Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Dempster Gets Five Games, Joe Fined

Major League Baseball announced its ruling on the Ryan Dempster-Alex Rodriguez incident today.  Dempster was suspended for 5 games and fined for plunking A-Rod and Joe Girardi was fined an undisclosed amount for arguing with umpire Brian O'Nora.

The Dempster suspension doesn't come as a surprise.  MLB had to do something to punish him for what he did, lest it become target practice on A-Rod for other pitchers.  What's disappointing is that, as is usually the case with pitchers, the suspension really doesn't mean anything.  The Sawx have a few off-days in the next week, pushing their entire rotation back to the point that Dempster won't even miss his next start when the 5 games are up.  If you're going to suspend a player, he should actually have to miss a game that he would have otherwise played in.

As is also usually the case, O'Nora got off without any punishment for his role in the plunking.  Dempster absolutely should have been ejected from the game and wasn't.  Once again the umpires don't have to be accountable for their actions and conduct on the field while the players and coaches do.  Unreal.

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