Multiple St. Louis Cardinals Test Positive for COVID-19

[John Bonnes]

Saturday Update: Trevor Plouffe woke up and said there was more bad news today. Reports are now that one more player (3 total), two coaches and one other staffer tested positive.

Per John Heyman, the St. Louis Cardinals have multiple positive COVID-19 tests within the organization, and their game tonight with the Brewers has been postponed. Saturday, former Twin Trevor Plouffe reported at least four more Cardinals tested positive.The Cardinals completed a two-game series with the Twins on Wednesday, and their current opponent, the Cleveland Indians, used the same visiting facilities yesterday that the Cardinals used Wednesday. At the very least this suggests that some portion of the Twins’ series versus Cleveland is in jeopardy.

 

We’ll update this story as news breaks.

 

Chris Long of KSTP reported that Twins players and staff should know the results of recent tests by game time.

 

 

SATURDAY

 

Right away on Saturday morning, reports have come out that at least four more Cardinals players have tested positive for COVID.

 

 

Plouffe's report has been confirmed by multiple other sources.

 

On a more hopeful note, no Phillies players have tested positive today, per Jon Heyman. So while the virus has spread across the Marlins roster, the team they played against does not appear to have been impacted at this time. Hopefully this will also turn out to be the case for the Twins.

 

Newer Update:

 

 

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[shortround81]

Grrrrrreat! :| 

[TouchEmAllGuy]

Ughhh

[Shaitan]

If they aren't doing a thorough cleaning of the facilities between team visits they aren't doing their job in the first place.

 

Hope everyone who tested positive has a full recovery.

[puckstopper1]

I don't think baseball is going to have a season much longer. How many teams need to be "shut down" before they pull the plug on this thing...

[Squirrel]

 

If they aren't doing a thorough cleaning of the facilities between team visits they aren't doing their job in the first place.

 

Hope everyone who tested positive has a full recovery.

 

That's only part of it. Which of those players were near any of ours? Those positives affect everyone ... not just those using the visitor's clubhouse.

[HawksNest]

Too bad the league and MLBPA couldn't come to an agreement on some sort of "bubble" set up.

 

NBA, NHL, MLS have all had zero (?) positive tests.

 

Could have set up 3 or 4 regional bubbles.

 

Alas, here we are. Can't say I'm confident that the full season is going to happen. Such a shame considering how good this team looks. Just classic. Best team in my lifetime and it's going to be ruined because of a once in a generation global pandemic. Unbelievable. 

[twins1095]

I think games will go on unless Twins players test positive unless the Cardinals start having positive tests on outbreak levels like the Marlins. I think the Phillies lack of positive cases from their players after facing a team with 60% of their players positive is the precedent that the MLB will use until proven otherwise.

[Vanimal46]

In one week of MLB play, 15 games have been postponed and 8 teams affected by scheduling conflicts due to covid. How are they going to make up these games? And when is it going to be bad enough to pull the plug on the season?

[mikelink45]

Covid is really messing with everything.  I did a blog on this 

https://twinsdaily.com/blogs/entry/11958-%7B%3F%7D/

before this announcement because we all have to be aware - it was actually the second of the blogs related to Covid.  I just worry that we underestimate its true significance.  

 

Trying to make sense of numbers I posted this yesterday on my Facebook page:

 

My accounting:

 

Minnesota Deaths have now passed the population of Lakefield and are just over the population of Aurora. The number of cases now exceeds the population of Edina.

 

US cases now exceed the total population of Kentucky our 26th largest state and is about to pass Louisiana. US deaths now exceeds the population of Kansas City Kansas.

 

World Cases have now equaled the population of the Netherlands

 

[Squirrel]

 

I think games will go on unless Twins players test positive unless the Cardinals start having positive tests on outbreak levels like the Marlins. I think the Phillies lack of positive cases from their players after facing a team with 60% of their players positive is the precedent that the MLB will use until proven otherwise.

