Cardinals finally make way home after quarantine
The St. Louis Cardinals returned to the field for light workouts Wednesday, nearly a week after an outbreak of COVID-19 forced the club and its staff members to quarantine in Milwaukee and set the rest of their season into upheaval.
Cardinals manager Mike
Shildt called it “a breath of fresh air” after five days spent in The Pfister Hotel, where players tried to keep their arms limber by throwing baseballs into mattresses and pillows. The Cardinals had returned 13 positive tests in their traveling party, seven of them players, forcing them to suspend their season.
They were finally cleared to travel back to St. Louis late Tuesday, when they returned negative tests for the second straight day. Their flight left Wednesday morning and that gave them the afternoon and today to get in workouts.
The Cardinals will resume their season against the Chicago Cubs on Friday night at Busch Stadium.
“You can’t take for granted even the freedom we have in a somewhat limited-freedom world when you’re in a hotel room for six straight days and you get outside,” Shildt said on a conference call. “It’s a nice feeling to feel that sun, and move around, and get a little sweat going and see the guys enjoying their workout.”
Now, the trick becomes filling out a roster decimated by injuries and disease.
Among the players that confirmed they tested positive for COVID-19 were a pair of All-Stars in catcher Yadier Molina and Paul DeJong. AllStar right-hander Carlos Martinez also went on the injured list, though no reason was given, which means the Cardinals will be down seven players when they take on their bitter NL Central rivals.
To help fill the vacancies, which become two fewer with rosters reduced from 30 players to 28 today, the Cardinals recalled pitchers Alex Reyes and Genesis Cabrera from their alternate training site in Springfield, Missouri. They also purchased the contracts of infielder Max Schrock and pitcher Roel Ramirez, neither of whom has appeared in a big league game, while placing infielder Rangel Ravelo on the injured list and adding catcher Jose Godoy to the taxi squad.
“You know, I’m optimistic. I’m optimistic about the group I currently have,” said Shildt, whose club will have to play 55 games in 52 days to complete a 60-game season. “We clearly miss the guys that aren’t here. But the guys are in good spirits and excited to get back. We’ll just take it day by day with this group and compete.”
Shildt said there is still some uncertainty about how the virus swept through the clubhouse, but the Cardinals believe it was introduced from someone asymptomatic who came in contact with the team. Shildt also bristled at the notion that some of his players were acting cavalierly when it came to wearing masks and social distancing. MANFRED SAYS MLB PROTOCOLS ARE WORKING >> Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said small changes to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus will be implemented soon amid outbreaks that have forced the reshuffling of the schedule.
In an interview with ESPN. com on Wednesday, Manfred said that he believes MLB’s existing measures are working, despite more than 30 members — players and others — of the Marlins and Cardinals organizations testing positive for COVID-19. Still more can be done, he said.
Manfred said MLB will be adjusting rules to keep the players and staff safe, which includes upgrading to the use of surgical, not cloth, masks on team planes; doing more to ensure people stay in their seats on the planes to maintain social distancing; staggering eating times in-flight so that people near one another don’t have their masks off at the same time; emphasizing use of outdoor space, instead of the clubhouse, at stadiums; and spreading out players and crew in the bullpens, perhaps into the empty seats down the lines.
TROUT WANTS DAILY TESTING >> Mike Trout remains skeptical about the wisdom of completing the full baseball season amid the coronavirus outbreak, and the Los Angeles Angels’ three-time AL MVP would like to see the addition of daily testing to the sport’s safety measures.
Trout spoke Tuesday after rejoining the Angels in Seattle following the birth of his first child. He missed four games after his wife, Jessica, gave birth to son Beckham Aaron Trout last Thursday.
The sleep-deprived Trout showed no rust in return, hitting a home run in his first atbat during the Angels’ 5-3 win over Seattle.
Trout got on the Angels’ team plane Monday night with excitement and wariness. Trout was already concerned about the chances of playing safely through the pandemic before the shortened season began, and his growing family has only heightened those concerns.
“I think the protocols are good, but it’s just the testing,” Trout said. “I’ve said this since Day One, I think if you don’t have testing every day, it’s going to be tough. You’re always trying to catch up and trying to catch it. You know, if we get tested Friday and we have to wait two days to get the results back, you don’t know what’s going to happen in between. You’ve seen it with the Marlins. You’ve seen it with the Cardinals. It spreads fast.”