Josh Beckett of Boston Red Sox suspended six games for pitch at Bobby Abreu's head

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/s...=ESPNHeadlines

AWESOME.

Thanks for posting this Wassit.

pitcher suspensions are always so lame .. he will protest it till his next start, make it then immediately drop it, take six days off and push his next start back a couple of days. ..

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Originally Posted by gRYFYN1

pitcher suspensions are always so lame .. he will protest it till his next start, make it then immediately drop it, take six days off and push his next start back a couple of days. ..

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Yeah, good point.

But the fine is real enough. Of course we don't know how much that fine is, but whatever it is, it's real enough money.

Plus, IIRC, suspensions also result in a loss of pay (which is in addition to any fines), so he would lose 6/162 of his salary, if this is correct. I know it is in the NFL, but not so sure in MLB where the players obviously have a stronger union.

EDIT: And doing the math on Beckett's $10.5 million salary, 6/162 of that works out to be nearly $400,000. Not an insignificant amount of money.

EDIT2: And I just checked the CBA, and yes, they lose their salaries in addition to any fines. So, even though it's impact "on the field" is somewhat less for a starting pitcher, the impact on their checking accounts is real enough.

Good. Happy to see that head hunting d!ck get nailed. He's been doing it for years, what took them so long? Sometimes though poetic justice reaches out and bites him in the butt.

Take April 21, 2006 for example. Runners 1st and 2nd with 2 out for Boston in the top of the eighth already comfortably leading the Jays 6-2, Jason Frasor hits Alex Gonzalez (who took an ofer on the night - so he hadn't done any damage up to that point - most Red Sox fans will tell you he and his .299 OBP did more damage to them than the other team ;) ) to load the bases. Let's go over that again down by four in the top of the eighth with 2 already on base, you hit someone who is not an offensive threat at all. This is not the time to play target practice, this is the time to get a goddamn out already and try to rally and win this thing.

I guess because Josh Beckett considers himself "old school" and lives by "the code" he decided he had to retaliate and hit Aaron Hill to lead off the bottom of the eighth...on the first pitch. Intent? Yes I think so. Unbelievably, for once, it lit a fire under the Jays butts because the next hitter Russ Adams took him deep. One out later Vernon Wells took him deep and we booed Beckett right off the field as he was lifted for Mike Timlin, who promptly served one up to Troy Glaus to make it 6-6. The Jays eventually won this game 7-6 in 12 on a Lyle Overbay double off Rudy Seanez, which barely scored Troy Glaus all the way from first base.

The moral of the story in case Mr. Hothead/Meathead Beckett wants to know is that the best revenge always comes on the scoreboard. Well, that and it might be a good idea to figure out whether there was intent before you go out and bean the first hitter on the first pitch the next inning, unless one is too simple-minded to realize that Gonzalez does not represent any threat, so why would Frasor want to load the bases by hitting him? If you want to play a sport with a "code" go play hockey. One tango with one of those enforcer brutes should be the ticket...hehe :D

One thing I've always thought all sports should do is that if you protest, its final. There's no dropping it. So you keep playing until its resolved and then you serve any suspension you have then.

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Originally Posted by OldFatGuy

Yeah, good point.

But the fine is real enough. Of course we don't know how much that fine is, but whatever it is, it's real enough money.

Plus, IIRC, suspensions also result in a loss of pay (which is in addition to any fines), so he would lose 6/162 of his salary, if this is correct. I know it is in the NFL, but not so sure in MLB where the players obviously have a stronger union.

EDIT: And doing the math on Beckett's $10.5 million salary, 6/162 of that works out to be nearly $400,000. Not an insignificant amount of money.

EDIT2: And I just checked the CBA, and yes, they lose their salaries in addition to any fines. So, even though it's impact "on the field" is somewhat less for a starting pitcher, the impact on their checking accounts is real enough.

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For pitchers I have always felt it should be number of starts they miss not days...so in this case it should have been six starts, tell me if you think that would make a pitcher or manager think twice about head hunting

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Originally Posted by Wassit3

For pitchers I have always felt it should be number of starts they miss not days...so in this case it should have been six starts, tell me if you think that would make a pitcher or manager think twice about head hunting

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Just out of interest - what do you do with a reliever?

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Originally Posted by Wassit3

For pitchers I have always felt it should be number of starts they miss not days...so in this case it should have been six starts, tell me if you think that would make a pitcher or manager think twice about head hunting

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They did a 6 game suspension knowing that he will miss one start, if they wanted him to miss say 5 games for example im sure they would have suspended him for a month.

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Originally Posted by ragecage

They did a 6 game suspension knowing that he will miss one start, if they wanted him to miss say 5 games for example im sure they would have suspended him for a month.

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Yep.

5 starts is absurd for a suspension. It's essentially equivalent to a 30 day suspension.

