Daniel Mengden named as A’s player with positive COVID test

On Thursday morning, A’s general manager David Forst announced pitcher Daniel Mengden would be sent to the 10-day injured list after testing positive for COVID-19. The team hasn’t played since the test result was announced on Sunday.

The positive result was announced while the team was in Houston, leading many in the Twitterverse to speculate that Mengden broke protocol, ostensibly to see family and friends. But Forst quickly shot down that notion in a call with reporters.

David Forst says Mengden is asymptomatic and feeling fine. He’s quarantined at his home in Houston.

He also reiterated that there was no broken protocol: “Frankly, that’s what’s so scary about this virus, is that we don’t know where he got it.” https://t.co/Dph8wP8ZDP

— Shayna Rubin (@ShaynaRubin) September 3, 2020

First of all, we hope Mengden is alright even though he is asymptomatic. And hope he hasn’t spread it to anyone either.

But it looks like the A’s are on track to return to the diamond for this weekend’s series vs. the Padres starting on Friday night, meaning they’ll have 26 games to play in 25 days. Doubleheaders galore — including 4 between Sept. 8 and Sept. 26.

Seeing as baseball continues to push on through the bevy of positive tests all season long — it’s a good thing they went out and acquired Mike Minor at the deadline. Sure, he’s got velocity problems and been giving up more dingers than ever before, he’s shown can start, be a long man, or dial it up a notch as a single-inning guy.