Mets' Buck Showalter addresses COVID-19 comments made by Chris Bassitt

As had been expected, the New York Mets officially activated right-hander Chris Bassitt off the COVID-19 injured list so he could take the bump for Friday's home game versus the Miami Marlins. The move came one week after Bassitt was scratched from a July 1 start against the Texas Rangers and one day after he generated headlines with controversial comments he made about MLB's coronavirus-related protocols. 

Mets manager Buck Showalter was asked before Friday's contest if he addressed the remarks with Bassitt. Unsurprisingly, Showalter refused to offer any in-depth answer during his response. 

"If we have, I wouldn't certainly broadcast it," Showalter said, according to Sean Farrell of NorthJersey.com. "We've talked to Chris and what have you. Everybody is entitled to their opinion. I'm not going to get into anything politically. 

"He's free to express himself as a human being. We've talked. I'll leave it at that."

Bassitt tested positive for COVID-19 at home ahead of his July 1 start and self-reported the result to the Mets. The 33-year-old said Thursday he "never had a symptom" following the test, and he also bashed the league's health and safety protocols. 

"It’s ridiculous we’re still doing it," he commented at the time, per SNY's Alex Smith. "Stop testing it. Stop acting like COVID is far worse than a lot of other things. I’m not trying to get too much into it, but I was never sick, never had a symptom. So, sitting out for two weeks or a week for zero symptoms, I don’t know." 

Bassitt continued: "I guess the answer is I should never have said anything. I should never have said that I tested positive, and I probably won’t the rest of my career. There’s no way, there’s no reason."

He began Friday night at 6-5 with a 4.01 ERA across 15 starts this season.