The MLB hammer has come down upon the Indians for last Saturday’s double brawl against the Royals. The benches cleared twice during that game–the first time when Jonathan Sanchez beaned Shin-Soo Choo, the second when Jeanmar Gomez hit Mike Moustakas in the rear end with a retaliatory pitch. The Indians were understandably upset when Choo got hit, especially because it was a Sanchez pitch that fractured Choo’s thumb last season and put him on the DL for six weeks. The Royals were ticked when Moustakas got hit because, well, one of their guys got beaned.
Gomez, Jack Hannahan, and manager Manny Acta were all ejected after the second fight. Today, the MLB issued a five-game suspension and a fine for Gomez and fines for Acta and Hannahan for their roles in the fight. What I find most fascinating about the punishments doled out by Major League Baseball is the fine to closer Chris Perez, tweeted the following after the game: “Huge team win tonight, time for a sweep of the Royals. It’s not “Our Time’, it’s TribeTime. P.S. You hit us, we it you. Period.” While the statement shows poor sportsmanship, the fine smells faintly of thought policing.
___________
The Indians have the fastest-working pitching staff in the major leagues. Derek Lowe and Justin Masterson are the fastest on the team and second- and third-fastest, respectively in the majors (first is the Phillies’ Roy Halladay, who takes 16.8 seconds between each pitch). Josh Tomlin is the slowest Indians pitcher at 19.2 seconds between pitches, although this still puts him above the major league average of 21.2. So we’re the fastest. The Red Sox, not surprisingly, are the slowest and the Yankees are the second-slowest. Which probably explains why games between those two teams move at such an excruciatingly slow pace. [insert your favorite anti-Yankee/anti-Red Sox joke here]
___________
Asdrubal Cabrera is on bereavement leave following the death of his grandfather. Nick Hagadone has been called up from AAA Columbus to take his spot on the roster. Yes, we brought up a pitcher to replace a shortstop. My hope is that when Cabrera comes back, we’ll just send Dan Wheeler to Columbus and leave Hagadone here.
___________
My condolences to Asdrubal Cabrera and his family on their loss. Grandfathers are very special.
Yeah, I will agree with you on the Dan Wheeler versus Nick Hagadone. But does Wheeler have any options left?
I don’t believe Wheeler has any options left, which has to be a lousy situation to be in. That still doesn’t mean I think he should be on the roster.