The other day, Joe Kelly of the Los Angeles Dodgers tried to bean Alex Bregman of the Astros. After retiring the final batter of the inning, he made some remarks to Carlos Correa. As a result, the benches cleared. No punches were thrown but it was enough for MLB to take steps….
Steps… Joe Kelly received a suspension of eight games and David Roberts, the Dodgers’ manager received a one-game suspension. I am not saying that what Kelly did was O.K, but is throwing behind someone’s back and taunting someone a more serious offense that cheating?
We all know the Astros, or shall we continue to call them the Cheatros, were hardly punished. Oh, sure, they were fined $5 million and forced to forfeit their first- and second-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021. In addition, GM Luhnow and manager Hinch were each suspended for the entire 2020 season, including the playoffs. But the players, the ones who did it all? They got away with it. All they did was making a half-hearted apology that lacked every kind of guilt.
But now Joe Kelly went after them, MLB knows how to punish players all of a sudden. With this move, the governing body of professional baseball in the USA loses its credibility. It is clear that the owners rather protect their product than to deal with the real problem.
Luckily for those who are still interested in MLB, it is good to see that several players on the Astros’ roster aren’t hitting that well now they cannot bang their trashcans anymore. Carlos Correa is one of the few that is hitting well but the majority is underperforming.
Take José Altuve for example. Mr. “Don’t pull off my jersey” is hitting a whopping .174.
George Springer doesn’t even top .050. Alex Bregman, .174, Josh Reddick .182, and Kyle Tucker, .188.
It is sad to see how MLB is ruining its own product by punishing the wrong persons. The Astros will always be remembered as the team that cheated its way to a World Series win. In fact, MLB should put an asterisk behind their 2017 title. But that will likely never happen.
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