In wake of the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Cubs bench-clearing exchange Saturday, Reds pitcher Amir Garrett has been handed a laughable seven-game suspension. The Amir Garrett suspension was the only suspension handed out for Saturday’s chaos, although Cubs’ shortstop Javier Baez was handed an undisclosed fine.
Garrett is most known for his brawl in 2019 against the Pittsburgh Pirates. In the said incident, things got heated in the seventh inning when Pirates reliever Keone Kela threw high at Derek Dietrich. In the ninth inning, Garrett would exchange words followed by Garrett charging the Pirates dugout alone. Garrett would receive an eight-game suspension for instigating the brawl between two heated rivals.
Recent Amir Garrett Suspension
On Saturday, in yet another heated NL Central rivalry game Garrett struck out Cubs’ first baseman Anthony Rizzo. Then proceed to take a couple of steps towards home plate and jaw at Rizzo. Tempers flaring is nothing new to Garrett and Baez. As Garrett jawed at Rizzo, Baez did not take kindly to Garrett’s “taunting” and proceeded to be the center of attention with an *NSFW* gesture. As the dust settled and no ejections were handed out the game resumed with the Cubs taking the game 3-2.
Thoughts on the Suspension
With disciplinary action taken on two players, a fine for Baez and a hefty suspension for Garrett seems a bit unfair from any standpoint. The Amir Garrett suspension is actually laughable to an extent, even if MLB is trying to discourage “brawls” during the Covid-19 pandemic. Repeat offender or not Rob Manfred and his office goons have struck out swinging with this one (like many other moves). Add in the fact Baez only received an undisclosed fine this move only seems to add fuel to the fire for the next meeting between Garrett and the Cubs.
Next Meeting
Pending appeal, which should be in Garrett’s best interest. The Reds and Cubs meet again on May 28th at Wrigley Field, just 15 games after the Amir Garrett suspension will fully be served. With Saturday’s event still fresh in the back of everyone’s minds fans will be anticipating the water to boil over with two highly competitive players in Javier Baez and Amir Garrett.
Buck Up Rob Manfred
Rob Manfred seems to become more and more power-hungry each year he is in the commissioner’s chair. The Amir Garrett suspension is just another layer of the Rob Manfred no-fun league cake. Fans all around the league find the Amir Garrett suspension and all Rob Manfred’s suspensions laughable, suspensions such as the Nicholas Castellanos and the Houston Astros. Keep up the good work Manfred lets not let MLB players show emotion, great work.
Chalk up the Amir Garrett suspension as another massive miss for Manfred’s office.
Follow me on Twitter at @cdemp45 for more of my content!
Don’t forget to join our OT Heroics MLB Facebook group, and feel free to join our new Instagram – @overtimeheroics_MLB, and listen to our baseball podcast, Cheap Seat Chatter! We’ll see ya there!
main image credit Embed from Getty Images
