Seven days into MLB’s restart, Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen has not reported to camp. Neither has A’s righty Mike Fiers. Neither has Phillies utilityman Christian Bethancourt. Their teams will not tell us why, or when they’ll be back in uniform. They could be suffering from migraines. They could have food poisoning. Or they could have COVID-19.
As the league and the players’ association attempt to begin this abbreviated season, they have agreed that teams will not disclose the COVID-19 status of employees without their consent. These people certainly have a right to medical privacy. But without more accountability, fans are left with a situation such as the one they endured on Friday, when MLB and the MLBPA jointly released a statement asserting that only 38 of the 3,815 samples had tested positive.