Opinion: Indians' Zach Plesac-Mike Clevinger fiasco is a case study in COVID-19 carelessness

Come on guys, really?

Chicago has some of the best restaurants and nightlife in the country but as much as you might want to believe you can take on the city and win, it remains undefeated.

Unlike you, Chicago isn't going to wake up in the morning having to deal with any of the fallout from the night before.

And over the weekend, the Windy City showed off its power of temptation yet again by bringing Cleveland's baseball team to a screeching halt.

Specifically, starting pitchers Zach Plesac and Mike Clevinger.

The two went out on the town last Saturday night, tried to sneak past Major League Baseball’s security at their downtown hotel, and, yep, were caught red-handed.

Normally, you could shrug it off – but not this season.

Not in the middle of a pandemic.

Not when one careless move can bring down your entire team.

Just ask the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals. 

The Marlins are back playing after being out eight days, but the defending NL Central champion Cardinals haven't played a game in two weeks, and still don’t know when they’ll return to action.

Fully aware of the seriousness of coronavirus, and knowing you have a starting pitcher on your staff who’s a leukemia survivor – Carlos Carrasco – how can you dare be so reckless?

“This one kind of hurts,’’ said Cleveland manager Terry Francona, returning to manager the team for the first time since missing the past eight games with a gastrointestinal issue, which along with his hip and back ailments have led to five or six hospitalizations since February.

“We talked about it as a team today. We will deal with it as we always do. We care about each other, but that doesn’t mean you don’t get disappointed with each other, or mad at each sometimes. Not being vindictive, how we do we make it better, so it doesn’t happen again?’’

It’s the ultimate responsibility to every single Cleveland player and staff member to assure everyone’s safety, relying on everyone to do the right thing.

"They hurt us bad,” said Adam Plutko, who serves as one of Cleveland’s representatives to the MLB Players’ Association. “They lied to us. They sat here in front of you guys and publicly said things that they didn’t follow through on.”

Said Cleveland shortstop Francisco Lindor said: “We have to sit out and look at ourselves in the mirrorIt’s not about the person we see in the mirror, it’s behind you. It’s not about that one person, it’s about everyone around you -- the family members, the coach staff, Carrasco, all the players on teams that are high-risk.

“We’re in a time right now with COVID, with racism, with everything. This is a time to be selfless.’’

Cleveland president Chris Antonetti put both players on the restricted list to isolate them from the rest of the team. They will undergo COVID-19 tests on Wednesday and won’t be permitted to rejoin the team until at least Friday.

“It’s not ideal,’’ Antonetti said, “but we felt it was the right thing to do. As we said from the beginning, we will continue to prioritize the health and wellness of our players and staff.

“And based on the behavior of Zach and Clev, we felt they had an elevated level of risk, so we wanted to make sure what we could do to protect the rest of our group.’’

Plesac and Clevinger went out together Saturday night in Chicago after their 7-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Plesac, who grew up just 45 minutes from Chicago, just won his first game of the season that afternoon, and wanted to celebrate.

Come on, who wants to sit alone in a hotel room on a gorgeous night in Chicago?

MLB recently brought aboard security to enforce the league's protocols and Plesac, who was returning to the hotel in the wee hours of the morning, was immediately sent home to Cleveland.

Clevinger’s absence somehow was unknown until Monday. He even traveled on the team plane back to Cleveland until his Saturday night whereabouts were uncovered.

“The guidelines we put out there,’’ Francona said, “were put there for a reason. When they got broken, we proactively kept those two guys away from the ballpark. The league didn’t mandate that. We thought it was appropriate.

“We are not going to change the code of conduct. We’re going to try to live by that more consistently.’’

Plesac, 25, put out a statement Sunday night apologizing for his actions, and then doubled-down on his remorse on his Instagram post.

“Life can throw some crazy things at you,’’ he wrote, “but how you respond is the testament. What you think is harmless can actually have consequential outcomes…and the lesson learned is this: The most important thing we can do is take care of EACH OTHER. Putting others first, and having the character to understand why there is a greater impact if we are selfless.’’

Clevinger, 29, issued a statement of his own on Tuesday.

"There is an implicit trust that each of my teammates share as we navigate a season during this pandemic, and I broke that trust," Clevinger said. 

"In Chicago, I made the mistake of violating the protocols but the biggest mistake of all was not immediately coming clean to my teammates. I owe them better.

"I now realize that by even exposing myself to just one person more than necessary, I am putting myself, my teammates, the guys I compete against, the umpires, the staff, the Indians organization and the game that I love at risk. There is no excuse for my actions, and I can only take responsibility and learn from my mistakes."

Certainly, for a team battling to regain supremacy in the American League Central, and with the pitching talent capable of taking them to the World Series, they can ill afford self-inflicted blunders.

If you get beat on the field, fine. If you beat yourself off the field, inexcusable.

This is a team whose rotation had a league-best 2.24 ERA through Monday, and suddenly, is left scrambling trying to fill two spots, even if its only short-te.

“You do what’s right,’’ Francona says, “regardless of whether it’s inconvenient or not. We’ll figure it out.’’

There’s no need, Antonetti and Francona say, to spill out any details on the conduct of Plesac and Clevinger, or why it took an extra 24 hours to discover Clevinger also broke protocols.

They already are on the restricted list, and the club may choose never to reveal whether they were officially suspended or fined.

Yet, they have been publicly embarrassed, and if Cleveland misses out on reaching the playoffs by a game or two, guess who’s going to get blamed?

“The vast majority of our group,’’ Antonetti says, “have done a tremendous job.’’

Maybe there was minimal risk, as Cleveland wants to believe, with both pitchers insisting they were careful in their interactions.

Then again, the Marlins and Cardinals thought the exact same when a few members violated protocols. Look at the damage left behind there.

There are only 46 days remaining in the regular season. Once the year is done, sure, go out and party. 

But until then, it's not too much to ask everyone to be responsible for baseball's greater good.