Athletics' Diekman Says MLB Needs to get Testing Issues Sorted Out, but is Otherwise Ready to Play
Jake Diekman has been as outspoken about the failures of Major League Baseball’s testing system as anyone.
He’s got the right. He’s in a high-risk category having had ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease that has been part of his life for two decades. He’s had part of his colon removed, which makes him a prime target for the COVID-19 coronavirus.
He could take the season off, that is to say he has the right to opt out and still get paid. He can’t, because he says he loves the game and he wants to play. He just wants MLB to get its testing program together.
The A’s were able to work out Tuesday after not being able to do so Sunday and having Monday’s session delayed. Diekman threw 20 pitches in a simulated game. But other teams, including the Giants, had to scratch their Tuesday workout because of the failure to get testing results back promptly.
“In a perfect world there would be zero (backlogs),” Diekman, a left-handed reliever, said. “But this is the first time they’ve probably ever done this. I know they are trying their hardest. But I don’t know if it’s good enough for right now.
“It’s a little worrisome. Just say we go on a 10-day road trip, and we only get results one time. That’s not very good when you have 45-50 people in the clubhouse at any one time.”
Diekman says he’d like to see a report on just how many COVID-19 cases there are. He suspects the 1.2% number put forward last Friday by MLB – a number that didn’t contain all the results and said there were 31 players infected – is low. He talked about hearing that the Dodgers alone had nine players test positive.
“I’m going to get a lot of shit for this, but I don’t care,” he said. “I hope they get the testing figured out, because the thing that would hurt the most … would be getting to July 24 (opening day) and then they just bang the whole thing.”
Diekman, who said he was ever so grateful to have the hitters finally taking part in the workouts so that the level of competition would rise, says his sense of the clubhouse is that the delays be damned, the A’s are ready to go.
Players have until the start of the season to opt out of playing, but his sense is no one in green-and-gold is leaning that way.
“I mean everyone,” he said. “We want to play like tomorrow. I want to play, no matter what. The only way I won’t play is if this whole thing gets shut down. It’s going to be very hard for me to opt out. Now that I’ve pitched against hitters and we’re here every day throwing bullpens, everyone’s competitive juices are flowing to the max right now.
“All of just want to play.”
Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3
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