Red Pinstripes: The Phillies are selfish
A refusal by many players to get vaccinated makes it hard to root for this team
Good morning,
The Phillies dropped two games in New York. Yes, their bullpen was short-staffed, but it was their own fault because too many Phillies players refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19. It’s become an embarrassing situation, something Phillies fans are all to used to these days.
They’ll have a chance to get back on track with four games against rival Atlanta this weekend. And it looks like the front office might be interested in getting the big pieces this team will need to contend this year.
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On the Phillies, COVID, personal choices, and winning
It does not make sense that every Major League Baseball player able to be vaccinated has not yet gotten the shot.
Let’s ignore for a second all of the public health reasons anyone would want to get vaccinated. Instead, let’s focus on these players and their jobs. They want to win. Their job is to win. And they look into everything possible that could gain an edge.
Players go through strict workout routines. They follow precise schedules. They carefully watch what foods they eat, liquids they drink, and everything in between. There was a whole controversy just this summer about pitchers using whatever sticky substance they could find to gain an edge. Two decades ago, a scandal erupted over players putting substances in their body to gain an edge.
Just thinking about all of that, why haven’t players jumped to take the vaccine? With the Phillies, we’ve seen how failing to get vaccinated has hurt the team. The current COVID-19 outbreak has sidelined pitchers including Aaron Nola, Bailey Falter, J.D. Hammer, and Connor Brogdon. They might have won Tuesday night’s game if Joe Girardi wasn’t thinking about how his bullpen was going to get through the next four games in a depleted state.
It’s also hurting young players’ development. Christopher Sanchez should be starting in Triple-A. Spence Howard was sent down by the team last month to really focus on being a starter, getting his work in, and fixing himself. But the team had to call him back to the big league club Wednesday because it simply does not have enough COVID-free pitchers.
Players say the vaccine is a personal choice. That they have to do research. That they’re not sure about the long-term side effects.
Here’s what we know. Medical experts and the CDC overwhelmingly say the vaccine is safe and effective.
Over 338 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been given in the United States from December 14, 2020, through July 19, 2021.
COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective. COVID-19 vaccines were evaluated in tens of thousands of participants in clinical trials. The vaccines met the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) rigorous scientific standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality needed to support emergency use authorization (EUA).
Millions of people in the United States have received COVID-19 vaccines since they were authorized for emergency use by FDA. These vaccines have undergone and will continue to undergo the most intensive safety monitoring in U.S. history. This monitoring includes using both established and new safety monitoring systems to make sure that COVID-19 vaccines are safe.
Even if we don’t know exactly what will happen with the vaccine’s long-term side effects, we have had mRNA vaccines long enough to know that those type of side effects are generally minimal. On the other hand, we don’t know enough about the long-term effects of COVID-19. We do know that some people who have contracted the virus have so-called “long” COVID.
Some covid-19 patients say that after their immediate illness subsided, they suffered lingering symptoms for months, including fatigue, insomnia, brain fog and respiratory problems.
Gee, those all sound like things athletes wouldn’t want to deal with over the long term. It could affect training and performance.
The vaccine is now more urgent than ever as the Delta variant rushes through the United States unvaccinated population. In a clubhouse where reportedly half the team is unvaccinated, the Delta variant could take out a significant chunk of the team. It already has.
In sports, there’s a deeply ingrained team culture that requires sacrifice and selfless behavior. As others have pointed out this week, that culture is particularly celebrated in cities like Philadelphia where players are excoriated for refusing to run out a ground ball, play through injuries, or make tough plays.
Right now, players who are unvaccinated are also subject to stricter testing and contact tracing protocols. Only two Phillies players -- Alec Bohm and Bailey Falter -- have tested positive. The others lost from the roster have been lost for contact tracing. But players who are vaccinated don’t have to go through these protocols. Even if they do test positive for the virus, they don’t have to go on the COVID list.
Refusing to get vaccinated is inherently selfish. It conflicts with public health goals. But it also undermines team goals and winning.
Philadelphia had some of the strictest emergency rules in effect during the bulk of the pandemic. Indoor dining at restaurants, workouts at gyms, and other indoor gatherings were severely limited. But for the most part, people understood and persevered.
