Cincinnati Reds: Yasiel Puig’s suspension is excessive

Major League Baseball has suspended Cincinnati Reds’ right fielder Yasiel Puig for two games. All things considered, that’s a bit excessive.

We all saw it coming from a mile away. As soon as Yasiel Puig reinserted himself into the fracas during the Cincinnati Reds‘ dustup with the Pittsburgh Pirates, we all knew he was going to receive a suspension. But two games is excessive.

David Bell will miss tonight’s game against the Miami Marlins as will Yasiel Puig. Puig will also miss Wednesday’s game. He will not appeal. Chris Archer received a five-game suspension, which we all know equates to one game because he’s a starting pitcher. Archer plans to appeal his suspension.

So why does Puig get punished more than anyone else involved in the melee from Sunday afternoon? Archer instigated the entire scuffle by purposefully throwing the ball at Derek Dietrich. Archer denied purposefully throwing at Dietrich after the game. Here’s his quote from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette:

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"“My fastball in is something I’ve been working on spring and really since the end of last season. I threw him a pitch middle in and it got away. I yanked it. I missed my spot.”"

I have a hard time believing that he had no ill intentions when he delivered a 93-MPH fastball behind Dietrich after the Reds’ slugger crushed Archer’s meatball into the river behind PNC Park in his previous at-bat. Also, if Archer was using pine tar, as Reds’ broadcaster Chris Welsh suggested, then it’d be real hard for that ball to miss it’s spot; don’t you think?

Baseball has made it very clear that they now endorse showboating, bat flips, and long stares at majestic home runs. If you disagree, may I remind you of the the “Let The Kids Play” initiative that started during the postseason last year. Major League Baseball has doubled down on that slogan early this season as well.

If you want to let the kids play, you can’t have opposing pitchers purposefully throwing at batters after doing something that you encourage. If pitchers do that, then the punishment should be severe. If MLB is serious and wants that vigilante justice out of the game, Chris Archer should receive a 15-game suspension, which would equate to 3 games.

Now, back to Puig. I admire that Puig is taking the high road and not appealing the suspension even though I feel it’s excessive. Taking his punishment and moving on to the next game isn’t a bad look for the Reds’ right fielder. In fact, it may motivate him and his teammates.

Puig has had a rough start to the season, but seemed to get his bat moving in the right direction after the opening series in Cincinnati. There’s a lot of pressure on Puig to produce after the Reds made the trade with the Dodgers in December. Puig is also in a contract year.

When the Cincinnati Reds take the field tonight, I’m sure Twitter will be popping with #WinOnePuig and #PuigOurFriend hashtags. Hopefully the Reds offense continues to ascend and is able to produce with one of their most potent bats out of action for the next two games.