Hamels Suspension Sheds Light on How MLB Handles Punishment of Starting Pitchers

Suspensions for starting pitchers in Major League Baseball are parallel to kids these days being grounded from going outside. There simply is no point in wasting the time because it only makes a mockery of the powers that be, be it MLB commissioner Bud Selig or the parents of today’s youth.

The E-Trade baby is the perfect example, being relegated to his crib while stashing a laptop or smart phone under his blanket.

If kids can’t go outside, they will play video games. If kids can’t play video games, they will surf the net on every tech gadget available—there is always a way around the penalty.

Punishment in American homes serves less purpose than it did even 10 years ago. And that also rings true across the professional sports landscape.

Today, MLB suspended Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Cole Hamels for intentionally beaning baseball wunderkind Bryce Harper in the first inning of last night’s 9-3 win against the Washington Nationals. Unless appealed, Hamels is scheduled to begin the suspension Monday night. But why would he do such a silly thing like that?

Suspending a starting pitcher five games means absolutely zilch.

In most cases, said pitcher would be pushed back a day and still not be forced to miss his scheduled start—the extra day of rest may even be beneficial in some cases. However, in the circumstance of Hamels, it means far less than that. 

With a scheduled off-day on Thursday for the Phillies, their staff would have been pushed back a day anyway, thus negating any effect the suspension would have had on Hamels. Assuming Hamels doesn’t appeal, he will simply go on about his business as if nothing ever occurred—although who can forget Harper’s payback by stealing home plate?

MLB needs to alter the way they handle doling out punishment to starting pitchers, and the solution is rather simple.

Instead of assigning a generic number of games to suspensions of starting pitchers, why not force them to miss starts by making teams actually skip their turn in the rotation? This expunges the loophole that allows starting pitchers and teams to virtually laugh in the face of the transgression.

Despite what side of the fence you are on in regard to Hamels’ throwback welcoming party to Harper, five-game suspensions for guys that are inherently scheduled to show up to work every five days holds less effect than a slap on the wrist.

Contact Jeremy at jeremy@popflyboys.com, on Twitter @KCPopFlyBoy and at popflyboys.com.

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