For those same people, their favorite players are now refusing the vaccine that allowed them to do things like come to the ballpark. It won’t belong before fans start voting against this team with their feet. It’s one thing when the team doesn’t win but tries hard. It’s another when it starts losing games because players are selfishly refusing a vaccine.
But, it’s also apparent the Phillies don’t care about what this means to the fanbase. Here’s what Bob Brookover wrote in Wednesday’s edition of the Inquirer’s Extra Innings newsletter.
At least based on the responses I’ve seen from the players, they are not too worried about how the fans perceive their “personal choices” not to be vaccinated. But it is understandable that a fan such as yourself would be reluctant to become too engaged with a team when its chances of reaching the postseason could be destroyed in an instant by those same “personal choices.”
I have to ask at this point, if the Phillies don’t care about their fans or doing the best they can to win, why should we care about them?
It really hit me last night when Aaron Nola gave up a monstrous home run to Gary Sánchez. Normally, I’d be upset, disappointed, and frustrated with what was the continuation of months of struggle for the player who was supposed to be the ace.
Instead, I didn’t care.
Or maybe I did. Maybe I liked it a little. Nola is lucky. The schedule aligned so he didn’t have to make that outing in front of fans. But he won’t be so lucky Sunday and he might be in for the rudest reception of his career in Citizens Bank Park.
There are Phillies players I like. Rhys Hoskins and Andrew McCutchen seem like really great guys. I hope they succeed.
But this year, maybe I won’t be so disappointed if the Phillies fail to make the playoffs for the 10th straight season. Already, my attention is split between this team and the success of so many fun players around the league. I like watching Fernando Tatís Jr. and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Shohei Ohtani. They make baseball fun.
Watching a team that has no interest in winning despite a clear opportunity? That’s not fun. Why should I keep doing it?
Battle of the contenders
The Phillies will continue to patch their bullpen together against the Braves this weekend. They have a four-game series in Citizens Bank Park and the series could not be more important for both teams’ hopes of winning the division.
The Phillies, back at .500, are 3.5 games back of the first-place New York Mets. Atlanta is a game behind the Phillies and a game under .500. (Meanwhile the Nationals, who the Phillies will see next week, are 6 games back of the Mets.)
The Braves lost Ronald Acuña Jr. right before the All-Star break and then traded for Joc Pederson to help fill the void in right field. They’re also hoping to get more from their pitching than they’ve received this season.
The Phillies have flipped Zack Wheeler and Vince Velasquez in the rotation, splitting Velasquez and Moore up. Hopefully that helps the bullpen rest up after a stressful couple of days.
Probable starters
Thursday, 7:05 PM
Charlie Morton at Matt Moore
Friday, 7:05 PM
Max Fried at Zack Wheeler
Saturday, 6:05 PM
Drew Smyly at Vince Velasquez
Sunday, 1:05 PM
Touki Toussaint at Aaron Nola
Positive news on the trade front
The Phillies would be willing to go over the luxury tax threshold in order to add pieces at the trade deadline, The Athletic reported Wednesday.
Phillies officials have hinted that ownership hasn’t yet authorized them to add significant payroll dollars between now and the July 30 trade deadline. But the front office also has not been informed of any financial restrictions. So the perceptions from other clubs are that the Phillies could be ready to eclipse $210 million in payroll, based on two telling factors:
A. The caliber and salaries of players the Phillies have asked about as the deadline approaches.
B. The obvious trust that ownership has in new president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski.
Going over the luxury tax threshold would be huge for the Phillies trade market aspirations. It means that they can absorb the salaries of the best players, like Craig Kimbrel, Kris Bryant, and Starling Marte.
Taking on as much of a player’s contract as possible is important in trade negotiations, especially if a team doesn’t have many high-end prospects. That’s the situation the Phillies are in. Mick Abel, the team’s top pitching prospect is and should be untouchable in any trade negotiations. Similarly, Bryson Stott, the team’s top hitting prospect, is also untouchable.
Behind those two, the Phillies cannot match the top prospects of other franchises. But their second tier of prospects is as deep and talented as any minor league system in the game. Players like Rafael Marchan, Mickey Moniak, and Francisco Morales could all be enticing as part of a package that includes taking on money.
While things are looking down on the field and with the COVID situation, at least the Phillies front office looks like it’s interested in making the right moves.