At-risk Diekman pushes for changes to improve testing for coronavirus
Not for one moment did A’s reliever Jake Diekman consider opting out of the truncated 2020 season.
He had every reason to. Diekman’s ulcerative colitis makes him at high-risk of complications if he were to contract coronavirus. Because of this, Diekman was guaranteed the negotiated full prorated salary promised if he’d chosen to sit the season out. He opted in.
Fully masked on Tuesday, Diekman threw a 20-pitch session live bullpen against four hitters, including Ramón Laureano on Tuesday — his pitches fueled by relief that his teammates had finally cleared the intake testing backlog that sidelined most of the A’s for the entire weekend. Still, Diekman’s concern over the league’s slow testing process nagged him. “There’s a little part in everyone’s mind that thinks this is going to be shut down,” Diekman said on a call with reporters. “They might not say it, but there’s a little bit of fear in everyone’s head that might happen.”
Once the seed of doubt is planted, it sprouts into a couple branches of concern. First, any lapses in every-other-day testing can domino into viral disaster. Testing lags have
already forced the A’s, Giants and other teams to shut down their workouts.
“I’m high risk so I’m going to have to speak out,” Diekman said. “I don’t want to get sick.”
What he hopes his words might spark is for the league to open up a public record of the number of tests and positive test rate MLB records on a consistent basis. The league reported an initial analysis from 3,740 tests (with a 2% positive rate) without indication of how often numbers would be rolled out.
Diekman’s hope is a public record would cause public cries for an additional lab to be used for MLB intake testing. Right now, all tests are going through the PED-converted lab in Salt Lake City.
“One lab has to do (approximately) 2,000 tests a day,” Diekman said. “That makes zero sense to me. Are they there 24-7? How is that possible to do?”
Diekman isn’t pointing to the testing process’ holes because he feels pressured to play under risky circumstances, he just hopes that the system’s wrinkles can be ironed out. Some might ask why someone with a high-risk sickness wouldn’t consider opting out once bumps in the road turned up.
“He never really thought to opt out,” Amanda Diekman, Jake’s wife said. “He loves this game, he loves being a part of a team. He loves to compete. He never wanted to leave his teammates hanging.
“We had some good conversations about the severity of things and made sure that we realistically could do this.
We decided to take it day-by-day, and if at any point it feels unsafe, we are able to opt out, which ultimately is very comforting.”
The Diekman family lives in Nebraska during the offseason. Amanada and their 20-month-old daughter, Palmer, all joined him in the bubble in the Bay Area for the season. To have someone close by in a time when social distancing is pulling everyone apart. To provide each other support, even though a season would go on without a hitch seemed unlikely. Optimism was never at its peak.
Before the Diekmans returned to California, manager Bob Melvin called the family up to reiterate that keeping Jake safe would be a priority.
“(He) just expressed that he would do anything he could to make things work for Jake, to make us comfortable,” Amanda said. The A’s set up multiple Zoom calls with Jake to discuss methods for keeping him safe and to learn more about his health, offering up extra PPE and additional testing if he’d feel it necessary.
“I think I’m more nervous than Jake,” Amanda said.
Amanda felt the anxiety bug bite on Saturday when Jake left for the ballpark. That the coronavirus threat wasn’t “fresh” anymore agitated fears that people around the A’s would become a little too relaxed about basic protocols.
But, another harsh reality about this process hit close when most of Diekman’s teammates’ tests sat stalled at SFO well after camp report date. The Diekman family wants the season to work out — Jake wants to pitch.
“It just even more solidifies that we have reason to feel uneasy and unsure that this is going to work,” Amanda said. “It needs to be resolved immediately.”