Just four days after Danny Santana was reinstated from the COVID-related injury list, the Red Sox announced they have sent the utilityman back to the COVID-IL. Infielder Jack Lopez has had his contract selected from Triple-A, and Lopez will take Santana’s spot on the active roster.
Santana has tested positive for COVID-19, MLB.com’s Ian Browne reports, so he will miss at least 10 days while quarantined. Santana previously spent only two days on the COVID-IL due to symptoms, rather than any positive tests. He now becomes the latest Red Sox player to test positive in what has been a long-lasting outbreak within the Boston clubhouse. While some players have started to return to action, Santana is the 10th Sox player currently on the team’s COVID list.
After an elbow injury limited Santana to 15 games with the Rangers in 2020, health issues have again plagued the utilityman in his first season in Boston. Between a foot infection, a left quad strain, a left groin strain and his two COVID-IL stints, Santana has appeared in just 38 games for the Red Sox, and he's batted only .181/.252/.345 in 127 plate appearances. Santana’s minor league contract became a guaranteed deal worth $1.75M when he made the big league roster, but a reunion between Santana and the Sox doesn’t seem very likely in 2022.
This is the second time Lopez has been selected to Boston’s roster in the midst of this coronavirus outbreak, resulting in the 28-year-old getting to make his major league debut after nine seasons in the minors. A 16th-round pick for the Royals in the 2011 draft, Lopez has spent much of his career in Kansas City’s farm system before moving to the Braves organization in 2019 and then signing with the Sox this past offseason. Lopez hit .167/.231/.333 in his first 15 PA as a big leaguer.
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