Red Sox star Xander Bogaerts has tested positive for COVID-19, the team informed reporters (including Chris Cotillo of MassLive). He was removed in the second inning of this evening’s game after the team became aware of the result. Bogaerts becomes the sixth Boston player to test positive in recent days. He’ll join Kiké Hernández, Christian Arroyo, Martín Pérez, Matt Barnes, Hirokazu Sawamura and Josh Taylor (who is in isolation as a close contact) on the COVID IL.
None of those losses will be tougher to overcome than that of Bogaerts, who is among the sport’s best overall performers. The 28-year-old shortstop has a fantastic .298/.366/.501 line with twenty home runs over 519 plate appearances this summer. That showing earned Bogaerts his third career All-Star selection. By FanGraphs’ version of wins above replacement, Bogaerts ranks as the game’s thirteenth most valuable position player this season.
When Bogaerts departed, the Sox slid Jonathan Araúz over from second base to shortstop. Yairo Muñoz stepped into the lineup at second. That duo looks to be the likeliest middle infield tandem for the Red Sox over the next week-plus while Bogaerts recuperates.
The Red Sox will have to continue to rely upon their depth options as they navigate a difficult stretch on the schedule. Boston has series against the Rays, Indians, Rays again and White Sox through the end of next week. The Red Sox entered play tonight leading the A’s by two games for the final American League playoff spot.
birdsfan415
the whole teams gone datum
pasha2k
I do not know why they’re playing games it’s an epidemic!!
thickiedon
Any reports of pro athletes in ICU? Just wondering
VegasSDfan
Any athletes on an HMO Healthcare plan? No they have the best Healthcare offered.
tedtheodorelogan
That doesn’t really have anything to do with the fact that these young people who are in fantastic shape will almost certainly not see the inside of a hospital or experience any symptoms worse than a cold, especially if they were vaccinated.
tstats
Gerrit Cole said he was out for the count when he had covid. You can or cannot trust him but he has no reason to lie about that
Shrutefarm
Yes, it is a nasty virus and sometimes deadly.
lookouts
It happens. We’re humans, we get sick. .
algionfriddo
Lookouts – “It happens. We’re humans, we get sick. ”
Over 600,000 plus not a big deal?
WarrenSpahn
yes, but there’s also this thing called a vaccine. pretty effective, too…
GASoxFan
Better question is, why haven’t a couple games been canceled while the scope is determined?
Other teams in similar situations have stopped play to await more widespread testing and confirmations…. so. Why didn’t Boston get the same courtesy?
DarkSide830
too late in the season to make up the games prolly?
GASoxFan
I’d think you could cancel today certainly for comprehensive testing. Then do a doubleheader Thursday.
Even cancel tomorrow too, then have one game TBD. And if it didn’t end up with postseason implications ignore it like they did last year.
bobtillman
As Dave O’Brien would say, “You can kiss it goodbye”….
GASoxFan
You should’ve done that after seeing blooms trade deadline (in)activity
chaim bloom
gg, the entire sox is done
Shrutefarm
Good thing they got the “symptom reducer” shot. They should recover fine. Hopefully, we get a true vaccine sooner rather than later.
infractor
This would be a dumb comment on its own if it weren’t also for the fact that the Sox have among the lowest team vaccination rates. Good job, guy.
ChiSox_Fan
Cut them like Cam Newton!!
tedtheodorelogan
What he said wasn’t dumb at all. Baseball player who are vaccinated test positive all the time and are mostly asymptomatic. They test positive all the time because they are tested all the time. I don’t know anyone who still gets tested with any sort of regularity since being vaccinated, myself included. If the whole vaccinated population tested as regularly as MLB players do the amount of breakthrough infections would be insane, and most people wouldn’t even know they had it.
YankeesBleacherCreature
My vaccinated BIL has this weird spring/summer seasonal allergies so he’s testing once a week for his symptoms. Results have been negative all summer long.
Louholtz22
There will never be a “true” vaccine for a respiratory virus. The Covid vaccine and annual flu shots prevent major symptoms.
Shrutefarm
Then it should not be called a vaccine. Polio has a vaccine. Covid has a symptom reducer.
YankeesBleacherCreature
who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/does-polio-still-exis…
Polio isn’t completely gone.
algionfriddo
Thanks for the clarity Dr. BRUINBLUW..
