Major League Baseball is disputing comments made by Boston Red Sox outfielder Hunter Renfroe in which he claimed the league had essentially told the Red Sox to stop COVID testing during the team’s recent outbreak.
The Red Sox have placed 11 players on the COVID-19 IL since Aug. 29 as an outbreak spread through the clubhouse, with numerous players testing positive. Most of those players have already returned or are close to doing so, and the outbreak appears to have been contained.
Renfroe, however, told WEEI’s “Merloni & Fauria” that the issues were bad enough that the league told the team to stop testing and focus instead on treating symptomatic players, a directive the Red Sox ignored.
Hunter Renfroe on the #RedSox COVID issues:
"MLB basically told us to stop the testing and just treat the symptoms. We're like "No. We're gonna figure out what's going and keep this thing under control.""@loumerloni: MLB asked you to stop testing?
Renfroe: "Yes."
— Merloni & Fauria (@MerloniFauria) September 9, 2021
The Red Sox and MLB both quickly issued statements disputing Renfroe’s comments.
Red Sox spokesman on Hunter Renfroe’s comments on WEEI:
“We have been following MLB’s COVID-19 protocols all season long. We have consulted closely with them on everything we’ve done and continue to test and their medical staff has been very supportive.”
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) September 9, 2021
MLB spokesperson on Hunter Renfroe’s comments to WEEI saying that MLB encouraged the Red Sox to stop testing following their outbreak:
“He (Renfroe) is completely wrong and inaccurate.”
— Julian McWilliams (@byJulianMack) September 9, 2021
Obviously, it would look bad if MLB told the Red Sox to stop testing players for COVID in the middle of an outbreak. While not the same thing, it does elicit memories of the controversy at the end of the World Series last year.
