Suspensions have been handed out. Arroyo -- one mild retaliation pitch -- got 6 games. Lance Carter -- threw behind Manny, then at Ortiz's head -- got 5. This comes one week after Gary Sheffield takes a swing at a fan before completing a play, and got no suspension -- even was commended for his restraint! Hey...wasn't Bob Watson once the Yankees GM?...
Anyway, conspiracy theories aside, MLB seriously messed up. Many will appeal these suspensions, and point to Sheffield's lack of punishment as some sort of standard. I mean, how can what Ortiz did (yell at the pitcher who threw at his head) be two games worse than what Sheff did? Annoying.
Yeah, taken in the context of the Sheffield incident, they do look a bit silly. I think that the suspensions and fines are about what we have been seeing of late.
ReplyDeleteBrazelton poked out Nixons eye (allegedly) and gets 5 games. So possibly one game to many for Arroyo. Pitchers (starters especially) usually get five games - it messes them up a bit. They appeal and then drop the appeal after making a start and then the rotation is messed up by a day. Six games throws it off two days, but they can maybe use that to give Miller some additional rest - or something.
Of course he could probably appeal and get it down to five - standard protocol on these things is that they get reduced by one game, but then you lose the ability to "schedule" the suspension.
With all of this going on, I expect we'll see Mccarty taking the mound soon. Hell the reporters were joking with Ortiz asking him if he could throw a curve.
A couple of potential Gems tonight. Halladay vs. the Unit. Mulder v Hudson. Maddux v. Clemens. Of course the 1-0 gem will probably be something like the Milw/Cincy game (Claussen versus Glover).
Yeah, ignoring Sheffield the suspensions seem reasonable...except for one thing. If MLB takes into account position (say, DH vs SP) when meting out their punishments (i.e., ensure that a starter misses one start), they need to take into account RP vs SP as well. Arroyo missing 6 games costs the Sox 6 or 7 innings. Carter missing three games costs the D-Rays about three. What Arroyo did was not twice as bad as what Carter did, by a long shot.
ReplyDeletewhoops, I meant Carter missing FIVE games costs the D-Rays about three.
ReplyDeleteYeah that is a good point about the reliever versus the starter. Its a tough one. What if if is your closer? Those three innings could be pretty big innings.
ReplyDeleteAnd for a middle reliever 5 games could be pretty big as well - what if we lost Embree or Timlin for 5 games? Plus you can't mess with the roster as much when its the reliever (I'm sure the Sox will make some roster moves around the time Arroyo serves his suspension).
Tim Kurkjian said he felt the suspensions were very tough. He especially felt the manager suspensions were long - not that they really matter since Terry and Lou will still "manage."
They also showed the history of these teams going back to Pedro drilling Gerald Williams in 2000. Frankly, I'm surprised they didn't do more to try to put an end to some of this nonsense.