Andrew Friedman Announces Dodgers Organization Has Had Positive COVID-19 Tests

The president of baseball operations for the Los Angeles Dodgers says multiple members of the organization have tested positive for the coronavirus.

Andrew Friedman did not confirm if players or staff had confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, but he did say none of the symptoms of those who contracted the virus have become problematic, per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register.

"Obviously this is a delicate subject and something that has been front of mind for all of us for the last four months," Friedman said. "As far as guys being delayed for spring training. I'm not sure. It's definitely possible."

Players are expected to report for spring training 2.0 on July 1 with MLB hoping to begin the season on either July 23 or July 24. 

Major League Baseball has sent teams a 100-plus-page manual on resuming activities, yet Friedman told Plunkett the team is essentially still learning how to deal with the virus on the fly:

“I think there’s no question we’re going to have a decent number of positive tests in spring training and in the season. To me it’s much more about how quick we are to respond to that, the treatment options, the quarantining part of it, making sure it doesn’t spread among the group and to the extent that we can, contain it.

“We have really good health and safety protocols in place. I think it’s something that collectively as a group, everyone working together, I think it’s something we can manage. But there again, I think anyone that can pretend like they can sit here today, and tell you exactly how things are gonna play out—I just don’t subscribe to that. I don’t agree with it. There’s a lot we don’t know. A lot of our conversations internally have just been about staying on our toes and staying nimble and trying to communicate our way through everything, read and react to things that pop up. That’s our plan and as we continue to learn more we will get smarter with how we do things.”

The Dodgers are far from the only team dealing with these issues. The Colorado Rockies, Philadelphia Phillies, Minnesota Twins and Houston Astros are among the teams to confirm positive coronavirus tests.