and early morning of endless phone calls and dialogue with Major League Baseball about the viability of Wednesday’s game. According to Click, the league “didn’t believe there (was) a health and safety reason not to play.”
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said he heard no discussions about postponing Wednesday’s game.
Baker and Click both said an odd decision to remove Altuve during the ninth inning of Tuesday’s 8-2 loss to the Tigers was unrelated to the team’s current plight.
Baker pinch-hit Maldonado for Altuve, his leadoff hitter, with two outs and two men on base in the ninth inning. After the game, Baker said Altuve’s “legs were feeling tired and not feeling good, so therefore I had to get him out of there.”
The Astros summoned five prospects from their alternate training site to fill the gaping voids. Two of them — infielder Alex De Goti and outfielder Ronnie Dawson — have no major league experience. Dawson started Wednesday’s game at designated hitter. De Goti profiles as Altuve’s replacement at second base.
Abraham Toro, Taylor Jones and Garrett Stubbs also joined the major league roster. All five players were pulled from the field while playing an exhibition game at the Astros’ alternate training site in Corpus Christi. They arrived at Minute Maid Park just before the 6:10 p.m. first pitch.
How long the reinforcements will remain is a mystery.
Major League Baseball’s health and safety protocols mandate at least a 10-day quarantine for any player or staff member who tests positive for COVID-19.
The league’s operations manual defines two types of contacts to COVID-19 positives: close contacts and “extra scrutiny contacts.” It labels extra scrutiny contacts as people “not determined to be close contacts but (who) still had some significant interaction with the infected individual.”
Close contacts must quarantine for seven days, according to the league’s operations manual. Extra scrutiny contacts can continue working, but only if they test negative for the virus and are asymptomatic. Extra scrutiny contacts must quarantine until results of their tests arrive.
“Everybody will go through increased frequency of testing, and we’ll continue to work with our infectious disease specialists and Major League Baseball’s joint committee to look at the results of those tests,” Click said. “Hopefully, those tests start coming back negative, and then as soon as they do, we can apply for reinstatement.”
Click claimed the situation is “absolutely not” a result of any player or staff member’s breaking league or team protocols to combat the virus’ spread.
“The guys have been exceptionally vigilant about making sure that at the ballpark and away from the ballpark that they’re following the rules,” Click said. “I think this is just another reflection of the situation we’re all in, not only in baseball but in the country.”
Before Wednesday’s development, baseball’s return to a 162-game season with fans in the stands had only one big hiccup. Major League Baseball postponed the Washington Nationals’ first four games after four players tested positive for COVID-19. The team resumed its season with nine players still on the COVID-19 list.
Other than a postponed game against the A’s after an Oakland player tested positive, the Astros escaped the 2020 regular season without any publicly disclosed COVID-related issues. Alvarez and pitcher Jose Urquidy tested positive for the virus before reporting to summer camp and did not debut until halfway through the season.
Difficulties did arise during spring training this year.
Seven pitchers quarantined for seven days after they were deemed close contacts to a positive case. Reliever Pedro Baez contracted the virus and missed 11 days of spring training. He still has not rejoined the major league team. Toro, Stubbs and Myles Straw missed the final few days of camp because of a presumed positive case, which later was found to be false.
The present situation has a far more substantial effect.
“Nobody likes what happened,” Baker said. “They’re not happy, but at the same time, people understand that health and safety is number one. You have to look at things in a positive light that it’s better that this happened now than later in the season or even come playoff time. We’re positive about our chances to win … going forward.
“Hopefully, we get these guys back soon.”