Rob Manfred Says Despite The Current Marlins Covid-19 Outbreak He Believes They Can Keep People Safe And Continue To Play Baseball

On the day we all learned of a legitimate Covid-19 outbreak on a Major League Baseball team, Rob Manfred stayed silent for the better part of the day. Up until 6:30 PM the Commissioner of Major League Baseball failed to release any sort of statement. Manfred decided his first comments would be in an interview with Tom Verducci. Not releasing a statement all day and waiting to do this interview is bananaland to me, but that's par for the course with this bumbling idiot. 

So what did Manfred say on the day we learned of an outbreak affecting a third of the Marlins roster, as well as some coaches too. He believes he can keep the players safe.  

What part of safe are we talking about? The part where your protocols are so effective that they prevent teams from having outbreaks and the further spread afterwards? The part where managers like Davey Martinez are terrified to do their job?

Understandably there were going to be positive tests this year. That's part of the norm unfortunately, but outbreaks are different than scattered individual positive tests. What was the protocol when four Marlins tested positive on Sunday? Legit nothing. There was zero protocol. The Marlins had a team meeting, held a vote, and decided as a group they wanted to play. Almost like they were all pushing through an injury and hoping for the best. Basically the most irresponsible thing you could do given the contagion level of this virus. I'm not even sure the Phillies were told about this vote which is so fucked up. That's the best Major League Baseball has for a protocol. 

So now where do we stand? The Marlins are still in Philadelphia. The Orioles are flying back home because their series in Miami is postponed. The Yankees are in a hotel in Philadelphia awaiting word of what to do. The Phillies are waiting for their test results to come back and see if they have the virus. Test results that might not show who actually is infected right now since it could take days to actually show up on a test. That's the current state of this situation and Manfred thinks everything is fine. 

So what's the plan for the healthy Marlins? 

Oh so they're just gonna fly up to Baltimore and continue their season. Who the fuck wants to play these guys now? Also how about if you're claimed on waivers as the Marlins try to fill out a roster? Do you just retire rather than playing for the Marlins lol. This is insane. 

Finally Manfred was asked what it would take to stop a team's season.

A team would have to lose a number of players to render them "non-competitive." What's 1/3 of the team then? Does that not qualify or is it because its the Marlins and they're all nobodies? Imagine if 12 Yankees or 12 Dodgers were infected and had to sit out? I feel things would be a whole lot different no?

So what do we take out of Manfred's comments? Well he absolutely doesn't give a fuck about the players that's for sure. He has no clue what he's doing and the threshold for cancelling a season is very high. They're going to try and push through this thing for the sake of getting in a season and it could very well be a disaster. I really hope they figure it out and are able to contain the outbreak. I just don't know how they do that, but hope is really all we've got at this point. This shit is so fucking bad. Do you just punt on the Marlins as a baseball team? How can you ask a team to fly down to Florida moving forward? 

The results of the Phillies' tests will be telling for how we proceed. Even with a a full clean slate of negatives, those results could become positives in the coming days. I think the plan is to head to the Bronx and have the Yanks and Phillies play there for the next few days. It's all just a shit show and there could not be a worse person fit for the job than Rob Manfred to guide us the right way. 

Fuck coronavirus. Fuck Rob Manfred. Fuck the Marlins.