Tag: protocols

Red Sox’ J.D. Martinez in MLB’s COVID-19 protocol due to cold symptoms

J.D. Martinez will not play in Saturday’s game against the Orioles. The slugger is under the weather and is dealing with cold symptoms, which resulted in him being placed in MLB’s COVID-19 protocols.

The Red Sox, however, do not feel that Martinez has COVID.

“With J.D., he’s under the weather,” Sox manager Alex Cora said during his pregame media availability Saturday. “He has cold symptoms. So the protocol has been activated. We’ll have more information throughout the night or tomorrow morning. We feel pretty confident that he’ll be able to be with us tomorrow. But obviously, we have to wait.”

Per the league’s health and safety protocols for the 2021 season, Martinez must test negative twice before being cleared to return to baseball activities. The 33-year-old has already taken a rapid COVID test and has taken or will take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test.

“I spoke to J.D.,” said Cora. “Obviously, we never know with the virus, but he feels pretty confident that it’s just a regular cold.”

There is a chance that the Red Sox could place Martinez on the COVID-related injured list before Saturday’s game and still have him available to play on Sunday.

In that scenario, Boston would activate one of the five taxi squad players who are currently traveling with the team for their first road trip of the season. Chris Herrmann, Michael Chavis, Cesar Puello, Colten Brewer, and Ryan Weber are those five players.

Again, Martinez’s absence would likely only last one day, as the Sox appear confident that the three-time All-Star just has a cold, not COVID-19.

“From our end, we do believe he’s going to be back with us tomorrow,” Cora said.

(Picture of J.D. Martinez: Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

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Red Sox COVID-19 Updates: Bobby Dalbec Cleared to Play, Will Be at Fenway Park on Sunday

Four days after it was announced that he had tested positive for COVID-19, Red Sox power-hitting prospect Bobby Dalbec has been cleared to once again return to baseball activities, manager Ron Roenicke announced Saturday.

Per Roenicke, Dalbec worked out at the club’s alternate training site at Boston College’s Brighton campus on Saturday and the plan is for him to report to Fenway Park on Sunday.

“He hasn’t done much for a couple weeks so we went pretty slow with him,” Roenicke said in regards to what Dalbec has been up to lately. “Just hit some ground balls to him. He threw a little bit and then took some soft toss swings in the cage. He will join us tomorrow.”

Thus far, the Red Sox have announced that four players — Dalbec, Eduardo Rodriguez, Darwinzon Hernandez, and Josh Taylor — have tested positive for coronavirus. Dalbec had been feeling asymptomatic though, so it would appear that he has tested negative for the virus twice within a 24-hour span while also going 72 hours without a fever, as per Major League Baseball’s testing protocols.

Dalbec, who turned 25 last month, is regarded by MLB Pipeline as Boston’s No. 3 prospect behind Jeter Downs and Triston Casas.

The former Arizona Wildcat, selected by the Sox in the fourth round of the 2016 first-year player draft, was included on the club’s initial 47-man Summer Camp player pool.

Capable of playing both corner infield positions, Dalbec’s path to the majors is currenty blocked by the likes of Rafael Devers, Mitch Moreland, and so on. Because of that, he will likely start the 2020 season as a member of the Red Sox taxi squad in Pawtucket.

As for the other three players who have tested positive for COVID-19, Rodriguez remains at his Miami home, Hernandez is currently in Venezuela, and Taylor is self-isolating at a hotel in Boston. In other words, Dalbec is the first of the bunch to be cleared to return to the team.