Milwaukee Brewers baseball operations president David Stearns showed a report Saturday that two players and a staff member tested positive for COVID-19 at the team’s educational election facility in Appleton, but said he didn’t expect it to have an effect on the major league club fighting for a spot in the playoffs.
Positive tests were first reported through Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Stearns said positive tests were taken on Monday but did not identify the two players or staff member involved. Players will need to give permission for their names to be revealed after positive testing. .
Stearns said the entire camp had been quarantined after positive testing. Team players worked and played games within the team on educational sites of choice to provide a group of replacements if required in primary leagues.
“We had 3 positives on our election site,” Stearns said. “We went through searching for contacts. We don’t think it has an effect at all on our primary league team. We have been fortunate to pass via this relatively unscathed season in this area. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do it. “
Brewers have not tested positive among their main league players and training staff this season, as players have been evaluated every other day, mostly while following complete and strict protocols to verify and avoid COVID-19 outbreaks.
Stearns said the Brewers could still take the taxi team players with them during the team’s vacation to Cincinnati and St. Louis during the last week of the season. He said the players had undergone repeated negative testing and that the team was “confident” that there would be no imaginable spread of the virus.
“Due to the nature of those other people, it will not be the quarantine organization at all (outside the organization of 40 players in the playoffs that expire on Sunday). We are very fortunate that organizing players who could be on a postseason list for us does not interact so much with other people who have tested positive.
“Everyone will continue to be tested regularly. But right now, we don’t see it having an effect on player availability for postseason training. “
As with all teams, the Brewers have had a diverse organization of players in Appleton, adding some that serve as replacements for the primary league club, as well as younger customers placed there to get progression frames in a year when minor leagues have not played. The two angry players can belong to this client organization.
When asked if he saw this as a little challenge in reviewing a season in which a pandemic was played, Stearns said: “I wish we hadn’t had a challenge. I think our staff and our players, whether on the site of choice and here in Milwaukee, they have actually done a very hard job of following the protocols.
“These are not simple protocols. I know it’s simple to take a look at the bank and see guys without masks, but our boys have been really remarkable according to protocols. I’m disappointed that we haven’t been able to spend total season time without any problems, but we have a problem and we have to make sure we manage it properly. “
Stearns said it wasn’t whether the Brewers would simply close Appleton’s camp or let it continue until the final date scheduled for Wednesday.
“We may just check to have some guys in the box at the beginning of the week, but maybe not,” he said. “So maybe we’ll have a few days or maybe we’ll just call him. “
As for the players in this camp who join the organization of 40 players in the playoffs, Stearns said, “We will have a couple who will travel, just as we would with a general taxi crew for the season. The rest will be quarantined at a hotel here in Milwaukee. They will have trips to Miller Park to see paintings here and then return to the hotel. “