Red Sox players behind schedule following recovery from COVID-19

The impact of COVID-19 on the 2020 Red Sox.

It is crazy to think that by this time next week, the Boston Red Sox will be playing the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park. We can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel with the 5-month hiatus soon coming to an end. So far since Summer Camp began on July 1, it has been reported that four Red Sox players tested positive for the coronavirus. Eduardo Rodriguez, Darwinzon Hernandez, Josh Taylor, and Bobby Dalbec were among the major league players that tested positive.

Dalbec, who is currently the third best prospect in the Red Sox organization, was supposed to make his major league debut in 2020 if it was a normal season. Instead, the season has been shortened and Dalbec was sidelined with COVID-19.

Service time for rookies will be adjusted for the shortened season. For example, a rookie who plays one month in the shortened season will lose more like two months of service time. Therefore, the Red Sox might want to preserve Dalbec’s rookie eligibility for 2021.

Either way, Dalbec was forced to sit out and stay away from Summer Camp after testing positive for COVID-19. Although it appeared he was asymptomatic, he had to produce two negative coronavirus tests before being allowed to rejoin the team.

He ended up being one of the first MLB players to get cleared after testing positive. Just about a week ago was he cleared to rejoin the team in Boston. Dalbec worked out a little bit at Boston College before meeting with the team at Fenway. It’s unclear whether or not the Red Sox will give him a roster spot at all this season, but he will be available.

Rodriguez is in a whole different situation than Dalbec. While Dalbec will not receive much playing time, if any, Rodriguez was supposed to make the Opening Day start. He was coming off of a career year in which he won 19 games and placed 6th in the Cy Young Award voting. He’s primed to take another leap in 2020 as being Boston’s ace with Chris Sale out for the season.

That all temporarily changed when it was announced that he was awaiting COVID-19 test results after he was in close contact with a family member who had it. After a long wait, he ended up being positive as well and was unable to fly to Boston for the start of Summer Camp.

With E-Rod stuck in Florida, the Red Sox had to make a decision on their Opening Day starter. After two weeks have passed by quickly in Summer Camp, it was determined that he would not be ready to throw the first pitch on Opening Day. On Saturday, it made official that Nathan Eovaldi will get the start.

Although he won’t be ready to play on Opening Day, Rodriguez finally reported to Boston and has been seen playing catch with Taylor. If Rodriguez can quickly get in the swing of things, hopefully he could be ready to pitch by the time August roles around.

Taylor and Hernandez are the other players that tested positive for COVID-19. They were the first two Red Sox that were announced of testing positive.

There hasn’t been much news on Taylor after his positive test. Ron Roenicke mentioned his concern for Taylor as he spent all of quarantine in a local hotel room. He has not been able to pitch other than into a pillow. It’s assumed, however, that he has been cleared though because he was seen at Fenway Park on Saturday. Hopefully he can throw a few bullpens before the season and get ready to once again be a pivotal part of our rotation.

Hernandez, like Rodriguez, tested positive before traveling to Boston. Hernandez is due to have a breakout year out of the bullpen in just his second season in the majors. Luckily, he has posted on social media that he has indeed traveled to Boston. He hasn’t been cleared to play as of Saturday, however. Unlike Taylor, he has been able to play catch, which he had been doing at his home.

Although it is unclear when the three pitchers will be ready, it is expected that Taylor and Hernandez could see some game action earlier than Rodriguez. The bullpen pitchers typically don’t need much time to prepare for regular season baseball, in comparison to starters. Hopefully all three of them could get ready quickly as they are all super important to the 2020 Red Sox.