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After the Giants wrapped up their nine-game road trip on Sunday, manager Gabe Kapler was asked about his thoughts on the club’s pitcher.
“I feel like we have a healthy starting rotation,” Kapler said, “And that’s pretty important right now.”
Everything changed in a few hours.
The Giants returned to Oracle Park on Monday afternoon and immediately found themselves scrambling. Left-hander Alex Wood tested positive for COVID-19 and right-hander Johnny Cueto felt sick enough to be wiped out of his scheduled departure, despite having tested negative.
The veterans were scheduled to start the first two games of this series against the Milwaukee Brewers and the final two against the Los Angeles Dodgers over the weekend. That won’t happen for Wood, who joins Donovan Solano as Giants who have tested positive for the virus.
It’s the reality for the whole world right now, and has been for over a year, but it’s still something new for the Giants. They didn’t test positive all last season and were pretty much back to normal for most of this season as they have gone almost five months without fear.
That changed last week in New York City when Solano tested positive. Wood joined him on Monday.
“I think that’s a real concern,” Kapler said. “This does not make us unique in any way. We know that many clubs have faced the virus and dealt with it successfully. I am also convinced that there are other clubs which are currently facing circumstances and challenges. similar challenges, we’re just going to do our best under the circumstances.
“We’ve done a really good job this season of adaptation and adjustment. I don’t see it as anything more than a real challenge which is certainly a concern but also something that we are capable of meeting.”
The Giants need only walk the field in this series to remember how often this has been a problem in the sport. When they visited the Brewers a few weeks ago, the team was grappling with an outbreak that took Christian Yelich, Josh Hader and others away from the field.
The hope within Kapler’s clubhouse is that this is an isolated incident, although hope is not a strategy, and there were clear signs on Monday that the team are being more cautious. . The coaches who came out of the clubhouse wore masks and some players wore them as well. Kapler, who wears a mask while speaking to the media, said he had met his staff and they decided to start wearing them indoors again. He planned to meet with the whole team after batting practice to reinforce some protocols.
“We’re a pretty diligent group and have been for almost two seasons,” he said. “After Donovan tested positive, we all kind of increased the sensitivity level. Last night on the plane and on the bus there were a lot of masks.”
The Giants were among the first teams to reach the MLB’s 85% immunization threshold on May 13. This allowed them to relax restrictions around the stadium and during their travels, but Kapler said the group continued to be diligent. In recent weeks, several players have received booster shots, missing games while recovering.
“We are a highly vaccinated group,” Kapler said. “I feel like, even though we are at risk and exposed like all the other clubs and like the general population, I think we are good enough to take care of this group and do the right thing in the city and making good decisions to the best of our ability. We’re far from perfect and everyone makes mistakes, but I think we’re a pretty diligent bunch. “
This stagecoach got them here without any problems, and Kapler seemed calm and confident as he spoke for more than 10 minutes about the situation on Monday. The Giants will follow their rotation day to day and hope Cueto continues to test negative and feel good enough that he can start Tuesday’s game instead.
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The path will be very different for Solano and Wood. Solano stays in a hotel room in New York, working alone and trying to find ways to get healthy meals. Kapler said the first COVID news was difficult because Solano, who is vaccinated, has worn his mask as often as any giant over the past two seasons.
There were fewer details on Wood and Cueto, as Kapler wanted to talk to his players before posting more information. Both players are feeling quite bad physically, he said, and Wood is particularly upset with a positive test that will knock him out indefinitely.
“He’s really broken, he’s really upset,” Kapler said. “He’s having a great season and is very disappointed that this season has been interrupted a bit.”
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