Also, how exactly would you enforce a "6 start" rule? It'd have to be "30 days".

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Originally Posted by Wassit3

For pitchers I have always felt it should be number of starts they miss not days...so in this case it should have been six starts, tell me if you think that would make a pitcher or manager think twice about head hunting

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Yeah, I think it would have a definite impact on a pitcher or manager thinking about head hunting.

It's hard to figure out how to enforce it though, unless you do make it 30 days. I mean, if it's just starts, then as manager, I'll pencil in him as my starter over the next 6 days, then claim see, he missed six starts.

Then, if you make it 30 days, then it's a much, much bigger financial impact, and it affects a pitcher in other ways too. I mean, technically, when suspended, I'm pretty sure players can't participate in any official activities, which means a starter would go 30 days without pitching at all. Sure, he could throw on the side, but it's not the same.

I dunno, I see your point, it's just hard to pragmatically make it happen.

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Originally Posted by OldFatGuy

It's hard to figure out how to enforce it though, unless you do make it 30 days. I mean, if it's just starts, then as manager, I'll pencil in him as my starter over the next 6 days, then claim see, he missed six starts.

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Or pencil somebody else in as the starter, let him go an inning or two, then bring in the "suspended" guy.

This is bull, the pitch beckett threw was at least a foot to 2 feet above his head. I think Beckett has enough control over his pitches that if he wanted to hit him in the head he would have.

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Originally Posted by Red Sox Fan 734

This is bull, the pitch beckett threw was at least a foot to 2 feet above his head. I think Beckett has enough control over his pitches that if he wanted to hit him in the head he would have.

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Or he was throwing over his head on purpose?

Furthermore, time was called while he wasn't facing the plate. He turned to make his pitching motion, noticed that the umpire called time, and was thrown off by it. His release point was too high and it sailed towards Abreu. No intention of hitting him, he was just caught off-guard by time called by the ump.

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Originally Posted by 200tang

Or he was throwing over his head on purpose?

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What's the harm in that?

There's all this talk about treating pitchers like they are made of glass 'these days', what about batters?

They wear suits of armor up to the plate.

Any pitch moderately high and tight and people are screaming that the pitcher needs to be ejected, suspended, and paddled with a ruler

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Originally Posted by 200tang

Or he was throwing over his head on purpose?

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So then what's the matter with that? It's not like throwing over his head is going to harm Abreu in any way

edit: just saw filihok said basically the say thing, oops

I don't remember saying there was a problem.

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Originally Posted by HoustonGM

Or pencil somebody else in as the starter, let him go an inning or two, then bring in the "suspended" guy.

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I seem to recall back when Randy Johnson was still with the Mariners, he was given a suspension, and the manager (Pinella?) tried to get cute and give The Big Unit a start at 1st, and pull him after 1/3 of an inning, and then start his suspension. But I can't remember the details, and it might not have even been Johnson.

complete ******** suspension.. abreau called for timeout while he was already in his motion. The ball sailed out of his hand because it was too late to just stop. Have you ever seen a guy stop his motion onces its started like that? He would destroy his arm. If he wanted to hit him he would have. If anything the suspension might be for walking towards the plate and as a result clearing the dugouts, but for the throw though.

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Originally Posted by Matty86

complete ******** suspension.. abreau called for timeout while he was already in his motion. The ball sailed out of his hand because it was too late to just stop. Have you ever seen a guy stop his motion onces its started like that? He would destroy his arm. If he wanted to hit him he would have. If anything the suspension might be for walking towards the plate and as a result clearing the dugouts, but for the throw though.

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Sorry, but this just doesn't wash for me. Yes, Beckett has to continue with his motion, release the ball and follow through in order to avoid injury, absolutely. It's interesting that the ball wound up so close to Abreu's head that he had to get his head out of the way though. Why not just follow through and groove a dart down the middle? Was he pissed with Abreu for calling time so late? (which he never should've been granted by the way...but that's a whole other matter...I thought there was a new rule for this...) Sure seemed like that might have been the case by the way he stormed off the mound angry at Abreu for having the gall to be upset at having a 95+ mph heater zinged at his melon, while he was in a relaxed state having called time. Maybe if Beckett didn't have such a reputation for hitting guys he wouldn't be facing this suspension. Then again, if he didn't have said reputation, that pitch most likely wouldn't have been anywhere near Abreu's head. Just man-up Beckett and take responsibility for your actions on the mound for once. D!ck.

This will probably be viewed as slanted, since I'm a sox fan - and hey, I didn't even see it. But the whole setup - calling time-out, mid delivery - I don't think Beckett had time to get angry and purposefully throw at the head, in the 0.23 seconds between turning and firing.

I think he was angry immediately after, which is why he took a few steps in.

