JANSEN REPORTS AFTER HAVING COVID-19
Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen was late arriving to summer camp after he tested positive for COVID-19.
The three-time All-star closer said Sunday on a video conference call that he believes he contracted the virus from his 4-year-old son Kaden. He said the child had a fever, among other symptoms, which led his wife to suggest everyone in the family get tested.
Jansen said his wife, Gianni, and 7-year-old daughter Natalia tested positive, but that his first test was negative. A day later, he also tested positive. The couple has another son, Kyrian, who turns 2 in August. The family has been quarantining at their home in Los Angeles.
Jansen said he’s “doing great and better now.”
“It is real,” he said of the global pandemic. “Everyone in the world, take it serious. Wear your mask at all times, if you can. Because, trust me, it happens so fast. Once my son got it, I’ve seen how fast it can spread. We tried to do everything, but we all got it in the house.”
Jansen said he did not consider opting out of the 60-game season even though he has had heart issues in the past. In November 2018, Jansen underwent a heart ablation procedure after he was first diagnosed with irregular heartbeat issues seven years earlier.
“I always wanted to play, I love this game. I want to do it for the fans,” the 32-year-old reliever said.
Jansen did not report for the team’s first official workout on July 3. At the time, manager Dave Roberts said he couldn’t say why.
“He looks like he’s in good shape. I know he’s thrilled to death to be back with his teammates,” Roberts said Sunday. “When one of your own is affected by something then certainly it hits home more. It makes us even more conscious.”
However, Roberts said, Jansen would not be treated any differently because of having the virus.
Jansen said he expects to be ready for the season opener July 23 at home against the Giants.
Lauer on injured list
Brewers pitcher Eric Lauer said that he’s on the injured list because he was in close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. Lauer said he hasn’t tested positive.
The protocols accompanying that situation caused Lauer to arrive late to the Brewers’ summer camp. He made it to camp Friday, nearly a full week after the Brewers’ first full-squad workout. Brewers manager Craig Counsell said Lauer still has a chance to be ready for the start of the season.
Lauer is on the injured list with both shortstop Luis
Urias and pitcher Angel Perdomo. Counsell says Urias and Perdomo have tested positive but are asymptomatic.
Lauer went 8-10 with a 4.45 ERA for the Padres last year before coming to Milwaukee in a Nov. 27 trade that also included Urias.
Shaw’s sorry
Toronto infielder Travis Shaw apologized for recent tweets that criticized the Blue Jays’ plan to have players stick to the Rogers Centre and connecting hotel if games are played in Canada.
On Friday, he tweeted: “All summer isn’t gonna happen. Not an option.”
During a Zoom call Sunday,
Shaw said he’d been “a little tone deaf.”
“I apologize for that, at no point was I saying I was going to break the rules or we’re going to break the rules,” Shaw said.
Cards missing pieces
Another day without relievers Giovanny Gallegos, Alex Reyes and Genesis Cabrera and Cardinals manager Mike Shildt barely can count on them being ready for the start of the season 11 days from now as summer camp has reached the halfway point.
Cabrera, as well as infielder Elehuris Montero and lefthander Ricardo Sanchez, has tested positive for a second time for the coronavirus but still is asymptomatic and in St. Louis, Shildt said.
“They’re chomping at the bit to get back but they still have to be cleared from a medical perspective,” Shildt said. “The other guys are doing what they can to get back into camp.”
There is no official word linking the virus to Gallegos, who still is in Mexico and Reyes, who is here. Both Reyes and his representative have declined comment on his status.
Yankees’ Judge still out
New York slugger Aaron Judge was held out of action for a second straight day due to a stiff neck.
The 2017 AL Rookie of the Year was scratched from a simulated game Saturday after waking up with a sore neck, and the right fielder was not included in either lineup for an intrasquad scrimmage.
New York manager Aaron Boone said Judge got treatment at Yankee Stadium and was improving.
“Just thought it was better not to push through it (Sunday),” Boone said.
The Yankees are set to open a pandemic-shortened season July 23 at Washington. New York is planning just a light workout today, and Judge will get more treatment with hopes of returning to intrasquad action Tuesday.
“I don’t think it’s something that’s going to keep him down too long,“Boone said.