Not only did Rangers assistant general manager Thad Levine announce that Vicente Padilla was diagnosed with H1N1 Type A influenza, better known as “Swine Flu” on Friday, but that he is still scheduled to make his next start on Tuesday:
“He was as surprised as anyone when we told him this was the case. From everything we’ve been told, this is certainly a different strain of the normal flu and by nature might be deemed more serious, but you really wouldn’t treat it any differently.”
“Without speculating, I think it is reasonable to expect that we may find some of our other guys have it. We’ve been medicating our players. We would use the same medication and the same kind program to rehabilitate them and they’ve all shown improvement. Those are the positive signs.”
“As an extra precaution, we have encouraged him to go back to the hotel tonight and not sit in the dugout or the clubhouse. He’s done that. I think we’ll continue to take that level of precaution, and in addition [with] everyone else.”
In a related story, baseball sources tell Circling the Bases that Omar Minaya has contacted Rangers general manager Jon Daniels in hopes that an acquisition of Swine Flu could give the team a potential boost down the stretch.