No martyrs, no needless examples: MLB hits mark on Rougned Odor incident suspensions
Major League Baseball didn’t dramatize, exaggerate or show the slightest overreaction to the brawl that had both the USA and Canada talkin’.
The baseball police didn’t turn Texas Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor into a villain.
They didn’t make Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista out to be a martyr.
They didn’t really place much blame on anyone for Sunday’s Rangers-Blue Jays game turned street fight, except for Odor’s impersonation of Roberto Duran, resulting in an eight-game suspension.
The suspensions and fines issued Tuesday by Joe Garagiola Jr., senior vice president for standards and on-field operations, were perfect.
Hey, if Judge Merrick Garland doesn’t receive Senate approval for the U.S. Supreme Court, we’ve got a potentially ideal replacement in Garagiola.
Garagiola’s voice was clear with reason in issuing his discipline. He didn’t quite come out and say it, but we’ll take liberty and paraphrase.
“Hey boys, we love old-school baseball, and despite our rules changes we still believe that you have the right to discipline yourselves on the field, but please, let’s refrain from acting like thugs when we get angry.’’
Odor, besides his eight-game suspension that he will appeal, was fined $5,000 for delivering that right-handed cross to Bautista’s face.
Bautista was suspended one game for his actions in the brawl and his postgame comments saying he deliberately went hard into Odor at second base, with no intent to stay on the base. He also will appeal.
Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus was suspended one game for throwing a punch at Blue Jays outfielder Kevin Pillar, which he immediately accepted.
Blue Jays reliever Jesse Chavez was suspended three games for hitting Rangers first baseman Prince Fielder after both teams had been issued warnings, as was manager John Gibbons, who returned to the field after being ejected earlier in the game.
In all, 14 players or coaches - some of them on the disabled list - were suspended or fined.
Take a bow, Mr. Garagiola, the disciplinary measures were spot-on.
“In the heat of the moment, you’ve got to do what you think is right,” said Blue Jays outfielder Kevin Pillar, fined $1,000 but not suspended for running onto the field in hopes of retaliation. “You’ve got to go out there and defend yourself and defend your teammates. And just given the circumstances, I felt like (Odor) was owed one, and I was going out there to get him.
“I think they did a good job. They did what they felt was right.’’
The most difficult decision, of course, was determining the length of Odor’s suspension. Yet, the way Garagiola figure it, there was no reason to make an example of Odor.
Odor instead received the standard suspension that just about every player gets for throwing a punch that hits a man in the face.
Or breaks someone’s collarbone.
Former San Diego Padres outfielder Carlos Quentin, who was hit by a pitch and then charged Zack Greinke when he was pitching for the Dodgers in 2013, broke Greinke’s collarbone in the scuffle. It was the largest suspension handed out to a position player for his actions on the field since Garagiola’s reign began in 2011.
There had been no other position player suspended for more than eight games under Garagiola’s watch. The only other player to even receive five games was Milwaukee Brewers catcher Martin Maldonado in 2014. He was in a brawl that began when Pittsburgh Pirates starter Gerrit Cole took exception to Carlos Gomez’s bat flip when he hit a triple. Maldonado swung and hit Pirates’ third baseman Travis Snider in the face.
Sound familiar?
The difference is this brawl started seven months after Bautista’s bat flip in Game 5 of the 2015 Division Series between the Blue Jays and Rangers.
The Rangers never forgot and waited until Sunday to retaliate. Bush, who during the Division Series was completing a work release program as part of his sentence for hitting a motorcyclist while intoxicated, drilled Bautista in the ribs with a 96-mph fastball. Bautista retaliated with a vicious slide into Odor while breaking up a double play. And Odor answered back with a punch that will be remembered as long as he plays the game, hitting Bautista flush in the face, sending his helmet and sunglasses flying.
“I'm not going to criticize a player for playing hard," Banister said Monday. “I'm not going to criticize anybody for any of those situations on our side or their side. Things happen during those situations that are ugly. They look bad. It's not good for anybody.’’
Certainly, MLB and umpiring crews will be closely watching Odor, who has irritated several teams with his aggressive style of play, and now has a target on his back.
If he didn’t have one before, Odor has a reputation now. It’s a fabulous rep if you happen to be his teammate and a Rangers fan. If you’re on the other side, well, you may think a little differently, besides being a little careful the next time you think about sliding hard into Odor.
“He’s the furthest from dirty,” Banister insists.
Oh, and the punch?
“It’s part of the game,’’ Odor said. “I don't care about the other teams. I play the game how I play it. Play the game to win.’’
When two teams play the game hard, and with a fiery passion, well, these things can happen.
“Two teams played a very close playoff series last year,’’ Rangers GM Jon Daniels said on his Dallas radio show. “They beat us. Bautista beat us. He had a huge home run. But it's competition. Emotions that go with it on the field, among the players.
“The way I look at it is neither side hit a batter up high, there was no risk of really hurting anybody. The slide was aggressive and was against the new rule, but it wasn't up spikes high. There were no sucker punches regardless of what was made of that. Two guys were basically looking at each other at the time.
“That's kind of how I look at it.’’
It’s exactly how Garagiola and MLB looked at it, too.
Let them play.
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