Comments on: Cliff Lee Suspended

By: scott19

scott19 — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:05:35 +0000

I think MLB is pretty much saying they have a zero tolerance policy for throwing at guysâ€™ heads and I agree with them.

Which is fair enough. I only hope that, from this point forward, such a policy goes across the board to apply to anyone in either league — and that certain guys who pitch for certain teams don’t wind up getting exempted while other guys end up getting made “examples” of.

By: ideat

ideat — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:08:24 +0000

You can say it’s dangerous and irresponsible, fine. Fact is pitchers have been doing it for a long time. I would much rather have Lee (and any pitcher with his ability and nasty streak) on my team than against it.

By: twitchytsj

twitchytsj — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:56:16 +0000

C’mon guys. He aimed at the guy’s head, missed, and tried again. It’s pretty blatant what he did and he should be suspended. If it had been Gutierrez up there instead of Snyder, you guys would be applauding the suspension.

You want to send someone a message, throw behind him (once), or hit him in the chest/thigh/butt. Not up high near the head. That’s just dangerous, and irresponsible.

The difference between Zito and Lee? Zito hit a guy in the back. You bet your ass if Zito had aimed for Fielder’s head that he’d be suspended too.

By: 6-4-3

6-4-3 — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:49:53 +0000

I think MLB is pretty much saying they have a zero tolerance policy for throwing at guys’ heads and I agree with them.

By: egreenlaw9

egreenlaw9 — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:42:53 +0000

He didnâ€™t hit him. Iâ€™ve got to believe if he really wanted to he could and would have. So what he threw one over his head? Itâ€™s part of being a pitcher â€“ you donâ€™t want anyone comfortable in the batterâ€™s box.

Pretty sure if he would have hit him in the head (and MLB deemed it as intentional) then Lee would have been suspended for a lot more than five games.

By: ideat

ideat — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:40:31 +0000

He didn’t hit him. I’ve got to believe if he really wanted to he could and would have. So what he threw one over his head? It’s part of being a pitcher – you don’t want anyone comfortable in the batter’s box.

By: Kazinski

Kazinski — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:40:39 +0000

Lee hit one of our own players in an intersquad game a few weeks ago. So it isn’t like his control is that flawless. If they can push the suspension back past the opener, then maybe they can fix it so he doesn’t miss a start, but just gets pushed back a day or two.

By: Off_pace

Off_pace — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:15:23 +0000

5 games for something like this is a huge over reaction. There is so much leeway for interpretation for what happened, I could see 1-2 games, but not 5.

By: scott19

scott19 — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 08:48:01 +0000

When Clemens the Neanderthal chose to throw a bat shard at Mike Piazza during the 2000 World Series, he didn’t so much as get thrown out of the freaking game for doing so, much less fined or suspended.

But, of course, if you’re pitching for the Yanks and there’s a championship at stake, I guess such disciplinary action automatically gets waived.

By: Liam

Liam — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 07:36:25 +0000

a) itâ€™s spring training, guys are wild
Over at AZ Snakepit the point was made that it’s not as if getting hit in the head is any less dangerous in Spring training than it is in the regular season. Also, this is Cliff Lee we’re talking about. Dave Allen has a couple paragraphs in the Mariners Annual about how good his command is. Now a couple balls are getting away from him on the same guy that he had a run in with earlier in the game? I don’t buy it.

c) Chris Snyder does MMA as a hobby, so odds a pretty good that pitchers donâ€™t throw at him on purpose.
Does Snyder have a history of charging the mound? Are MMA players more likely to be confrontational? How many pitchers even know about his MMA hobby? It might not even matter to some, as they’ll pitch however they want to. (See Cliff Lee)

I think he knew what he was doing and should be willing to accept the consequences of his actions. That being said, I don’t know that it warrants a suspension.