Just after midnight, following the Cincinnati Reds win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that a Reds player had tested positive for COVID-19. Later reporting by Jeff Passan said that the game scheduled for Saturday evening was in doubt over the positive test. This morning, just after 10:15am ET, Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer reported that the game between the two teams was indeed postponed.
Tonight's #Reds game vs. #Pirates is postponed after a player had a positive COVID-19 test, according to a source. https://t.co/cldSe5T2ek
— Bobby Nightengale (@nightengalejr) August 15, 2020
Shortly after, at 10:36am ET, Jeff Passan of ESPN noted that it was becoming exceeding likely that the game on Sunday, too, would be postponed with a possibility of the teams playing a double header on Monday.
Sunday’s game between the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates is exceedingly likely to be postponed, sources tell ESPN. The teams could potentially play a doubleheader on Monday, when both have an off-day. They have two more series in which they can make up lost games, too.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 15, 2020
This story, of course, is developing, and will be updated with more information as it becomes available.
Update at 11:07am
The game on Sunday between the two teams has also been postponed according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network.
Sunday’s Reds-Pirates game also postponed
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) August 15, 2020
John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer noted just after the Heyman report that the teams were looking at a double header for Monday.
Right now, #Reds are looking a postponing today and tomorrow, doubleheader Monday, source said.
— John Fay (@johnfayman) August 15, 2020
Update: 11:23am ET
Major League Baseball has released the following statement:
Following a positive test for COVID-19 by a Cincinnati Reds player, tonight’s scheduled game, as well as tomorrow afternoon’s contest, between the Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates at Great American Ball Park have been postponed to allow for additional testing and to complete the contact tracing process. Major League Baseball will continue to provide updates as they become available.
Your are correct. 5 months later, it still sucks.
Some of the decisions the Reds make. If Senzel is the player?? Why would House pull him out of the “handshake” lineup after the win while not wearing a mask?? Why no mask?? Just bad leadership on this staff. Looks really/really bad
He had a mask.
As always you are correct. My apologies to House
He had a mask on under his nose until Nick walked past him, then put it all the way on.
If I was telling an athlete who was hot and sweaty and pumping out breathe at a high rate, that he had Covid+, then I would be wearing a serious mask with eye protection.
Maybe that should’ve been left to the medical staff to tell him if it was Nick.
House wearing a mask does nothing to protect House. Only a respirator would have protected House.
This is the major issue with masks – their purpose is wildly misunderstood. I’ll make this as clear as I can. Masks are not respirators. Respirators protect the wearer from airborne contaminates. Masks kinda protect other people from the wearer’s exhaled contaminates by slowing the velocity of the air and after droplets.
So, House was not protected from Senzel when he put on the mask. Sadly, House probably thought he was doing the right thing.
*water droplets.
One mask on either party provides some level of protection for each. Masks on both provides more. Those are the facts with plenty to illustrate that. I wear a mask for both other people (out of courtesy) and for me, especially when so many others don’t seem to care.
Total prevention? Nope – that would take a respirator to even get close. But it does inhibit, even with only one mask … unless my mask is made out of pantyhose or mesh 🙂
What we are seeing play out is that MLB is a microcosm of the society it is part of.
Test, isolate, contact trace, quarantine, then repeat as needed. The procedure is no different from employees in any other line of work. With MLB, it just takes place on a large highly publicized stage.
My greatest frustration is with the testing portion. The time lag on results opens a window for larger spread of the virus. For example, based on what we know about the MLB testing protocols and result turnaround times, it is possible someone with the KC Royals may have been exposed to the virus before they left town. And now the Royals have been on the field with yet another team.
Also, the situation with false positives undermines confidence in the entire process and breeds dissatisfaction among the players and the public.
We need to get better at testing.
Finer point … better testing only yields more data. We need to get WAY better at being prudent and judicious with how we all act in order to curb this nasty thing as much as possible. Masks, distance, cleaning … those are what we need “more of” to get back to where we want to be.
Pretty much all moot points until a vaccine comes out. Glad I can work remotely. Many simply cannot.
Very true
Yes you are correct and MLB is doing the right thing by canceling these games. If the player was in the line up, he obviously was breathing all over the opposing catcher and the Ump at the least If you don’t stop play/test/trace/quarantine, then you could have another Marlins situation. Sick of people saying “just bring up someone from the taxi squad”. Not what it was meant for.
Absolutely True. knowing several people that have had this horrid disease, of which one of them did not make it. We all have to be conscious of our behavior. Wear the mask, wash your hands. All that while in public.
The false positives on rapid tests is, to me, a big problem. As you note, it really undermines the confidence we need to have in testing. I’m “mostly” retired and 90% of the work I do is a remote log-in to the company server from home.
