Yankees say Gleyber Torres could return quickly after COVID-19 positive

BALTIMORE — Gleyber Torres could be back with the Yankees much sooner than expected, possibly this weekend.

After testing positive for a breakthrough case of COVID-19, the shortstop was quarantined and placed on the COVID-19 injured list, but Aaron Boone indicated he could be back faster than the previously expected 10 days.

“He could be back real soon,” the Yankees manager said Friday afternoon before the series opener against the Orioles at Camden Yards. “I don’t have any more for you right now. But we’ll see where we’re at.”

After having eight members of their traveling party, including Torres and three coaches, test positive for COVID-19 despite all being vaccinated, the Yankees have not had a new positive test returned for the second straight day. Boone indicated that one of the previous positives has since tested negative at least once.

According to the MLB COVID-19 protocols, a player who has tested positive and is vaccinated can return earlier than 10 days from the COVID-19 IL if he is asymptomatic and returns at least two COVID-19 tests as negative.

Torres is asymptomatic according to the Yankees. The 24-year-old Venezuelan actually previously had COVID-19 this offseason and did receive the Johnson & Johnson one-dose vaccine.

All eight cases are breakthrough cases of people who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and had passed the two-week mark to be considered fully vaccinated. All but one presented as asymptomatic and the one with symptoms has cleared up.

Thursday, Yankees GM Brian Cashman confirmed they were dealing with a variant strain of the coronavirus and working with MLB and local health officials. A spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control said they were not directly investigating the Yankees outbreak, but were aware of it and that the New York City Department of Health was tracking it.

Boone spent the last three days answering questions about the outbreak instead of baseball, beginning on Tuesday with the news that third base coach Phil Nevin had tested positive and then adding first base coach Reggie Willits and pitching coach Matt Blake. The Yankees have also four unnamed support staffers who also tested positive and are in quarantine. Thursday, the Yankees announced Torres, the only player affected, had tested positive.

So, Friday was the first day Boone didn’t lead off his pregame press conference talking about the pandemic.

“I don’t want to say we’re in the clear ever again,” he said with a laugh. “But it’s a good sign that we’ve had a couple days of negatives. The results we got back from the PCR (tests) that we took yesterday afternoon that we got overnight and this morning all came back negative as well. So that’s a good sign.”

It was a relief in the clubhouse, where the last few days have been stressful for the players.

“Obviously having the vaccine available to us, and the majority of us taking advantage of it it’s definitely a little ... I don’t wanna say it’s confusing, but a little surprising, I think that we had that many positives, when all the guys have been vaccinated,” veteran outfielder Brett Gardner said. “I think it is a relief to see, even these guys that have tested positive have little or no symptoms. We knew coming into this season that it was something that we were going to continue to have to deal with and battle. And I think that we’ve done a good job of that throughout this spring and, and as the season has started. It’s just something that we have to deal with, and try and make the most out of it.

“And let it serve as a reminder that we still need to be careful and be smart about what we do,” Gardner added. “I think that our guys have done a good job with that, despite what’s happened here over the last couple days. So hopefully, today and tomorrow, as we get another round of negative tests back, hopefully, it will signify that we’ve kind of moved on from that.”