 

I'd give it a little longer before proclaiming no positives on the Phillies ... but I'm hoping that stays the case

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

[In My La Z boy]

Isn't this why we have 30 man active rosters and we have another 30 players across town? This year is already a quasi-exhibition year - whoever has the best 60 players wins I thought? 
It is very early, and everyone is learning - I wouldn't hit the panic button, and let's see what develops. Test everyday, disinfect, isolate and quarantine, re-adjust schedules as they already have if an outbreak happens on a team. Marlins are worst case scenario so far, and with 14 players positive, that still leaves them with 46 players to compete. Play as many games as can be played - if it is 54 games for some teams, whatever - One day, one week at a time here. Let's go Dobs!

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

 

[lukeduke1980]

 

Grrrrrreat! :| 

It's Cardinals, not Tigers

[KFEY93]

 

Isn't this why we have 30 man active rosters and we have another 30 players across town? This year is already a quasi-exhibition year - whoever has the best 60 players wins I thought? 
It is very early, and everyone is learning - I wouldn't hit the panic button, and let's see what develops. Test everyday, disinfect, isolate and quarantine, re-adjust schedules as they already have if an outbreak happens on a team. Marlins are worst case scenario so far, and with 14 players positive, that still leaves them with 46 players to compete. Play as many games as can be played - if it is 54 games for some teams, whatever - One day, one week at a time here. Let's go Dobs!

Yes it is. Play ball!

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Isn't this why we have 30 man active rosters and we have another 30 players across town? This year is already a quasi-exhibition year - whoever has the best 60 players wins I thought? 

It is very early, and everyone is learning - I wouldn't hit the panic button, and let's see what develops. Test everyday, disinfect, isolate and quarantine, re-adjust schedules as they already have if an outbreak happens on a team. Marlins are worst case scenario so far, and with 14 players positive, that still leaves them with 46 players to compete. Play as many games as can be played - if it is 54 games for some teams, whatever - One day, one week at a time here. Let's go Dobs!

And educate, I think. Keep pounding away at telling people how the virus is primarily transmitted—inhaling and exhaling each other’s air. Every briefing, every player meeting.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

I’m not personally bothered by not knowing, but the sub-comments to that Tweet are brutal

[Twinfan603]

 

Too bad the league and MLBPA couldn't come to an agreement on some sort of "bubble" set up.

 

NBA, NHL, MLS have all had zero (?) positive tests.

 

Could have set up 3 or 4 regional bubbles.

 

Alas, here we are. Can't say I'm confident that the full season is going to happen. Such a shame considering how good this team looks. Just classic. Best team in my lifetime and it's going to be ruined because of a once in a generation global pandemic. Unbelievable. 

Not just once in a generation, more like once in a century. Obviously we all have to think about the health ramifications for everyone in the country as well as the families of those who've died from COVID, but boy did the MLB mess this up badly.

 

If the Twins or Indians have any positive cases I think that might have to be the final straw before at least a league-wide pause.

[jud6312]

 

They will, like 99% of everyone else who "gets it"

Quotation marks aren't necessary. It's a real disease that can be contracted.

[In My La Z boy]

 

And educate, I think. Keep pounding away at telling people how the virus is primarily transmitted—inhaling and exhaling each other’s air. Every briefing, every player meeting.

Obviously the Marlins did something wrong. I'd like to hear about some contact tracing results to help the league out here. Someone - or several someones caught this somewhere from someone. Who and where? The NBA figured out where their guys were who caught it (strip club) - I will guess no one else in the NBA will do that again until the season is over. These early outbreaks in baseball may be a gift in that we learn something early, that we can fix. Where is the after-action report on the Marlins outbreak? I hope every team has been provided with a copy.

[jimbo92107]

Sorry guys, it's blowing up. This should be an instructive lesson for pro basketball, pro football, pro hockey, etc. You just can't do pro sports during a deadly viral pandemic, no matter how hard we wish for it.

[SkyBlueWaters]

 

During the early days of the pandemic, MLB talked about keeping all of the teams in host cities, like other sports have since done. Phoenix and cities in Florida were mentioned.

 

I get that this changed, especially when Forida and Arizona got hit hard by COVID 19. 

 

But it was still so very much the right idea on what to do. 

 

It was also my sense that the players themselves disliked the idea, preferring to be able to see their families. 

