Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Everything broke right for the Dodgers before Justin Turner, the team, Major League Baseball and virtually everyone involved went wrong.
Turner will not be disciplined after returning to the field for a celebration of winning the World Series shortly after being removed from play because he tested positive for COVID-19. In a lengthy statement Friday, MLB placed the blame all around for allowing a player who should have been quarantining to rejoin his teammates, hug some, remove his mask several times and take a picture with the club in which he sat mask-less next to manager Dave Roberts, a cancer survivor.
Turner, who has been silent in the aftermath of the Oct. 28 victory and ensuing controversy, was remorseful in his statement, in which he described a “surreal moment” in which he and his wife watched the celebration from a TV in the doctor’s office and waited until he believed only a few people were left on the field and felt team officials “did not object to my returning to the field for a picture with my wife.” Instead, everyone was still there. He said he has apologized to nearly every teammates, coach and staff member.
MLB said fellow Dodgers encouraged him back on the field, some feeling they’d already been exposed to him anyway. MLB blamed a possible miscommunication that Turner felt he was allowed back on the field. Most curiously, Major League Baseball said Turner was incorrectly told by an unidentified person that other players had tested positive, thus he felt he was being singled out. MLB itself also took blame.
“Major League Baseball could have handled the situation more effectively,” the league’s statement read. “For example, in retrospect, a security person should have been assigned to monitor Mr. Turner when he was asked to isolate, and Mr. Turner should have been transported from the stadium to the hotel more promptly.”
With so much having gone wrong, Turner will not be docked games for the 2021 season. The star third baseman is a free agent and a sensible re-up candidate for the Dodgers.