YankeesBleacherCreature
It’s really interesting that so many people can comment without knowing what a virus *actually* is and its functions. Everyone can still get the flu (with milder symptoms) after a flu shot. Both bacteria and viruses mutate so you’re right.
neo
if opinions could only be made by people who understood everything they were talking about, there wouldn’t be much point in having a MLBTR comment section.
badco44
Well chances are if the weight lifting trainer got it, the whole team will more then likely end up with it
GASoxFan
One wonders if the trainer was properly masked and using other best practices? And if not, why?
Too much overreliance on “but I got my j&j shot, I can act normal” instead of common sense. (Ignoring delta has about 1000x the viral load of earlier variants iirc)
downsr30
So what’s the benefit for an athlete to get vaccinated again?
jdeucem2
Or allowing them onto the field without a test result. Seems counterproductive when you can’t attend most games without showing proof of a negative result or vaccination
ronkron
For the same reasons that anyone who has been vaccinated would get vaccinated again.
disco
Oh you ll be getting “vaccinated” again plenty.
downsr30
I haven’t had my tetanus vaccine in like 12 years. Should I go back and get that too?
neo
yes, booster shots are recommended every 10 years
JoeBrady
Yes, and depending on age, you should get a shingles shot as well.
algionfriddo
dowmsr30… Anti-science much?
spitball
56 years a RedSox fan, and I’m not sure I can do this much longer! Will Fleming and Dave OBrien are making it impossible to enjoy watching or listening to baseball.
YankeesBleacherCreature
Your team went 86 years in-between WS titles. You can do this!
GASoxFan
You must not have watched Fleming and obrien much.
Disappointing isn’t the same thing as painful. Nothing in the 86 years is quite as painful, not even the Buckner play.
Roberto Gee
Dave O’Brien is NOT having a good year. It seems, more and more, like he’s trying to sound like the ex-jocks and less like the announcer.
He’s even working many of Eck’s patented expressions in, now.
PS: Get healthy, Jerry. More important than any of this stuff.
JoeBrady
That’s what the mute button is for. There is actually very little that announcers say, that I find interesting or insightful.
66TheNumberOfTheBest
Seems like the testing could be done in a way that results are known before the game starts so that players wouldn’t have to be pulled in the middle of a game.
Ghost of past pirates
Just get the damn vaccination and keep wearing masks. Not a hard thing to do
losrojos
Keep blindly doing what they tell you. They’ll keep scraping your freedoms away 1 by 1.
gbs42
Stopped at a traffic intersection lately? If so, blame the freedom-stealing government.
66TheNumberOfTheBest
“Exactly! They won’t even let me drink and drive anymore! Is this Mother Russia now?”
“It’s my car. It’s my body. It’s my beer. Why do they keep taking away my freedoms?”
“The other drivers have air bags. I have rights!!!”
ChiSox_Fan
Very selfish!!!
tribepride17
Wear a mask still? You’ve got to be kidding. Unless it’s an N95, all you’re doing is preventing an occasional droplet with your filthy mask. If masks worked so well, the pandemic would have been over a long time ago.
gbs42
@tribepride17 – If everyone wore masks, we would actually know if they would have ended the pandemic. However, since many did not, it’s not possible to fully evaluate their effectiveness.
SLL
How convenient.
Asfan0780
Areas in the south, Florida, Texas have been maskless for months. Now they’re once again hotspots for delta variant. And it doesn’t help that those areas are among the lowest vaccination rates especially in southern region states. And now with schools opened and younger kids still not vaccinated, unfortunately this pandemic will keep dragging along. I’m summoned for jury duty next week, looking forward to it, not lol
JoeBrady
Insist on a masked environment, for safety reason. One or the other attorney will have you tossed.
whyhayzee
We have umbrellas and yet people get wet. Go figure.
FredMcGriff for the HOF
I don’t know of anyone who will get a jab because people are rude about it. I do know of plenty who have got their jabs that agree it should be a persons choice.
whyhayzee
We are in the fourth surge of deaths at over 1,000 a day while averaging 150,000 cases a day. Frankly, if you haven’t gotten your vaccine shots, you are an arsehole. Case closed.
YankeesBleacherCreature
Tough loss for the RS!
