Decimated by Coronavirus, MLB's Miami Marlins Returning With 16 New Players

The Miami Marlins are returning to the field after an eight-day hiatus with a new-look roster. Of the 30 players that will be in the clubhouse Tuesday for Miami’s game against the Baltimore Orioles, more than half were not with the team when it last played on July 26.

Sixteen new players have been added to Miami’s roster, following a coronavirus outbreak within the team that forced Major League Baseball to postpone all of its games last week. As the Marlins continued to see new positive tests each day, the organization was sent scrambling to add players that could allow the team to be competitive once the schedule resumed.

Seven of the new Marlins had been at the team’s Jupiter, Florida, alternative training site, which consisted of 30 players. Six of them have never appeared in a major league game, according to The Wall Street Journal. That includes 30-year-old Eddy Alvarez, who won a silver medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics for short-track speedskating.

The Marlins acquired seven veterans, adding players that clubs recently released or were willing to trade for very little. Outfielders Matt Joyce and Lewis Brinson joined the team after stints on the injured list.

“Some of the guys I’ve never met,” manager Don Mattingly told reporters Monday.

Miami has become a warning sign for the rest of the league. Teams that suffer a coronavirus outbreak could be forced to miss at least a week’s worth of games and return with a group of players that are largely unproven or well past their prime.

It might be a glimpse into the future of the St. Louis Cardinals, who recently had seven players and six staff members test positive for the coronavirus. St. Louis’ weekend series with the Milwaukee Brewers was postponed, and the Cardinals could miss an additional week of contests.

Cardinals president John Mozeliak has said there’s no proof that rumors of team personnel going to a casino before the outbreak are true. Marlins CEO Derek Jeter denied rumors that Miami players went clubbing in Atlanta before getting sick, though he admitted the team “ got a little too comfortable.”

“We did have a couple of individuals leave the hotel [in Atlanta],” Jeter told reporters Monday. “In our review, we did have guys leave to get coffee, to get clothes. A guy left to have dinner at a teammate's house. There were no other guests on-site. There was no salacious activity. There was no hanging out at bars. No clubs. No running around Atlanta. No running around the town.”

Some MLB teams have already played as many as 10 games. The Marlins have only completed three contests, while the Cardinals have played five games.

It’s highly unlikely that any team suffering a coronavirus outbreak will complete its full 60-game schedule.