Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
April 19, 2008
Intentional Pitch

MLB thought the pitch Kyle Farnsworth threw behind Manny Ramirez was an intentional head-hunt:

Farnsworth was suspended three games and fined $2,000 Saturday for throwing behind Ramirez's head in the seventh inning Thursday night in the Bronx. The story was first reported Saturday morning on the Daily News' Web site.

Bob Watson, MLB's vice president of on-field operations, felt Farnsworth "intentionally" threw at Ramirez, according to the release issued by the league.

"Intentionally, huh? The ball slipped," Farnsworth said. "As far as I know, I didn't hit him. If I'm going to hit someone, it's not going to be in the head, that's for sure. I don't want to endanger anybody's career. That's definitely not an area to throw at."

I think Farnsworth will be more careful about letting the ball slip next time.


Posted by David Pinto at 06:23 PM | Baseball Jerks | TrackBack (0)
Comments

If it was truly intentional, that penalty is a joke. 3 whole games, and a whopping $2k for an action that could damage someone's career?

MLB just needs to adopt this rule: if a pitcher hits a player, and it is deemed as intentional, and that player is hurt, the pitcher who threw the ball has to sit out as long as the hurt player.

Or maybe even, since the cowardly teams who throw at players intentionally get to pick the players they throw at, a rule that states: "the general manager of the team whose player is injured by deliberate misconduct can choose a pitcher or player on the opposing team to sit out until the injured player is deemed ready to return by an MLB-appointed physician".

Posted by: SleepyCA at April 19, 2008 07:15 PM

Guess I missed where Aardsma was suspended for having the "ball slip" and hitting Rodriguez right between the numbers the day before. Baseball punishes the retaliation, but never the initial act.

Posted by: JeremyM at April 19, 2008 07:35 PM

Doesn't this create a rather perverse incentive system for pitchers? I can't wait for Joba's "splendid first strike" on a Red Sox player illustrates the problem with this set up.

To be explicit, because there is no preceding act, "intention" is much harder to prove. It's entirely plausible for Aardsma to say the ball slipped, but rather unbelievable for Farnsworth to do so. He didn't hit Manny and no warnings were issued. I just don't see how this suspension serves any positive end other than keeping Farnsworth out of the Yankees bullpen.

Posted by: Statler at April 19, 2008 10:41 PM

Maybe the ball did slip or maybe he just doesn't know how to throw inside to guys. Also maybe I missed something but why was Aardsma throwing at AFraud? Everybody in the stadium and at ships at sea knew Farnsworth was throwing at Ramirez but if he just came in high and tight he wouldn't have got suspended.

Posted by: Bandit at April 21, 2008 08:55 AM
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