More than any other team in baseball, the Red Sox continue to be dogged by the issue of COVID vaccines.
They're far from the only club with players who aren't vaccinated. The Oakland A's had a handful of players ineligible for their visit to Toronto earlier this season, and so, too, did the Minnesota Twins.
Yet, it's the Red Sox who seem to generate more attention on this matter -- some two years after the pandemic began, and more than a year after the vaccines became available.
Perhaps that's because, as a team in the American League East, they must make three visits to Toronto over the course of the season. (One was in April, the next starts Monday, and the third is the second-to-last series of the season). Or maybe it's because a few of their unvaccinated players happen to be high-profile, integral to the team's success.
On the Sox' first visit to Rogers Centre in April, Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford were ineligible. That, in turn, forced the Sox to move Garrett Whitlock from the bullpen to the rotation, and left the Sox shorthanded when it came to their relief staff. The Sox dropped three of four to the Jays in that series.
In the first game, the Rays rallied for four runs in the home half of the eighth, and the Sox, without either Houck or Whitlock available in the pen had no answer. In the second, the Sox led 5-2 heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Jays scored three runs to tie it, then won it in the bottom of the 10th. Again, a shorthanded bullpen proved to be a big factor.
(It's said that a true ace can impact a team both the day before he pitches as well as the day after. Immediately before, a manager might be able to be more aggressive in his bullpen usage, knowing that his start the following day can be counted upon for seven or eight innings. And, because not much bullpen help is needed on the day the ace pitches, the bullpen is, by definition, more rested for the day after.
The opposite was true before and after the Toronto series. The Sox were forced to adjust their rotation and their relief staff to accommodate Houck's absence, which took Whitlock out of the bullpen mix in the days before the series against the Jays, since he had to assume Houck's turn in the rotation. Similarly, he wasn't available for a few days after, having been pressed into starting duty in the final game of the series at Rogers Centre).
Now, the Red Sox are headed back to Toronto. Crawford is at Triple-A Worcester and not a factor this time. But Houck will again not join them, robbing the Sox of their closer. Alex Cora said the team didn't intend to focus on identifying one reliever to serve as Houck's replacement as closer for the series, but would instead make a decision on a case-by-case basis, presumably based on matchups and availability.
This time, however, Houck isn't the only key player who won't be in Toronto. Outfielder Jarren Duran, also unvaccinated, will not partake in the series. And with Kike Hernandez not yet recovered from a strained hip flexor and still in need of a brief rehab stint in Worcester, the Sox will be man short in the outfield, to say nothing of missing two leadoff options.
Duran has proven to be a catalyst since rejoining the club, reaching base 11 times in the last seven games while scoring six times. He's also stolen two bases and compiled a .370 on-base percentage.
But because Duran told MassLive.com's Chris Cotillo that he's "still doing my research,'' he won't help the Sox for three games. That means the third outfielder for the Blue Jays series -- joining Alex Verdugo and Jackie Bradley Jr. -- will be either Rob Refsnyder, Franchy Cordero, Christian Arroyo, or whomever the Sox pluck from Worcester to take Duran's spot on the roster for three days.
What's amazing, beyond the sheer number of absentees on the Red Sox' roster, are the public explanations and rationalizations. Is Duran really soliciting advice from medical professionals and researching the efficacy of the vaccine that was introduced more than a year ago?
Or Houck's continued insistence, in the face of all evidence to the contrary, that he would "do anything to help his team win.'' Well, anything, that is except comply with the vaccaintion mandate, as more than 90 percent of his teammates have done.
Duran, too, engaged, in some head-scratching rationalization Wednesday, calling the situation "hard.''
But it isn't, really. If Duran wanted to play, he could have made the decision that the vast majority of MLB players -- and indeed, vast majority of Americans -- made and gotten the vaccine.
And there's this: while Houck has at least somewhat established himself at the big league level, Duran and Crawford haven't. Nor, for that matter, are others at Worcester, including Ryan Fitzgerald, who at 28, has never been in the big leagues before, but might have been a consideration for Monday except, he, too, is not vaccinated. Beyond whatever responsibilities they might feel for their teammates, what about the impact on their own careers?
The Red Sox are 2-5 against the Blue Jays so far, and that could prove critical in determining seeding for the postseason, or conceivably, who qualifies and who doesn't.
And undoubtedly, that series in Toronto in October, with all of its implications for the standings, could see the Sox without their closer, a valuable outfielder, and, lest we forget, No. 1 starter (Chris Sale). The Yankees didn't have a single ineligible player when they visited Toronto recently; Tampa Bay has yet to play a series there this year, so their level of compliance is unknown for now.
Meanwhile, the issue hovers over the Sox. And like COVID itself, it's not going away anytime soon.