 

I get that it is a sacrifice. But with a little hindsight, it now sure seems like the right thing to have done ... or to still do. If MLB is serious about having a 2020 season, including those playoffs the owners are so eager for, they've got to put these athletes and staff in bubbles.

 

 

[SkyBlueWaters]

 

 I'd like to hear about some contact tracing results to help the league out here. ...  These early outbreaks in baseball may be a gift in that we learn something early, that we can fix. 

 

I totally agree. Why other nations are so on top of this and we can't figure it out is not just baffling, it's deadly.

 

[puckstopper1]

I'm surprised there are not more infections announced. Just watch the top of the 9th inning of the White Sox/Indians game on Weds and the Sox players were all high-fiving, giving fist bumps, etc - without gloves on.  If one of those players had COVID, many of them would now have it.

[twins1095]

 

Sorry guys, it's blowing up. This should be an instructive lesson for pro basketball, pro football, pro hockey, etc. You just can't do pro sports during a deadly viral pandemic, no matter how hard we wish for it.

 

What indications do you have to believe that the NHL & NBA won't be able to do their seasons? I'd be interested in learning.

[howeda7]

 

During the early days of the pandemic, MLB talked about keeping all of the teams in host cities, like other sports have since done. Phoenix and cities in Florida were mentioned.

 

I get that this changed, especially when Forida and Arizona got hit hard by COVID 19. 

 

But it was still so very much the right idea on what to do. 

 

It was also my sense that the players themselves disliked the idea, preferring to be able to see their families. 

 

I get that it is a sacrifice. But with a little hindsight, it now sure seems like the right thing to have done ... or to still do. If MLB is serious about having a 2020 season, including those playoffs the owners are so eager for, they've got to put these athletes and staff in bubbles.

That still might be the best idea, but outside of Spring Training sites, where is there a collection of enough fields with ML dimensions to do this? I think at best, they put each division in a city so that the only travel required is the inter-league games.

 

The issue with this is that you'd have 2-3 games per day in each stadium, two of which would be in the daytime. The whole point of this is for TV $. In any event, it's probably too late to go that route. They either plow forward with the current plan using taxi squads or pull the plug.

[bighat]

I'll say this regarding some of the statements on the thread:

 

1. I think the "bubble concept" was impossible with MLB. The outdoor Spring Training sites are in Florida and Arizona, it's like 100 degrees there and if you're playing 3-4 games per stadium in areas like that, you've got lots of day games in unbearable heat. Sure, you could have picked 5 "regional sites" and just gone from there, but at that point you've only got like six teams playing each other all year. Baseball tried to do their best to have ACTUAL BASEBALL. The NBA is hosting a tournament, it's not even the same.

 

2. "Multiple Cardinals" really just means "two players". That's it. This isn't a Marlins situation. At least not yet, so let's pump the brakes on whether or not there's some kind of outbreak.

 

3. This is what the MLB bargained for when they set the season in place. They have disinfected clubhouses, they have players wearing masks, half the team isn't in the dugout, and they've got guys on a taxi squad so players can be replaced quickly. BUT they seem to not want to just let the wheels turn with the current system. I think reporters/media love to break this type of news and add about five exclamation points - BREAKING NEWS!!! like some kind of asteroid is on the way. Mass panic. ESPN does a full day of coverage. It's almost like if the Indians choose to play tonight, they are going to be considered reckless.

 

4. Should baseball just fold? Give up? Frankly I think they could power through if they were a bit less image-conscious and a bit more about playing ball. But like anything else right now, this is going to come down to Public Relations. Nobody wants to look like they're taunting the Boogeyman right now.

[SF Twins Fan]

 

Sorry guys, it's blowing up. This should be an instructive lesson for pro basketball, pro football, pro hockey, etc. You just can't do pro sports during a deadly viral pandemic, no matter how hard we wish for it.

 

You might actually want to look into the facts before you sound off on all sports.

 

[notoriousgod71]

https://sports.yahoo.com/report-rob-manfred-warns-that-mlb-could-shut-down-by-monday-if-it-cant-contain-coronavirus-210743171.html

 

 

Well, we better take the next three against Cleveland to clinch our division championship!