Major League Baseball apparently doesn’t want you to yell at anyone because Amir Garrett has been suspended for seven entire games for yelling at the Chicago Cubs last week. Garrett will appeal the suspension. Javier Báez lept over the dugout railing and challenged Garrett to come fight him and was not suspended at all. He was fined.
What an absolutely insane situation. One player gets a full week and the other player gets a fine. Amir Garrett didn’t hit a batter. He didn’t touch a Chicago Cub. He yelled “I’m back!” and Javier Báez didn’t like that and jumped on the field to yell back and challenge him to a fight. The benches cleared, but nothing really happened other than Mike Moustakas hugging Báez and keeping him from crossing onto the actual infield grass.
When Amir Garrett decided to fight the entire city of Pittsburgh he was suspended for eight games. Yelling gets you seven games if you’ve done something before. At least if you play for the Cincinnati Reds. If you play for the Cubs or the Cardinals you can grab other players, shove other players, jump onto the field and challenge them to fights and you just get fines.
At this point what’s stopping every opponent from just starting a shouting match with the Reds and having their players get suspended for responding by yelling back? We’ve clearly seen that if you are a Cincinnati Reds player and yell at the opponent that you get suspended.
Ryan Tapera of the Chicago Cubs intentionally threw a fastball at someone and faced a 3-game suspension. Major League Baseball is essentially saying that being a Cincinnati Red and yelling at some players is worse than intentionally throwing a baseball at a player.
The Cincinnati Reds organization needs to put out a release much like the New York Rangers did this afternoon.
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) May 4, 2021
Great words Doug.They just need to copy and paste what you just said,with your permission of course, and send it in cause it can’t be said any better.
+1 Bravo, Doug!
Sure seems the suspensions for the Reds vs their opponents have been biased against the Reds. If I’m Garrett, and I get 7 for yelling and 8 for throwing haymakers, I’m more inclined to go ahead and make hay if it’s only one more game. Maybe next time the Cubbies are around he’ll take Baez up on his invitation. Punishments aren’t fitting the “crimes”.
I’m sick of hearing that Castellanos and now Garrett INCITED the benches to clear. Anyone who left a bench did so of his own volition.
Amen! They’re allegedly grown men they are responsible for their owndecosion to leave the bench.
The crazy has infected the “discipline” committee of MLB.
Michael Hill is either the most corrupt MLB disciplinary coordinator in history, or the absolutely most inept.
We need a new commissioner of baseball. I nominate Trevor Bauer.
I literally LOL’d. His brutal truth telling would be refreshing.
Trevor would be a great commissioner.. He doesn’t put up with garbage and he tells the truth.
Not a Garrett fan. I’m the biggest Reds fan ever. The guy is 29 years old, has 3 saves lifetime, a career ERA over 5.00 and a lifetime WHIP of approaching 1.5. He’s not even a has been. He’s a never was. If any pitcher from another team yelled like that against us, Castallanos would have done the same thing. The bottom line with Garrett is he knows he’s a nobody. He knows he isn’t good. He knows he’s in over his head. He’s going to be a footnote soon. He’s not good. He’s never been good accept for very small sample sizes.
Amir Garrett had an ERA of 3.03 between 2019 and 2020. You are simply incorrect.
He said his lifetime ERA is over 5.00 and his lifetime WHIP is approaching 1.50. What he did in one full and one truncated season is irrelevant to that comment. Either his lifetime ERA is over 5.00 or it is not, and his lifetime WHIP is approaching 1.50 or it is not. Showing that it is not would be the only appropriate rebuttal to the actual data presented. The rest is his opinion, and you have a different opinion, but his is not “simply incorrect”.
He said he a never was. He said he knows he isn’t good. He said he knows he’s in over his head. He said he’s going to be a footnote soon. He said he’s not good. He said he’s never been good “accept” for very small sample sizes.
All of those things are simply incorrect. Garrett’s career as a reliever has produced a better than league average ERA. Suggesting that he has never been good or has only performed in very small sample sizes is simply incorrect.
Amir has really struggled in 2021. That ultimate small sample size of his career. That, and his work as a starting pitcher five years ago are what make his career numbers look bad. All of the work in the middle and the big sample size tell a very different story.
Someone said it the other day in the comments when someone brought up Amir’s career stats it’s the Homer Bailey was never good line because the guy got crushed the first few years in the big leagues and people couldn’t adjust their opinion that he actually became good.
Signed
Crushed Tomatoes
Are you certain this comment isn’t a projection? May want to check your mental models.
And if Castellanos did what Baez did I would expect him to get a little vacation.
If Castellanos did what Baez did he would be suspended for 2 weeks probably.
would not surprise me
Couldn’t agree with you more. It’s been one thing after another with this guy. He needs to go into the fight game and leave baseball to mature adults. There’s simply no reason to act this way. Seven games suspension might get his attention, but I doubt it.
Commenters here have said, from time to time, that the Reds don’t seem to care enough. Garrett cares enough. He’s had a very rough start and is showing some signs of turning it around, and this must be a relief to him. You could make a case for a warning from the ump, but not a suspension. You could certainly make a case for a suspension for Baez, though. He left the bench and tried to provoke a fight.
He basically only has 4 seasons (one truncated). He’s improved each year, and last year he was unhittable (WHIP below 1.0) admittedly in just 18 innings (but consistently throughout the season). While I think he should rein his emotions in, it may be what gives him a competitive edge…who am I to judge. I would not write him off.
