McAdam: As COVID-19 positive tests increase, Red Sox pitching staff already being impacted

Less than a week after the start of their Summer Camp, the Red Sox have at least four positive tests for COVID-19 among their 49-person player pool.

Starter Eduardo Rodriguez and infield prospect Bobby Dalbec have tested positive, the team revealed Tuesday, joining relievers Josh Taylor and Darwinzon Hernandez.

Rodriguez was exposed to someone who had tested positive in south Florida and remains there as he recovers. Dalbec, who had been in Arizona, a current hotspot for the coronavirus, reported to camp late last week having already tested positive for the virus. He remains quarantined in an area hotel.

Rodriguez had been scheduled to be the team's Opening Day starter, manager Ron Roenicke confirmed, but that assignment may now be in jeopardy. Taylor and Hernandez, meanwhile, were projected to be important parts of the Boston bullpen.

That the Sox are, for now, without three pitchers expected to be part of their 30-man roster to start the season in 2 1/2 weeks, is highly problematic.Rodriguez's absence is the biggest lost to the team to date. With a rotation that lost Rick Porcello to free agency, dealt off David Price and will be without Chris Sale (Tommy John surgery) for the entirety of the season, Rodriguez was seen as the team's most important starter.

He achieved personal highs last season in wins (19), innings pitched (203.1), starts (34) and strikeouts (213), finally fulfilling his potential. But with Rodriguez out of camp for the foreseeable future, his availability for the start of the season is highly questionable.

"I know how Eddie worked before he came to the first spring training and I know how hard he was working before he got COVID,'' said Roenicke. So that's the difficult part, when you see a guy who's on a mission to not only repeat but try to get better than what we did last year, it becomes difficult and you feel for the guy because I know the expectations he had coming in. I know he was really looking forward to really leading his team on the mound and having that kind of year again.''

In a rotation with only two other established major league-caliber starters (Nathan Eovaldi and Martin Perez), that's a big absence. Rodriguez, according to Roenicke, is "feeling a lot better, but still isn't 100 percent.''

"He wants to be ready for Opening Day, but we'll have to see how that goes,'' said Roenicke. ""The medical team will follow him, give him instructions on how to try to stay in shape. But it just depends on how long this thing goes and when we can get the negative test from him and when he can come up and join us.

"The medical end of it always come first. It's just like an injury -- that comes first and (we have to) make sure that guys are healthy and that they feel good enough to get back on the field.

Even with Rodriguez in the picture, the Boston rotation was already suspect. The team had penciled in journeyman Ryan Weber (career ERA: 5.04) as the No. 4 starter and was leaning toward going with the opener concept to fill the fifth and final spot.

Should Rodriguez miss some time at the start of the season, that would leave the Sox with just Eovaldi and Perez as experienced major league starters and two additional spots -- instead of one -- left to fill.

Roenicke appeared to dismiss the idea of using two openers in the rotation if Rodriguez is unready to open the year.

"I think it would work better if we just have one,'' he said. "I think we have enough candidates in camp that we can find that fourth guy and just one opener. Or maybe we decide with what we have that it would be better to go with another starter in that fifth spot. Eddie's still on me about being ready for Opening Day, so we'll see what happens there.''

Working out on his own, Rodriguez had been built up to four innings in south Florida and will be able to resume that in time. But the positive test will slow that progression at least somewhat and force him to start from a lower base once he does resume.

Making matters worse is a schedule that doesn't include an off-day until after the Sox have played 10 consecutive days out of the gate.

"We've already talked about that, how the multi-inning guys (in the bullpen) are important,'' Roenicke said, "and we're going to have to stretch them out here as quick as we can. They'd done a really good job before they came into camp. Most of the guys were already throwing multi-inning bullpens, so that allows us to push them harder here, at a quicker pace. And I think by doing that, we should be able to cover those innings.''

Then there's the loss of Hernandez and Taylor, who had profiled as the bullpen's top two lefty options. They, too, could recover in time, and be available by July 24 since they won't need as much ramping up.

But already, Summer Camp has served to remind the Red Sox that nothing can be taken for granted.