Speaking of false positives. You have to feel for Trevor Bauer. I know he is polarizing, but I personally enjoy his outlook. He gets screwed out of a start by a bad weather call. He gets screwed out of a start by a false positive. Now he gets screwed out of a start by a teammate testing positive. All to no fault of his own. He wants to pitch every 4th day. At this rate he may pitch every 14th day. His next video on YouTube will be must watch. Lol.
I am retired 5 years. I have a friend/ former work colleague who is still working FT but going in only when he needs to do touch work that can’t be done over the wire from home (he is an IT network operations engineer). That typically works out to once or twice a week since he basically does almost all his work over the wire from a desk when he is on site.
Several weeks ago he had one of those days and afterwards dropped by for an open sided back porch visit with me. We both masked and kept distance.
Next day after our visit, he texted me that 2 people he had been in close proximity with at work before he came to see me had just been ordered to quarantine because the day before he was around them they been around a person who had tested positive.
Fortunately, all turned out well for him and me. However this shows how insidious the virus penetration is.
If they can’t play through Sunday, what does an extra day to Monday accomplish with a 10 to 14 day incubation period do as far as safety?
The KBO just doesn’t seem to have these problems. But the players seem to be a little more disciplined.
Are the players more disciplined, or are the players in the KBO living in a country that isn’t still spreading the virus like a glitter bomb?
Some of both … but I suspect the latter is due to the former.
+1000
I also think some of both. Korea, and just about every other country, has obviously handled this pandemic way better than the US. But also it doesn’t appear that all players are taking all precautions seriously. I think back to the Votto walk-off and how Senzel ran to him, no mask, face buried in Votto’s chest as he lifted him up as they were surrounded by teammates, likely all breathing heavy from running, jumping, and excitement. That’s just not safe and honestly irresponsible.
SK had their glitter bomb already and their flattened second wave. When tests were not as widely available, so comparing numbers is difficult.
Inaccurate tests are just the worst. They hurt as much as they help. Old chemistry slogan: Things can be done better, faster, or cheaper, but you can only pick two of the three.
In many respects, this is what flattening the curve looks like. It takes and conflagration of bad news and suppresses it to steady burn over a much longer period.
Chalk at least part of that up to culture … including the culture that did a hard shut-down way early on in South Korea.
Here is a thought… until you know who the player is then stop speculating and shut your mouth.
+1000 and also stay away from the blame. A person can do everything “right” and still get infected.
I mention a cure for this virus and my comment is deleted.
What happened to discussion and freedom of speech
There is no cure, Steve. And I’m not going to allow proven falsehoods about this virus to be posted here.
And freedom of speach means the government can’t punish you for criticizing them.
I don’t think you have to be Sherlock Holmes to know who it is. This is a form for discussion/thoughts. If this site took your approach. It would never have an article about Trevor Bauer needing time off to rest his arm. That was “speculation”. Sometimes our speculation is wrong. This is for Reds fans to talk/speculate. Sorry you don’t gel that way.
Well when one guy (AND ONLY ONE GUY) is in his physical prime and still manages to miss more games then he plays due to 47 different ailments/reasons, etc. then its fair to speculate.
If Senzel was in Good Fellas his mob name would be Nicky Part-Time
Agreed, but how about another angle – namely, IIRC no Reds have opted out, and only a few in all of MLB have. Further, some who have not had/have good reason to – Carrasco on the Tribe is an obvious example. Question, then, is are any of the Reds, including all staff, at enhanced risk? The last I recall would have been Duvall w/ diabetes. I wonder if there is anyone, and if anybody is reconsidering opting out?
FWIW I see some teams doing the all-air celebrations – air-high-5s, air-fist-bumps, air-shakes etc…
Here is more “speculation” for you JB. Reds pick up Nick Williams. I think Doug will have an article on it If my “speculation” is correct If not. It is my opinion/speculation
Williams was picked up on waivers. The question is which OF will be DFA’d to give him the roster spot.
Great question. Can he take the Colon spot? I know that is not an OF spot. I don’t think they have to keep him on the 40. Again “speculation”. Doug will let us know where he fits. As he always does.
I think he is a great pick up at no cost. Evidently, he has a huge story behind him. Former 2 nd round pick/Hammels trade etc.
Kind of funny when you think about all these moves and $$. We have Galvis/Williams. Phil’s have Gregorious/Harper. But, at what cost $$ wise to them. Shrewd move by FO in my humble opinion.
Williams had four years of team control remaining when this year began, so depending on how long (if at all) he is active on the 28-man roster, he will still likely have at least three years of team control remaining beginning in 2021. He also has one remaining option, which could be used this year.
Doug will correct me if I am wrong. 😉
Yes. Doug will set us right. I also believe you are right. 3 more years of control. I believe that is also accurate about Winker. If the NL keeps the DH next year. This pick up may look like magic. Both lefty’s who hit the ball well. Neither will be a “star” defense wise.
