Toronto FC today announced that the team’s travel to Orlando, Florida has been postponed.
This morning, a member of the Toronto FC travel party reported experiencing symptoms to the team medical staff. The individual is isolating at home and is being assessed virtually by team medical staff.
The entire Toronto FC travel party will undergo another round of testing and will not travel to Orlando until those test results are received. Further travel details will be provided when available.
LOS ANGELES — David Price has become the first Dodgers player to opt out of the 2020 season. The left-hander made his announcement on Twitter on Saturday afternoon, the second day of official workouts at Dodger Stadium. “Dear Dodgers Nation,” Price posted, “After considerable thought and discussion with my family and the Dodgers, I have…
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (WDAF) — Royals catcher Salvador Perez has tested positive for the coronavirus, the team announced on July 4. The athlete is asymptomatic and staying at his Kansas City home. He said his family is safe and he feels good. It will take consecutive negative tests for him to be allowed to play. […]
Atlanta Braves four-time All-Star Freddie Freeman, premier reliever Will Smith and two teammates have tested positive for the coronavirus, a jarring hit to the NL East champions less than three weeks before the start of the pandemic-delayed season. ”It will be …
Atlanta Braves four-time All-Star Freddie Freeman, premier reliever Will Smith and two teammates have tested positive for the coronavirus, a jarring hit to the NL East champions less than three weeks before the start of the pandemic-delayed season. ”It will be a while before we can get him Continue reading on Yahoo Sports
Atlanta Braves four-time All-Star Freddie Freeman, premier reliever Will Smith and two teammates have tested positive for the coronavirus, a jarring hit to the NL East champions less than three weeks before the start of the pandemic-delayed season.
”It will be a while before we can get him back,” manager Brian Snitker said Saturday about Freeman.
Snitker said the four players, including right-hander Touki Toussaint and infielder Pete Kozma, agreed to have the team disclose their positive tests.
Snitker said Freeman had a negative intake test early in the week before having a positive test on Friday. Snitker said the first baseman has a fever and ”is not feeling great.”
Major League Baseball has scheduled the 60-game season to start on July 23. Freeman is the biggest star in the sport so far to have his positive virus test publicly announced by his team.
It is too early to know if Freeman’s status for the start of the season could be jeopardized.
Nick Markakis said. ”I hope Freddie heals up quickly. I know he’s young, healthy. I hope he heals up and gets back as quickly as possible because as you know with 60 games, one week can change things quickly.”
The 30-year-old Freeman set career highs with 38 home runs and 121 RBIs last season to help Atlanta win its second straight NL East title. He placed fourth in the NL MVP voting in 2018 after hitting .309 with 23 homers and winning a Gold Glove.
Snitker said concerns will remain even after the four players return to workouts.
”Guys have gotten it more than once,” Snitker said. ”We’re going to have to be careful all year and it’s going to be the new normal for the next three months.”
Snitker said it was important for baseball and society to know even one of the game’s biggest stars can test positive.
”It sobers everybody up that this is real,” Snitker said. ”… It shows that this is a real deal and no one is immune to it.”
MLB and the players’ association announced Friday that 31 players and seven staff members had tested positive for COVID-19, a rate of 1.2 percent. Snitker said he was surprised the numbers were not higher.
Colorado Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon, had been baseball’s biggest star to test positive before Freeman.
Snitker also said first base coach Eric Young Sr., 53, has opted out of for the season due to concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Braves began their summer workouts at Truist Park on Friday and continued Saturday with only small groups on the field together and attempts made to practice social distancing.
Mark Melancon for the closer’s role.
Snitker said Smith and Toussaint have no symptoms. He said Kozma, who is working with top minor leaguers at the team’s Triple-A Gwinnett facilty, has a fever.
Snitker said Smith ”feels great. He’s anxious to get back.”
DeMarlo Hale, who had been a special assistant with the team, will fill in for Young to coach outfielders and serve as the first base coach.
”I applaud EY,” Snitker said. ”It was a tough decision for him. He’s an old gamer and we’ll miss him dearly for what he brings inside this clubhouse and his energy and everything.”
Padres outfielder Tommy Pham tested positive for the coronavirus, San Diego general manager A.J. Preller said Friday. According to Preller, Pham was asymptomatic and in quarantine. “I’ve been in contact with him every single day and he feels fine,” Preller told reporters .”.. As a staff, we’ve been following all the contact-tracing protocols and all […]
SAN FRANCISCO — Giants pitcher Jeff Samardzija thinks he has an advantage on most of his Major League peers, and he’s looking to press it. But he’s not sure Major League Baseball’s owners will give him the opportunity. You see, Samardzija has played in front of empty stands before. And we’re not talking about a…
But he’s not sure Major League Baseball’s owners will give him the opportunity.
You see, Samardzija has played in front of empty stands before. And we’re not talking about a two-bad-teams-on-a-cold-Tuesday-in-September kind of empty — no, we’re talking about 100 percent unfilled seats.
It happened back in 2015, when Samardzija started a game for the Chicago White Sox against the Orioles in Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray while he was in police custody and the violent protests that followed in that city. The game was ordered to be played behind closed doors. Attendance: zero.
Of course, the current expectation is that because of the COVID-19 pandemic baseball fans won’t be allowed into the ballpark for the 60-game regular season that will start in a few weeks.
But when Samardzija was asked about his experience in 2015 and what he could carry from that into the 2020 season at the Giants’ first day of “Summer Camp” at Oracle Park Friday, the veteran righty took the opportunity to take a shot at Major League Baseball’s owners.