If you get interrupted with a time-out call mid delivery 10 times, and let go of the ball all 10 times, maybe 1 or 2 of those would end up near the head. It's unfortunate, but I feel secure that it was not intentional.

Here's the link I've been looking for of this brouhaha. Watch how long Beckett holds the ball - it's at least 15 seconds and who knows how long before this clip started. At a certain point you've got to pitch the ball or the hitter has every right to ask for time. That pitch is damn close to Abreu's head and then there's the aftermath during which Beckett, not Abreu, is the aggressor. Bobby's just like WTF dude? What was that? Meanwhile, Beckett charges off the mound like an amped-up prize fighter when he's the one who caused this sh*t in the first place. If it was completely unintentional, a simple tap of the chest and mouthing the words "My bad" might have done a lot to defuse the tension of the situation, but that wasn't good enough for Josh the Punk.The video also shows that no Angel touched the field until Beckett came towards Abreu screaming and gesturing at him.

The whole thing slightly reminds me of the Clemens/Piazza "Bat-throwing/I thought it was the ball" incident in the 2000 World Series. It's obviously not quite that ridiculous. Clemens had more time to think about what he was going to do, but both were reactions. Why is it that Beckett feels the need to be an ass time and time again and other pitchers like our own Roy Halladay are able to be just as intimidating, effective and dominant without resorting to such BS tactics. I hope he ends up back in the National League and somebody gives him a taste of his own medicine. Petulant Brat.

Edit: Note Varitek setting up low and away.

It looks pretty unintentional to me.

Like Alloutwar said, there was a split second of time in which Beckett would have had to realize that time was being called, decide to throw at his head, and switch his aim and pinpoint it there. Beckett's a great pitcher, but, that seems like a lot.

I recall another thread about this from a year or so ago.

I don't think umpires need to be in the business of reading minds.

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Originally Posted by actionjackson

Here's the link I've been looking for of this brouhaha. Watch how long Beckett holds the ball - it's at least 15 seconds and who knows how long before this clip started. At a certain point you've got to pitch the ball or the hitter has every right to ask for time. That pitch is damn close to Abreu's head and then there's the aftermath during which Beckett, not Abreu, is the aggressor. Bobby's just like WTF dude? What was that? Meanwhile, Beckett charges off the mound like an amped-up prize fighter when he's the one who caused this sh*t in the first place. If it was completely unintentional, a simple tap of the chest and mouthing the words "My bad" might have done a lot to defuse the tension of the situation, but that wasn't good enough for Josh the Punk.The video also shows that no Angel touched the field until Beckett came towards Abreu screaming and gesturing at him.

The whole thing slightly reminds me of the Clemens/Piazza "Bat-throwing/I thought it was the ball" incident in the 2000 World Series. It's obviously not quite that ridiculous. Clemens had more time to think about what he was going to do, but both were reactions. Why is it that Beckett feels the need to be an ass time and time again and other pitchers like our own Roy Halladay are able to be just as intimidating, effective and dominant without resorting to such BS tactics. I hope he ends up back in the National League and somebody gives him a taste of his own medicine. Petulant Brat.

Edit: Note Varitek setting up low and away.

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Thank you. This should settle it once and for all, but just in case it doesn't: Beckett throws unintentionally. Abreu sticks his arms out and says, "What was that?" Beckett says, "My bad," and gets back on the hill. Oh, wait, didn't happen that way, did it?

In fact, it's Beckett - the guy with a history of this sort of nonsense - who steps off, approaches the plate like he's in the WWE, and in the aftermath stays in the game while four Angels get tossed. I can't ever recall any game in any sport where four members of a team get thrown out of a game without a single member of the other team facing any punishment at all.

Honestly. They win two Series and they think they get the Yankee calls. :rolleyes:

EDIT: Jeez, I just rushed off to watch the video and came back to write...the same thing that Jackson did. Ah, well, my bad... (see? Wasn't so hard...)

I can't find the video anywhere - MLB has claimed ownership and made everyone remove it. Google's got nothin.

I'm not aware of a 'history' of Beckett throwing at people - I tried to look that up, but all I found was this Abreu story. I think I can recall Beckett beaning a Rays player, maybe after our players had been beaned (and a pitcher tossed for it). So if you mean, he's the sort of guy who will take it upon himself to toss at the other guys as a warning -that may be fair. Trying to push that into this bastardizing crap above isn't.

I think people are sort of rushing to throw this into a Yankee-Red Sox, big-club-dirt-bag sort of thing, for some reason. Again, I get the anti-big club animosity; I hate the Yankees, for crying out loud. I wish the clubs were all equal - I'd like to see more Padres coverage, myself.

But using this one event to try to paint the whole team as horrible or petulant or what have you - go blow your smoke somewhere else. That's just plain BS, and we don't need more of that here.