Justin Turner: Another Human

Justin Turner is a Dodger-Legend to many, but to some he is a selfish, derelict murderer and baby-killer because after his positive COVID-19 test he was removed from the final game of the World Series in the seventh inning… only to come back on the field with and without a mask during the Championship Celebration.

First of all, what he did was wrong! Let’s get that out of the way! But, I am guessing he is not the first person to get “carried away at the moment.” Justin Turner… along with Clayton Kershaw, Kenley Jansen, and Pedro Baez are the only players who have appeared in every postseason series since 2014. After seven long years of frustration and then finally winning the elusive World Championship could cause a person to take leave of their senses to some degree.

Justin Turner was wrong! He should be punished. He should get a suspension next season for whatever number of games is deemed appropriate (5 to 10 games) for violating MLB’s edict not to go onto the field. The Dodgers should also get fined. They could have stopped it! I am sure Andrew Friedman will pay for it himself! It doesn’t make any difference whether the next test is negative or positive. Rob Manfred said that MLB is “investigating” this case. I will suggest there is nothing to investigate: He’s guilty. He’s human and he’s still the Heart and Soul of the 2020 Dodgers. Nobody can take that away.

He was wrong, but there are several mitigating facts that have to be considered:

1. He was around his wife and teammates before and during the game, with and without a mask. The odds are, there was much more contact before and during the game than there was after the game.
2. He was in the “bubble” and had been for a month with all of his teammates and their families. How was he exposed? I am sure contact tracing will reveal who spread it to him.
3. While technically not an “outdoor” venue (transmission of the virus is greatly reduced in the great outdoors), the stadium may have been even better than the great outdoors, due to the flow of air through the HVAC system which continually moves the virus away from others. The level of infection is dramatically lower outdoors than indoors.

Still, he was wrong and he will pay a price. He is human and he screwed-up! Justin and Courtney will have to quarantine for two weeks and I suspect the entire team would have to as well. I think they should do that regardless. The fact of the matter is that 80% of people infected with COVID-19 have few or very light symptoms. Many have none. It depends upon the level (the sheer volume of the virus) that is inhaled. My wife and I both tested positive, but she had no symptoms while I ended up in the hospital. I understand the seriousness of it. The more COVID-19 Virus you inhale, the greater the chance of infection AND generally it is more severe with greater amounts of virus inhaled.

JT is human and he made a mistake. I am certain he will issue an apology, and at that moment, it is over for me. I would like to see JT come back and finish his career as a Dodger. He’s not a Hall-of-Famer, but to me, he is in the Dodger Hall of Fame. I love Justin Turner! Not everyone feels this way. One fan wrote this:

JT is getting everything he deserves and more. He tarnished his reputation with that selfish act and I lost tons of respect for him. I hope he retires.

There is an old saying “He that is without sin should cast the first stone.” In some countries, if you steal something, they cut your arm off. If you are gay they throw you off of a high building and of course, there is beheading. I guess anyone is free to think what they want. Bill Plunkett wrote this in the OCRegister:

Friedman defended Turner, saying he wore a mask and was “socially distancing” from teammates most of that time. But there are photos clearly showing Turner without a mask – including sitting on the pitcher’s mound next to the trophy flanked by Friedman and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, both maskless.

“I think the people who were around him would be in the contact tracing web anyway – which is how close a lot of us have been around each other,” Friedman said Tuesday night. “The subsequent tests that we’re going to take are really important to figure out what we’re doing to do to make sure that any of us who are potentially positive do not spread it to other people.”

Turner posted on Twitter on Tuesday night that he is asymptomatic. But COVID-19 can spread from asymptomatic people. It is not clear how long an asymptomatic person can spread the virus.

“I think Justin wanted to come out and take a picture with the trophy and he did,” Friedman said.

“We did (follow protocol). When he came out of the game he went and was quarantined in a doctor’s office off to the side. … We’ve all been in a bubble and so I think the amount of contact and interaction between us that have been in that bubble is pretty high. So now it’s important to make sure that the people who are infected are subsequently quarantined. I think, by and large, it’s to make sure that we don’t spread it outside of this bubble because from a contact tracing standpoint we’re all kind of in that web.”

The fact of the matter is that the was more chance of exposure during the several hours of the game than for the few minutes after the game. Still, Justin Turner was wrong. Let’s get that apology and move on. There’s nothing to see here folks!

Here’s another look at this issue, which is very thought provoking.

Stephen A. Smith’s latest take:

Photo Credit: Eric Gay/Associated Press