“I wouldn’t put the cart before the horse there,” Samardzija said. “I think there’s going to be fans in the stands. I think we’ve seen with these owners, they’re not scared of anything… They’re not scared to put anyone at risk if they get the opportunity to, especially if it makes them money.”
Samardzija might have been placing his tongue in his cheek a bit, his comment highlighted the fact that, despite the fact that the season has re-started following weeks of contentious labor negotiations, tensions between the players and owners are still high.
His prediction of fans being in the stands isn’t off-base, either. While such a scenario seems unlikely in California, Houston Astros owner Jim Crane said last month that he expects to allow fans into home games this year in an effort to counter some of the revenue losses brought on by the pandemic-shorted season.
“That’s the way it’s going to be. The owners have already said that’s what they want,” Samardzija said. “But to the fans: I just want them to be safe, too. If that means they have to watch us from home, so be it.”
As for his experience pitching in front of an empty ballpark:
“For one game of the season, I’m gonna have a huge advantage of playing in front of no fans before,” Samardzija said. “So I’m excited about that. And we’ll take full advantage of that.”
Samardzija should hope that history helps him the second time around. In that fan-free game in Baltimore, he allowed seven earned runs in five innings pitched.
SAN FRANCISCO — A second San Francisco Giants player has tested positive for COVID-19, manager Gabe Kapler announced Friday afternoon. Luis Madero, a 23-year-old pitcher, was tested on Tuesday for the novel coronavirus. The positive result was learned Thursday. Madero is the second known Giant with to contract COVID-19, but the first member of the…
This past Thursday, Oskar Lindblom officially rang the bell at Pennsylvania Hospital’s Abramson Cancer Center. The Flyers forward had been battling a rare form of bone cancer known as Ewing’s Sarcoma since December 2019. Both Lindblom and the Flyers posted videos of the bell ringing, a ceremonial act that patients perform once they have completed […]
As coronavirus cases have continued to rise throughout the last two weeks, the NBA has massaged the messaging behind its Disney World campus: With a controlled environment, aggressive testing and monitoring and limited personnel, the so-called bubble where the league is staging its restart could potentially be safer than the world around it. But there…
You might have forgotten Alan Strickland’s name by now, but Raptors president Masai Ujiri hasn’t. Nor has karma, apparently. Strickland is the would-be opportunist and an Alameda County sheriff’s deputy whose attempted lawsuit against Ujiri following a Game 6 altercation last June never saw the light of day. In the lawsuit, Strickland claimed Ujiri “hit […]
You might have forgotten Alan Strickland’s name by now, but Raptors president Masai Ujiri hasn’t.
Nor has karma, apparently.
Strickland is the would-be opportunist and an Alameda County sheriff’s deputy whose attempted lawsuit against Ujiri following a Game 6 altercation last June never saw the light of day.
In the lawsuit, Strickland claimed Ujiri “hit him in the face and chest with both fists” as he was trying to check Ujiri’s security credentials following Toronto’s 114-110 victory over the Golden State Warriors to win the NBA championship.
The lawsuit died when Alameda County District Attorney’s Office declined to press charges.
Now Strickland is back in the news, this time because the County wants the money back they paid him in workers’ compensation as he tried to sell his suit to the public.
The County is seeking the return of $142,000 in compensation Strickland collected following the incident as he remained off work claiming physical, mental, emotional and psychological injury from the incident.
Ujiri had steadfastly denied the allegations that he was in any way the aggressor in this incident.
A total of 31 players and seven staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 through the first wave of testing, MLB and the MLB Players Association announced Friday. Among those who tested positive is Cleveland outfielder Delino DeShields Jr., Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti announced Friday. Antonetti said DeShields granted permission for the […]
A total of 31 players and seven staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 through the first wave of testing, MLB and the MLB Players Association announced Friday.
Among those who tested positive is Cleveland outfielder Delino DeShields Jr., Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti announced Friday.
Antonetti said DeShields granted permission for the club to share and discuss his medical diagnosis. DeShields is currently under quarantine away from the club.
“Delino is doing really well,” Antonetti told reporters during a Zoom conference call. “He’s at home. He’s just waiting to get a negative test that would allow him to travel. He has very mild symptoms.
“He has to test negative twice, two negative tests spread out by at least 24 hours, before he’s allowed in our environment. He took another test recently. We are waiting those results.”
According to a joint release, 3,185 total samples were tested, making for a positivity rate of 1.2%. Of the league’s 30 teams, 19 have had at least one positive test.
It is unclear how many players and staff members in total have been tested. Each team has a 30-man roster and a 30-man taxi squad as they prepare to begin a shortened season in late July.
The league will not reveal specific players or staff members who have tested positive. Dating to March, there have been several positive tests from players and staffers across the league — many of whom remained anonymous — who have since recovered.
The number of positive tests in MLB appears relatively small compared to the NHL and NBA, who have also released data on their coronavirus testing.
On Monday, the NHL said that 26 of more than 250 total players (and 1,450 tests) had been positive over the previous three weeks, a time period featuring voluntary workouts at team facilities. The NBA said Thursday that 25 of 351 players have tested positive since June 23, along with 10 of 884 staff members.
MLB players reported this week to camps, which are taking place at their home stadiums. The league is targeting July 23 or 24 for the opening of the 60-game season, with the schedule yet to be released.
Several players have already opted out of participating, including three from the defending World Series champion Washington Nationals.
The view from left field 