PUNCHING BACK
SANCHEZ GETS 4-GAME BAN
Gary Sanchez caught a break from Major League Baseball — and Joe Torre — on Friday, getting a fourgame suspension when more was deserved for the punches he threw at defenseless players in Thursday’s brawl with the Tigers.
Privately the Yankees had to be thrilled not to lose their hottest hitter for an extra two or three games, especially after Sanchez’s behavior sparked universal condemnation around baseball — and rightly so.
Even in brawls, there are lines you don’t cross.
In fact, I can’t ever remember seeing a player taking swings as Sanchez did, twice at players who were already engaged in combat, if you will, and basically pinned to the ground. So I’m surprised MLB didn’t want to set a precedent of sorts to make sure nobody ever does it again.
Not that Sanchez deserved more than Miguel Cabrera, who received a seven-game suspension. MLB got that part right, saying in a statement that the Tigers’ slugger “instigated” the brawl by pushing and throwing haymakers at Yankees’ catcher Austin Romine.
In fact, you could make a case that Cabrera deserved more for what seemed to be a premeditated act, baiting Romine into a confrontation. You certainly can’t call it a “heat of the moment” reaction, considering several minutes had passed after Tommy Kahnle threw the pitch behind him and Cabrera then returned to the plate, after Aroldis Chapman warmed up.
What exactly was Cabrera’s beef, anyway? Though Kahnle missed, his attempt was standard retaliation stuff, throwing at Cabrera at hip level as a response to Michael Fulmer plunking Sanchez.
After all, it was the Tigers’ star who made it obvious he wanted retaliation in a similar situation at Yankee Stadium a few weeks ago, after Mikie Mahtook was twice hit by pitches.
And when Fulmer drilled Jacoby Ellsbury in the hip that night, neither Ellsbury nor the Yankees complained.
So Cabrera had no reason to escalate the situation on Thursday, and MLB should be lauded for recognizing intent. It’s worth remembering Bryce Harper received four games for charging the mound and even throwing his helmet, albeit wildly, at Hunter Strickland after being hit by a pitch on May 30th. In that situation Strickland was way out of line, seeking vengeance for a personal grudge he held for more than two years over home runs Harper hit off him in the 2014 postseason. All in all, MLB is doing a better job of considering context in these incidents, which is what Joe Torre was always screaming
about when he managed the Yankees and felt the league too often handed down suspensions without having a feel for individual situations. Torre, of course, is the point man for such decisions now, in his role as MLB’s “Chief Officer,” and just as he gave Strickland more games than Harper — though the disparity should have been wider — he correctly put the onus for Thursday’s ugliness on Cabrera. With that in mind, I applaud him for recognizing the difference between Dellin Betances hitting James McCann in the helmet with a pitch that got away and Alex Wilson plunking Todd Frazier in the hip as retaliation an inning later.
Betances’ pitch obviously was more dangerous, but common sense told you he wasn’t throwing at McCann. By then the brawl was over and the Yankees needed to win a game that was tied 6-6, which is why Betances was pointing to the scoreboard in trying to explain himself to the umpires.
And it’s not like Betances hasn’t had major command issues this season, going through spells when he can’t throw strikes.
In any case, home plate umpire Carlos Torres seemed to understand it wasn’t a purpose pitch, and didn’t toss Betances until crew chief Dana DeMuth stepped in, probably because he recognized the Tigers were frothing at the mouth at that point.
Torre, meanwhile, resisted public pressure to suspend Betances, and while Tigers’ fans, among others, are going to scream he’s looking out for his old team, I have more respect for his integrity than that.
If anything, Torre was too hard in giving Austin Romine two games, when Romine really didn’t have any choice but to defend himself against Cabrera.
Still, having said all that, I can’t understand why Torre didn’t come down harder on Sanchez. It should be pointed out that MLB considers four games a significant suspension, having given the same punishment to Harper for charging the mound — though it was reduced to three games on appeal.
But where it was easy to defend Harper’s reaction, there’s really no defending what Sanchez did, taking those free shots at Cabrera and then Nicholas Castellanos.
After the suspensions were announced on Friday, Sanchez said he “went out there to defend my teammates,” and I believe that was his intent, but that doesn’t excuse his actions. Joe Girardi should have said as much, but instead he made excuses for Sanchez.
“Gary’s a fiery player,’’ he said, “and that’s something you don’t ever want to take away from him.” That doesn’t mean Sanchez shouldn’t know the difference between right and wrong. MLB made that distinction on Friday.
Just not emphatically enough.