How is it possible for a pitcher to be suspended when he wasn’t thrown out? When the umpires feel the pitch wasn’t intentional?
Josh Beckett, as reported on SportsCenter, has been suspended for six games for “throwing” at Bobby Abreu. As I mentioned here, how could it possibly be intentional?
This will definitely be appealed, so Beckett won’t miss his next start. I wouldn’t be surprised if the appeal was downgraded to less than five games, which means he misses no games.
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Abreu did not approach beckett, it was the other way around. Abreu had every right to be pissed. Just because you think beckett’s actions were appropriate doesnt mean he was NOT the aggressor. and you say that Sosh got in Beckett’s face? what game were YOU watching? Sosh was talking to the umpire, EXACTLY what your manager would have been doing in the exact same situation and beckett walked over to Sosh. THAT is unacceptable, you’re right about that. but i do agree about Joe West. Everything that Torii has said in the press indicates that someone NOT a Red Sox player made an inappropriate comment that set him off. we can agree to disagree, but i also dont think the intent of the pitch was THAt important. the fact of the matter is that if it was NOT intentional Beckett should not have been so aggressive and certainly should have understood that buzzing some dudes head with a 93 mph fastball is going to be upsetting to the batter…cmon.
Olney:
I’ve got mixed feelings about the suspension of Josh Beckett. On one hand, Major League Baseball essentially overruled its four umpires in how they handled the Beckett situation, and by giving the pitcher a six-game suspension, MLB went far beyond how Joe West and the other umpires assessed Beckett’s level of aggressiveness. You could almost read into this decision an implicit indication that the central office thinks that Beckett should have been ejected. And I’m not sure that what Beckett did warranted an ejection.
On the other hand, there is no question that Beckett completely overreacted when time was called, and threw a pitch in the vicinity of Bobby Abreu’s head. And Abreu is not some hothead who overreacts to stuff; rather, the gregarious veteran outfielder was outraged by Beckett’s actions. There needed to be some kind of repercussion.
But what’s a little unnerving is the precedent that this decision sets. With the suspension of Beckett, Major League Baseball has seemingly sent a signal to its umpires that it wants a broad interpretation of a pitcher’s intent. And undoubtedly, this will greatly increase the likelihood that some umpire is going to misread a situation and eject a pitcher unfairly.