Reds news: Trevor Bauer’s agent comes to Nick Castellanos’ defense

According to C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic, Major League Baseball upheld its two-game suspension of Cincinnati Reds outfielder Nick Castellanos on Monday afternoon. Castellanos was handed a two-game suspension, which he appealed, for celebrating a run scored during April 3rd’s game versus the St. Louis Cardinals.

Many fans throughout baseball, not just in Cincinnati, find the grounds for MLB’s suspension of Castellanos to be absolutely absurd. How can you advocate to, “Let the kids play,” while at the same time suspend Castellanos for an outpouring of emotion?

Rachel Luba, agent to a former Reds pitcher, came to Nick Castellanos’ defense.

Rachel Luba, who’s pretty well known throughout Reds Country, took to Twitter on Monday night to make her voice heard. The agent to former Cincinnati pitcher Trevor Bauer called upholding Castellanos’ suspension “the biggest joke of all time.” She’s not too far off.

This is a major overreach on behalf of Major League Baseball and Mike Hill, MLB’s senior vice president of on-field operations. The ejection Castellanos received was more than enough punishment for simply reacting to scoring a run.

And if we’re really going to hold players accountable, then how in the world was there no suspension for Cardinals’ catcher Yadier Molina. Molina was the one who reacted with physical contact, grabbing Castellanos by the shoulder as the Reds slugger strutted off the field.

No matter how you slice it, MLB laid an egg with this discipline. Safe to say that the Cincinnati faithful and the player’s union will be keeping a close eye on any future disciplines that involve player celebrations. While MLB will point to their protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic as grounds for this suspension, that argument is weak at best.

Cincinnati will be without their slugger for the first two games of a three-game series at home against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The D-backs took two of three from the Redlegs in the desert, and Cincinnati will have to attempt to exact revenge without the services of Castellanos and his .951 OPS.