Amanda2019
I just read an article on sportsnet boston, its my local news for the red sox and its also a local station here where i live, the red sox strength and conditioning coach spread covid through the team, they got it while with him in the weightroom/clubhouse/plane, etc, thats why it spread so fast, you need to think he was with the team lifting weights and stuff, i was curious how it spread THIS fast, like 5 or more guys getting it in 24 hours.
On another topic,
i have NEVER been happier to see a front office do nothing at the deadline as this team did, they knew they werent worth investing in and this proves it, im in NO WAY a fan of bloom yet, since this will be his second year with this team that will be a disaster, im also not blaming covid for last years record, they finished 5th in the division, period, no excuses, So, good for them for not investing in this group, i also hope the whole ‘ we needed Anthony rizzo’ talk can end, that would have done NOTHING to help this season, everynight i watch this team loose more of themselves and go through the motions of a big league team, the only i guess pausitive i can think of is next season will be his 3rd year, management wont want a 3rd year with no playoffs, they will cut the strings and let Chaim spend, ALOT on what he needs, number 1, a POWER hitting defensive 1st baseman, can i pipe-dream for Freddie freeman? sure, that will never happen, im sry to, but i dont think Cora is the answer to anymore, all he ever says is ‘ we need to try harder tommorow’ you can tell hes even less invested in the product he needs to watch on a daily basis. Absolutely pathetic, from management down.
ChiSox_Fan
BoSox should have hired Tony LaRussa!
Dickiesox
Amanda nailed it. I hate to sound like one of those people but I’ve got a fair amount of Sox fans in my family and before the season started, I was telling them they are not going to be good this season. We’ll see they said. Probably saw them over a half dozen times over the course of the first 3 months of the season and they were all telling me to eat crow. All I kept saying was wait. This team is over performing and the Yankees are underperforming. Anyone who didn’t see this coming has to ask themselves what major changes did the Sox make since last year?
GASoxFan
Well dickie,
They got a true utility IF who could be passable at 2B in Kiki;
They brought in a series of OF where, most didn’t pan out, but renfroe is passable even of the .avg is low and the ks high;
Erod was slated to return after myocarditis;
Houck was due to be a SP after being a late callup;
The power hitter dalbec at 1B was due to play a full rookie season as well;
Chris Sale was expected to return mid season;
A plethora of low end arms were signed with the hopes a couple would play out ranging from mlb retreads to rule5 Whitlock.
How’s them apples for starters? Now no, it’s no Cole or scherzer signing, but, you’re still dealing with what was a decent number of pieces of a WS champion core before you added the above.
Expectations should’ve been higher in 2019 2020, 2021 than they were.but let’s not get back to Cora killing 2019 before it started again…
JoeBrady
what major changes did the Sox make since last year?
==================================
Once the decision was made to stay under the payroll cap, it was impossible to make any major changes.
That said, I predicted 85.5 wins, and my numbers, imo, were not particularly mysterious. Apply their expected OPS and OPSa, and use the pythagorean theory. I think the biggest issue, for some, is that they expected a horrible season, and didn’t get it. And they don’t know how to root for a good team that is in a playoff fight.
We might not make it, but it is impossible (for me at least) to not enjoy the season.
LordD99
The Red Sox had one of the lowest vaccination rates. You can make your own choice, but decisions impact your teammates.
brucebochyisthemarlboroman
That would be relevant if the vaccine were a preventative measure and not just a mitigation measure as to how severe symptoms get. But I completely agree with your second statement. Everyone has the right to choose. All choices have outcomes. Some worse than others. Unfortunately rational thinking left the party sometime during the previous decade. Perhaps further back.
Jesse Cook
Yes decisions do have impacts I absolutely agree 100% and mine to take vitamins B, C, D, Elderberries and Zinc everyday has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. Taking all of those has made my immune system tremendously better, and I have not been sick since January when I had the Covid.
SLL
Do the Yankees also have one of the lowest? They went through this a while back.
YasmaniStrandall
X gon give it to ya!
HighHardOne
ZFG
whyhayzee
Why is this so darn farking hard to understand? You don’t get the vaccine, wear masks, warsh your hands and stay apart from each other for yourself. You do these things for everyone else. So literally hundreds of thousands of lives can be spared. But we failed and continue to fail. It’s like banging on the side of the submarine in enemy waters. Because you feel like it.
123redsox
So who takes his roster spot?