A World of Fail

What, exactly, would you say Don Mattingly does here?

All of that changed Monday, when the Marlins learned of nine more positive tests – seven players and two coaches – as first reported by ESPN and confirmed by a source to The Athletic. The Marlins remained in Philadelphia rather than fly back to Miami, where they were scheduled to play the Orioles on Monday night. That game has been canceled, another source said.

Marlins manager Don Mattingly said his team “never really considered not playing” on Sunday. The club’s most respected veteran, shortstop Miguel Rojas, told the media afterward that all 30 players discussed the situation Sunday morning, but said not playing was “never our mentality.”

And sources familiar with MLB protocols said that the league had done full contact tracing following the first positive test, tested all remaining Marlins players and based the decision not to intervene in part on the fact that no other players tested positive or reported symptoms.

Yet that reasoning raised major questions from the two infectious-disease specialists contacted by The Athletic.

I don’t blame Rojas or the other players here; they’re going to try to play if they can. It’s the manager’s job to put their health first, and not only did Mattingly fail he didn’t even seem to understand his responsibilities. Derek Jeter and the rest of the Marlins ownership and upper management don’t look great either.

I would say he should be sanctioned by MLB if he isn’t fired (which he should be), but this also goes all the way to the top:

This development is a dire. And not just for the Marlins home opener or even for the health of those who have tested positive for COVID-19. It, as we wrote earlier this morning, puts the viability of the entire season in question.

It also shines the spotlight on Rob Manfred.

As we noted earlier today, Rob Manfred and Rob Manfred alone has the power to cancel games or shut down operations if COVID-19 begins to pose a serious risk to players and those surrounding them. Yesterday the Marlins took the field despite more than 10% of their active roster having already tested positive and despite the fact that the results of several COVID-19 tests for their teammates remained outstanding. How many of those players had close contact with Phillies players? With stadium staff? With bus drivers? With hotel staff? Why, when a big chunk of the roster was already positive and more tests were outstanding, were they allowed to circulate freely like this? These are questions Rob Manfred is morally and ethically obligated to address. This is especially true given that multiple epidemiologists characterized the decision to allow the Marlins to play yesterday as irresponsible even before knowing how many more players had been infected.

Rod Manfred’s administration has been an absolute catastrophe on many levels, and allowing the Marlins/Phillies game to be played yesterday was the nadir so far. He is to baseball commissioning what Donald Trump is to presidenting.