AJ Burnett Suspension: the Wrong Guy

AJ Burnett has always done the right thing. He’s always stood for up his teammates, but never put them in danger. Vicente Padilla on the other hand, is a well known jerk. In fact his own teammates hate him so much that they convinced management to request outright waivers. Translation: get this prick out of our locker room. Padilla is such a cancer in baseball, that respected analyst like Buck Showalter and Rick Sutcliffe don’t even bother hiding their disdain for the guy. So what does MLB’s front office do? They suspend Burnett for doing what every other self respecting pitcher would have done, he showed his teammates he had their back by thowing a purpose pitch. He didn’t even hit anyone. Padilla started it all by beaning, not just hitting, beaning his former teammate and currently the hottest hitter in baseball Mark Texiera not once but twice Tuesday night. Padilla has been fined, but the point is missed: If you’re going to suspend guys like Burnett, who by the way has never before been suspended, then why not preemptively suspend and fine guys like Josh Beckett, who routinely begins beanball wars without hitting anyone. In baseball the Book is just a guideline, and going by the book here is the wrong move.