Agree above. Shrewd.
2020. Stats
Gregorious.
AB. 53. Avg .264. HR 3. RBI 11 OPS .751
Galvis.
AB. 55. Avg. .268. HR 4. RBI 9. OPS. .885
I’ll take Galvis all day long at this point. Considering contracts etc. Both, I believe are 30.
Let’s give this FO a little credit.
Agreed. So far it looks like a good judgment by the front office.
Yep. It goes on and on. And he was by far (my humble) opinion the best Defensive wise.
Thank You
Williams is a great pick up by the Reds. He/Winker have so much in common. Almost like they are the same player Both L/L. Both drafted in 2012. Winker at 49. Williams at 93. Both are 6’3. Both are 26.
Both weigh around 210lb.
Career stats.
Winker:
AB 792. Avg .290. HR 35. RBI 104. OPS. .868
Williams:
AB 826. Avg .254. HR 31. RBI 110 OPS.733
This front office picked up Williams for free. We are seeing what can happen given the opportunity with Winker. Willians is right there with him.
Just a great pick up
Well said.
The Cardinals had all of their players drive the ~5 hours to Chicago where they would have to stop for gas, get food, etc, mixing with the general public because they thought that was safer for the players than a charter flight where everyone on the plane has been tested and is negative.
This action does not seem to fit the statements of how to best keep layers safe and that Covid is spreading like a glitter bomb.
Trying to find a like size and diverse population to compare to the US, one needs countries which allow very free movement between them, and this leads one to have to look at the EU countries to compare to the US.
Data is from worldmeters.info
Taking Germany,Belgium,UK,France,Spain,Italy and comparing to the US
Population – 336mil vs 330mil
covid-19 tests = 46.4 mil (13.8%) vs 70.2 mil (21.3%)
Covid Cases = 3.75mil vs 5.5 mil
% positive test = 8.1% vs 7.9 %
Covid deaths = 155000 vs 173000
% of deaths/case = 4.1% vs 3.1%
So how much worse is the US doing when compared to a like sized diverse population? Not that much different.
The glitter bomb comment was specifically about the US and South Korea. Yesterday the US had 53523 new cases. South Korea had 166. Population difference? Yes. So let’s adjust that for the populations – if South Korea had that same rate, but 330,000,000 like the US, they would have had 1061 new cases. 50 times fewer than what the US had.
So, in that case, one country – the US – has the virus spreading like a glitter bomb compared to the other.
Now, using the countries you did and the website that you did, let’s talk about those numbers for yesterday, since those are the ones that matter given that we were talking right now: US yesterday, again, 53,523 cases. The countries you listed combined for 6,577 cases – but there is no total for Spain for yesterday. There is data for two days ago for Spain, though, so let’s use that number (2,987). That gives the European countries you cite a total of 9,564. The US still have more than 5 times as many cases when figuring in the population. Not quite a glitter bomb difference, but it’s really, really, really bad.
Right now, the US is very far behind in terms of slowing the spread of this virus.
The problem with using positive tests as equal to confirmed cases is evident just from MLB.
Someone (unrelated to the current reds situation), may test neg on Sunday, positive on Tues, then negative on Thurs and Saturday. This probably counts as a ‘case’ but just as likely was a false positive. it is doubtful that this hypothetical person, in a medical sense, ever had the virus.
the above hypothetical is similar to what davidson went through just a few weeks ago.
Still not a bad idea to pump the brakes on Sat/Sun to allow for additional investigation.
Woke up and found out I cashed my Korean bb bet Under 11.5)) The closer is doing his thing on ESPN in the bottom of the 9th and they pan over to the dugout…..guys on the railing elbow to elbow and NOBODY has a mask on. How is S Korea so lucky? What are they doing that we aren’t?
They effectively smothered the virus with testing and tracing; quarantining; universal masking, social distancing. We just flattened the curve enough to ease the strain on the our healthcare workers, then went back to business as usual in too many places in the country.
Testing nationwide has now, incredibly, dropped:
“Six months into the pandemic, testing remains a major obstacle in America’s efforts to stop the coronavirus. Some of the supply shortages that caused problems earlier have eased, but even after improvements, test results in some cases are still not being returned within a day or two, hindering efforts to quickly isolate patients and trace their contacts. Now, the number of tests being given has slowed just as the nation braces for the possibility of another surge as schools reopen and cooler weather drives people indoors.
“We’re clearly not doing enough,” said Dr. Mark McClellan, the director of the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy and the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration under former President George W. Bush.”
To be fair. i think people got in the habit of ‘not testing’ back when the tests were more scarce and people were instructed to only get a test if you were symptomatic.
If there has been a decrease in testing it may be that fewer people are ‘feeling ill’ and not getting tested. This could be both good and bad I suppose, but may not be due to irresponsibility or being unconcerned.