Mike Clevinger and Zach Plesac must answer for putting teammates at risk

Mike Clevinger and Zach Plesac put the Indians at risk.

An embarrassing story emerged out of the Cleveland Indians organization over the weekend. Starting pitcher Zach Plesac had violated team rules and had a night out in Chicago following a game. The team quickly responded by getting him a rental car and telling him to drive back to Cleveland.

One player defending Plesac was fellow pitcher Mike Clevinger. That makes perfect sense given the information that came out later about how Clevinger was also out with Plesac. He never came clean and got on the team plane with the Indians.

What is wrong with him?

Mike Clevinger and Zach Plesac were selfish

No one likes being stuck inside because of COVID-19. Lives have been lost, businesses have gone under, and this is an unprecedented situation in modern times. All Clevinger and Plesac were asked to do is not leave the team hotel. But no, that was too difficult for them.

The crazy thing about the story is that Carlos Carrasco is a fellow member of that starting rotation. He is a high-risk individual given he was diagnosed with leukemia last year and it is honestly just disrespectful to not only go out on the town, but to lie about it as well.

Going out to dinner doesn’t automatically make one contract the virus. However, the 2020 MLB season is already fragile. An outbreak may cost the St. Louis Cardinals their season. The Indians set a simple rule of being smart and just not going out. How hard is that to follow?

Some fans are calling for both players to be suspended or even traded. Trading one or both may go a bit far. However, both will not be hits in the locker room after this. That is especially true for Clevinger, who acted like a little kid hoping he wouldn’t get caught. He chose to break the rules and then fly home with the team instead of being an adult and being honest.

This would be laughable if it was not a serious medical situation. Once again, there is no evidence Clevinger has the virus or that he infected anyone on the team. The criticism here is about a grown man acting like a child and being careless during a global pandemic.