McAdam: With Thursday's opener looming, Red Sox can only sit and wait on test results

At a time when they would otherwise be focused on last-minute roster decisions and planning for Thursday's regular-season opener, the Red Sox instead find themselves reeling from the fallout from one of their players testing positive for COVID-19, and wondering whether others might become infected.

A day after it was revealed that reliever Matt Barnes had tested positive, the Red Sox were crossing the fingers that the case didn't result in a full-blown outbreak on the team. As of late Sunday morning, there were no new known positives within the organization.

Those players who had been scheduled to travel to Bradenton Saturday for an exhibition game with the Pittsburgh Pirates were administered rapid tests, resulting in no new positives. The remainder of the players and coaches also were given PCR tests, which are considered much more reliable. As of late Sunday morning, the Red Sox had not gotten the results of those PCR tests.

Alex Cora said eight members of the organization -- it's not known if all eight are players -- were involved in contact tracing protocols because of their exposure to Barnes in the last week. Four were classified as "close contact'' cases while four others were deemed "extra scrutiny contact.'' The former must isolate completely from team personnel, while the latter may be allowed some limited participation in activities.

It's likely, too, that some of those in the contact tracing protocols are on different timetables, based on the timing of their last exposure to Barnes.

Beyond pitcher Matt Andriese, the team has not identified the eight in question, though Cora suggested it might become obvious based on lineups and player availability in the closing days of camp. Toward that end, it appears that starter Garrett Richards is involved in the contact tracing protocol. When asked after Sunday's game whether Richards was scheduled to pitch either Monday or Tuesday, the final two days of the spring schedule, Cora simply answered: "No.''

For their Sunday afternoon game with the Minnesota Twins the Sox had regulars Franchy Cordero in left,  Kiké Hernández in center and Hunter Renfroe in right, with Rafael Devers at third, Xander Bogaerts at short, Marwin Gonzalez at second, Michael Chavis at first base and J.D. Martinez as their DH.

(Bobby Dalbec was a last-minute scratch at first, but it was later announced that he was dealing with a sore right index finger and was pulled as a precaution).

That lineup excluded only outfielder Alex Verdugo and catcher Christian Vazquez from the expected everyday lineup. Vazquez is recovering from a laceration to his cheek, the result of being hit by a ball during drills Thursday in which a ball shattered the catcher's sunglasses, resulting in a gash to his face. Cora said Vazquez is making process in his recovery and said "there's a really good chance'' he plays in Thursday's opener.

Quite naturally, the suspicion is that most of those impacted and in some form of quarantine are pitchers, who would be far more likely to have had close contact with Barnes, who remains asymptomatic.



"It's not a good feeling,'' summarized chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom of the situation. "We all know that this was possible. Last year, we experienced what it feels like to know that one of your players tested positive, but we didn't have that experience after intake. And this is a whole different feeling. You start thinking about all the different ways this could trend and the worst-case scenarios and that's part of our job -- is to make sure we're prepared for those.

"You want the ramp-up to the start of the season to be as smooth and uneventful as possible. But we also know that in this game, that's not going to be the case all the time. This year, everything surrounding the virus is just like it was last year -- it's just another feature of the season that we all have to contend with. This is why we have focused so much on doing the right things and adhering to the protocols so that if this does happen, it stays contained. And this is why we plan for worst-case scenarios and build depth and try to build resilience in our group so that we can weather these storms.''

Players who had close contact with an infected player are required by MLB protocols to quarantine for a number of days, based on their last exposures. It's possible that some of those players could complete their isolation by Wednesday, and unless additional positives crop up, could be eligible to take part in Thursday's opener against the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park.

Typically, this week includes plenty of player movement throughout the game as teams either release players or players themselves exercise opt-out clauses. With Barnes out for the start of the season and Ryan Brasier (broken right pinky finger) still behind, that might result in the Red Sox bringing in reinforcements for the bullpen from outside the organization.

"This is often the time of year when there's often a lot of movement,'' acknowledged Bloom. "Generally speaking, it's the time of year when you might be looking around. This adds a little bit of a twist to that. But at the same time, we need to make sure we've got our arms around a developing situation here. To the extent this is just a short-term bump in the road, we also need to be mindful of that.''

Bloom said the Sox were still seeking guidance from Major League Baseball on how much roster flexibility the Red Sox might have under the current circumstances. For instance, would it be possible for the Sox to add players back to their active 26-man roster without using up one of his options?

"We're still looking into that,'' said Bloom. "I think a lot of that will depend, quite frankly, on how widespread this is and that's something we're going to need to stay in contact with the league on. There are provisions for this, but they were, generally speaking, designed for a larger-scale event which, fingers crossed, we hope we don't have. That said, if you have players unavailable just from an abundance of caution, there might be some things that come with that. So we're talking with Major League Baseball, everything this does and doesn't mean for our roster.

But first and foremost, we want to make sure things continuing to look good from us getting that initial news and No. 1, we're hoping that continues to be the case and if it does, this should have a relatively contained impact on our roster.''

Still, there are plenty of logistical hurdles to overcome in the coming days, not the least of which include transporting members of the organization (and some of their family members) back to Boston late Tuesday afternoon. Naturally, those players or staff members couldn't travel with the rest of roster who are not involved in the contact tracing protocols, so separate arrangements -- including traveling by private plane -- will be necessary.