Positive virus test leaves Nats short-handed
A Washington Nationals player tested positive for COVID-19, and four teammates and a staff member have been quarantined after contact tracing on the eve of the regular season’s start, general manager Mike Rizzo said Wednesday.
Rizzo did not identify any of the six members of the organization who are involved.
“We’re still in the process of finding out exactly what their status is,” Rizzo said. “They’re certainly out for tomorrow’s game.”
The 2019 World Series champions — who finished tied for last in the NL East in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season — are scheduled to host the New York Mets today, with Max Scherzer facing Jacob deGrom in a matchup between pitchers who own a total of five Cy Young Awards.
“We will certainly have some roster decisions to make, depending on how this all shakes out,” Rizzo said in a video conference with the media.
The positive result came from a test conducted Monday, while the Nationals were still in Florida for spring training. Word of the test came a little after 1 a.m. Wednesday, after the team already had traveled home to the nation’s capital, Rizzo said.
The flight home was where there was close contact between the five who are quarantining and the player who tested positive.
Scherzer said he was not on that team flight and traveled separately with his family.
ON EVE OF OPENERS, MANFRED HOPES FULL CAPACITY BY MIDSUMMER >> Fans return to major league stadiums for today’s openers amid pandemic attendance restrictions in most places, and baseball commissioner Rob Manfred can envision filled ballparks by midseason.
Texas is the only team open to 100% capacity.
“I hope by midsummer that we have ballparks that are unrestricted and we have full fan access,” Manfred said Wednesday during an interview with The Associated Press. MARINERS TO START SEASON WITH CF LEWIS ON IL>> The Seattle Mariners placed 2020 American League rookie of the year Kyle Lewis on the injured list to start the season because of a bone bruise on his right knee.
The center fielder was injured March 22 when he collided with the wall while chasing a fly ball in a spring training game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He has not played since but the injury is not believed to be serious.
Lewis, 25, batted .262 with a teambest 11 home runs along with 28 RBIs for the Mariners last season to earn rookie of the year honors.
BLUE JAYS’ SPRINGER LANDS ON IL >> Outfielder George Springer’s debut with the Toronto Blue Jays will have to wait. The team announced that the prized offseason signing will begin the season on the injured list with a Grade 2 left oblique strain.
Springer, 31, signed a six-year, $150 million contract in January after seven seasons with the Houston Astros.
• Blue Jays left-handed starter Robbie Ray will also begin the season on the IL after injuring his elbow falling down some stairs at his home.
UMPIRE’S DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT IS DISMISSED >> A U.S. judge dismissed longtime umpire Angel Hernandez’s lawsuit accusing Major League Baseball of racial discrimination. The Cuban-born Hernandez, an MLB umpire since 1993, accused MLB of passing him over for crew chief and World Series assignments based on race and ethnicity, despite being more senior and getting better performance reviews than other umpires receiving the plum assignments.
Hernandez, 59, said the discrimination stemmed from a “history of animosity” from Hall of Famer Joe Torre, who was MLB’s chief baseball officer when Hernandez sued in 2017.
But U.S. District Judge Paul Oetken in Manhattan said Hernandez did not show MLB subjected him to disparate treatment or that its policies disproportionately harmed minorities.
DODGERS TOP LIST OF MOST SOUGHTAFTER MLB JERSEYS >> The Los Angeles Dodgers have three of the five hottest-selling jerseys, according to a list released by MLB on Wednesday in advance of today’s start to the 2021 season.
Mookie Betts has the most popular jersey in the game, followed by Dodgers teammate Cody Bellinger. Veteran and certain Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw is No. 5. The San Diego Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr. is third, followed by the Philadelphia Phillies’ Bryce Harper.