On slightly different note…I’m not that big on all this ‘players having fun, showing their emotions, bat flipping, happy dances.’ Find it foolish in football too. I admit, I’m old school, beat your opponent and be cool doing it.
Cowboy on the radio tonight had it right.
The MLB is telling players that if someone on the other team yells something they don’t like first, it’s ok to jump out and approach the mound and challenge guys to a fight.
In his words, “A fine means nothing to these guys.”
They need the NBA rule of if you leave the bench automatic suspension
Agree. Automatic suspension if you leave where you are supposed to be. And…suspended players cannot be replaced on the roster. Gets the attention of both players and management.
No coincidence that the Reds got suspensions in incidents with the Cardinals and the Cubs; and in same incidents no Cardinals or Cubs were suspended for what are clearly and objectively more “aggressive” actions.
Reds players need to just save it for the Pirates or Brewers, but the league just isn’t going to accept that towards their favored sons.
I wish I didn’t love the Reds so much. I stopped watching the Bengals like 4 years or so ago, and my winters have been much more enjoyable.
I’m confused. Did Garret simply, as you imply, say “I’m back,” or was there more? Is this the league’s version of the facts? If so, that is quite remarkable. I hope we have the full facts here.
Same question here. Was he actually addressing Rizzo personally, or just spouting while his face was pointed in the same direction?
Guess i should look at the youtube video mentioned if i really care
Honestly if Garrett ends up with more than a 2 game suspension the owner should through a fit
Its just like the umpire calling a bad strike, if he does it consistently throughout the game its a little more accepting. If he doesn’t though that’s wrong.
If baseballs not going to punish equally for offense, I call for a vote of no confidence in MLB Commissioner’s office. VOTE NOW , VOTE NOW , VOTE NOW…..
I don’t agree with the way MLB is handling all this, at all, but honestly, what Garrett did, the way he did it. was stupid. I have no problem with what Casty did. Garrett was trying to provoke. Casty was not. IMO Garrett should say a lot less and do a lot more focusing on his pitching. lol He can get fired up if we wants and get his teammates fired up. That’s a good thing. Just needs to be wise.
If Garett “instigated” the event, why did Rizzo just walk away?The answer is Garrett did not instigate the event. Provided some fuel, perhaps, but Baez left over the fence and instigated violence (which thankfully, no one bit at). Manfred is a dolt. he is almost absolutely incorrect. If Bob Castellini doesn’t defend his players, he is complicit. Get on it, Castellini. Put up or shut up.
I think Bob was taking a nap when you said that
Big Bob needs to show up in person for the appeal.
Garrett was out of line. He needs to focus more on results and less on trash talk. But that said, the punishment is absolutely and relatively ridiculous. 7 games for what amounts to a really vehement bat flip? No. No games for Baez for leaping out of the dugout? Also no. No way Garrett deserves a longer suspension than Castellanos got, which was already excessive. Ridiculous and embarrassing.
When you start boasting about being a bat flipping showboating team the league pays more attention to you. That is the only reason I can think of for the harsh suspension.
They need to file a lawsuit.
I would like Manfred to define what exactly is the proper emotion to show on the field and who demonstrates it best.
Then I would like Manfred to consult with the NBA, a highly successful league without, I might note, an impending labor stoppage.
Then I would like Manfred to acknowledge he is 30 years behind times and resign. He’s incompetent.
I too would like Manfred to resign. He can skip your other suggestions LOL
All I want to know is when is AG going to start helping us instead of hurting us?
He helped in that game. And, as Doc says above, if he’s unavailable for 7 games, then he can’t hurt the Reds, and isn’t that kind of like helping?
🙂
Well, he helped us there, striking out Rizzo, a Reds nemesis and a classic duel between Garrett and Rizzo last year. The rush of emotion I can understand…however, I’d worrying about setting myself up by declaring you’re back after one successful long-over-do duel.
Totally agree, act like you been there before.
That statement by the NY Rangers just resulted in the President and GM getting fired. Ran to distance themselves from it and since it came from James Dolan, the owner, he didn’t appreciate the dissent. So out of a job. Even though Dolan is a terrible owner he has some grapefruits.
I didn’t see the actual event so I’m guessing on the timing here, but if Garrett just yelled in the direction of the Cubs’ dugout (while not staring anyone in particular down) immediately after striking out Rizzo, wouldn’t that just be a product of his follow-through being a left-handed pitcher? In other words, if he had been a righty, and yelled facing the Reds’ dugout, would anybody on the Cubs have gotten upset?
If Castellanos had walked through the batter’s box and THEN flexed, I don’t think it would have been an issue since he wasn’t “standing over” any Cardinals player. Similarly, if Garret had made direct eye-contact with Rizzo and yelled at him and not the Cubs bench, then I think MLB would have a legitimate case for imposing some sort of punishment if they really want to tamp down trash talking. Otherwise, there doesn’t seem to be any consistent reasoning behind the suspensions (as you all have pointed out).
Seems to me that this is unfairly setting up left-handed pitchers to be more likely to have any emotional outbursts be interpreted as MLB as showing up the opposing bench, at least for those parks where the visiting team’s dugout is on the 3rd base line.
This is also the problem with “zero-tolerance” rules; they are black and white constructs being applied to a vast field of grey…