Second Cubs coach tests positive for COVID
The Cubs avoided significant health issues during last year's shortened season, but 2021 is a different story.
Before Monday's game in Milwaukee, the Cubs announced that bullpen coach Chris Young has tested positive for COVID-19. He joins first-base coach Craig Driver on the quarantine list.
In addition, the team placed relief pitchers Jason Adam, Brandon Workman and Dan Winkler on the injured list. No further information was given on their status, but it seems likely the three pitchers were pulled due to contact tracing.
Pedro Strop, Brad Wieck and Justin Steele joined the team as replacements from the South Bend alternate site.
"We didn't deal with this last year per se and feel very fortunate that way," manager David Ross said in a pregame Zoom call with reporters. "You're worried about the health and well-being of others. I think it hits home every time my phone rings and it's one of the docs or the trainers or (team president) Jed (Hoyer). Your heart sinks. We're trying to win ballgames too. There's a lot going on and everybody understands the world we're in. You just want to make sure everybody comes out OK and stays healthy."
Driver tested positive before the Cubs left for Pittsburgh last Wednesday. Ross said everyone in the traveling party was tested daily and Young was on the team plane from Pittsburgh to Chicago on Sunday evening.
"We got two negative test results before we left Pittsburgh," Ross said. "I think once you get a positive, it's just on your radar for a while. There's always that kind of underlying, 'How big is this?' We are in our own little world here and we try to stay in our own little bubble. Yeah, there is concern for sure.
"The guys have been pretty diligent about wearing their masks. The way things have shook out now, they've made some sense. We're hoping for the best but we also plan for the worst. I think you've got to have that mindset in this time we're in right now."
Many of the Cubs' players and staff have been vaccinated, but they have not yet reached the 85 percent threshold put in place by MLB that would ease some of the social distancing restrictions. Whether having a second positive within a week will encourage more team members to get the vaccinated remains to be seen.
"We're hopeful guys can see the value in being vaccinated and trying to get toward that threshold number," Ross said. "Each guy makes their choices and it's readily available and we're working toward that number as diligently as we can."
Meanwhile, the baseball season rolls on. Ross said Monday's game was in no danger of being canceled because everyone who is at the stadium has tested negative. He said Adam, Workman and Winkler are back in Chicago.
"I don't see this being a worry as I walk around the clubhouse," Ross said. "The coaches are doing a good job and guys are in their routine and doing work. My plate's a little fuller than I thought it would be this morning, but I think the guys are doing a good job of - we've got our meetings, we're in our routine, we're getting our work in the cage, guys were out here early.
"You've got to come in and do extra testing so that creates a little bit of a bundle at the beginning of the day where guys are kind of stalled out. Guys seem to be in good spirits, the music's playing in there and guys are having conversations, sitting around with their mask on, looking at video. From the couple times I've been out of my office today, that's what I've seen."
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