The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Red Sox pitcher gets four-game suspension
Red Sox pitcher punished for buzzing Orioles’ Machado
Red Sox pitcher Matt Barnes has been suspended four games and fined for throwing a fastball past the head of Baltimore star Manny Machado.
The commissioner’s office issued the penalty Monday. The Red Sox are off and Barnes is appealing, meaning the reliever can continue to pitch until the process is done.
Barnes was ejected Sunday after sailing a fastball past Machado’s helmet at Baltimore. The right-hander is 2-0 with a 3.60 ERA in nine games this season.
On Friday night at Camden Yards, Machado made a late slide that injured Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia.
On Sunday, Machado batted in the sixth inning and dodged out of the way when Boston starter Eduardo Rodriguez threw three pitches down and in around the knees. Machado came up again in the eighth and Barnes’ fastball whizzed behind his helmet.
The Orioles and Red Sox play again next Monday at Fenway Park.
Ortiz address
Retired Red Sox slugger David Ortiz will deliver the commencement address at a private Rhode Island university.
The baseball legend is set to speak at the New England Institute of Technology’s 76th commencement at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence on Sunday.
The East Greenwich school will present Ortiz with his first honorary degree. He will receive a doctor of humane letters in recognition of his leadership and work to help children in New England and the Dominican Republic who face significant health challenges.
The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees are cutting payroll and their luxury tax bills — just as Bryce Harper, Manny Machado and perhaps Clayton Kershaw near the free-agent market after the 2018 season.
The Dodgers are on track to slice their tax bill by about a quarter this year and the Yankees by two-thirds. The San Francisco Giants also are set to slice their payment in the first season of baseball’s new collective bargaining agreement, but the Detroit Tigers are slated to pay more despite saying they want to reduce payroll.
If a team doesn’t pay tax in 2018, its tax rate would drop to 20 percent in 2019 — allowing perennially high-spending clubs to sign stars at a lower cost.
“What the market produces is what the market’s going to produce,” baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said.
The Dodgers are forecast to pay a $25.1 million competitive balance tax this year, according to opening-day calculations by the commissioner’s office obtained by The Associated Press, down from $43.6 million in 2015 and $31.8 million last year. The Yankees’ bill is slated to be just under $9 million, their lowest since the tax began in 2003 and less than onethird of the $27.4 million they owed last season.
“The new CBA has had no influence on my belief that you don’t need a 200plus million dollar payroll to win championships,” Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said in an email to the AP.
The tax threshold increased from $189 million to $195 million under the new labor contract, and rates were simplified to three levels: 20 percent for first-time payers, 30 percent for those owing for a second straight season and 50 percent for clubs paying three times in a row or more.
A pair of surtaxes were added to discourage high rollers: 12 percent on the