The Cubs are still looking out for Anthony Rizzo.
Chicago manager David Ross texted the former Cubs star and current Yankees first baseman Sunday to wish him a happy birthday and make sure he was OK after Rizzo tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Chicago Tribune.
“Our thoughts are with [Rizzo],” Ross said.
Rizzo tested positive for the virus Sunday – his 32nd birthday – and was placed on the COVID-19-related injured list, where he will remain for at least 10 days.
Boone said Rizzo has mild symptoms and is feeling “achy.”
“He’s doing all right,” Boone told reporters in New York. “He’s got some symptoms, but he’s doing okay, but [he’s] obviously a little bummed out.”
Rizzo, a cancer survivor, told the media in June he hadn’t yet been innoculated because he wanted “to see the data” on the vaccines. It is unclear whether he has received the jab since those comments.
Although the Yankees have more than 85 percent of their Tier 1 personnel vaccinated, leading to the loosening of some restrictions, they still have had 10 players test positive for the virus in the last month. The majority of them were “breakthrough” cases, in which a fully vaccinated person becomes infected with the virus.
“I think a lot came out of Florida, where we were in this wave of them,” manager Aaron Boone said. “But I think it’s a little bit of you don’t know where and when it’s spreading. Obviously things for a while returned to almost completely normal, and that went for us as well. But certainly things are much more relaxed, so there are those chances even for vaccinated people that it can spread.
“I’m of course concerned, but we’ll continue to do the best we can with it and try and navigate it and deal with it.”
The Yankees acquired Rizzo from the Cubs at the deadline and he helped spark an 8-1 run by hitting .281 with three home runs and six RBIs in that time.