Photo credit - Washington Post
Over the past two completed baseball seasons, I have discussed a topic that honestly does not get enough attention. While a lot of the theatrics (bat flips, demonstrative reactions after a recorded strike outs, slow trots around the bases) will always reluctantly have a place in the game, it is amazing how the conduct of individual players, managers, coaches and umpires gets tolerated by the mainstream baseball media. The most obvious example was former MLB OF Nyjer Morgan, a player who continually refused to act professional on the diamond while acting more like a misbehaving 13 year old. Nyger has been an inspiration for an award I call the NMA (Nyjer Morgan Award), named after each of the past three seasons for the player, manager, coach or umpire who seems to go out of his way to start a problem with another player or team. The winner after the 2013 season was Luis Cruz - courtesy of his inciting the hard core brawl between teams Mexico and Canada during the World Baseball Classic. Last year, the award belonged to Carlos Gomez, who at that point was playing for the Milwaukee Brewers. If you have not read either of my first two pieces, here are the links.
Looking back in the history of baseball, it is easy to call out players such as Manny Ramirez, Pascual Perez, Roger Clemens and others who completely incited an unnecessary altercation with another team. It is understandable that things like this will happen when the seriousness of competition hits the fan. But, there is a difference between competitive emotions getting the best of you and a bush league unprovoked attack on another player (either verbal or physical). The latter is what I document in my piece. Please feel free to use the comment section to add insight and opinion. The following is my top five boneheads of the 2015 MLB season.
5. Troy Tulowitzki, Toronto Blue Jays. Troy had the benefit of going from a team waiting for another season to finally be finished to a team with a chance to win the World Series. Surely, the acquisition of the former Colorado Rockies star SS helped the Blue Jays advance as far as they did. However, the talent of the Blue Jays roster was probably good enough to win the AL East without Tulo. Game five of the ALDS between the Texas Rangers and Jays was entertaining and obviously had a lot of emotion. However, Tulowitzki went overboard when he incited a fight with Rangers RHP Sam Dyson after a polite conversation by home plate after an inning was over. Dyson himself had overreacted when he thought Jays DH Edwin Encarnacion was showing him up earlier in the inning. By the end of the inning, the issue was over. No reason for Troy to start things up again. Especially with a pitcher that simply gave him a tap in the rear as a way to say, "Let's move on."
4. Hansel Robles, New York Mets. Ever since Latroy Hawkins pitched for the Mets in 2013, Mets pitchers have been executing the "quick pitch" as a way to keep a hitter off balance. Jeurys Familia and Jennry Mejia are the most known to use the pitch. Somewhere along the line, the idea of the quick pitch was given to Hansel Robles. However, an important part of the delivery of the pitch was left out. See, while the pitch is intended to keep the hitter off balance while not completely ready to hit, there has to be a measure of safety taken. When a hitter has a ball coming at them when they are nowhere near set or even looking in the direction of the pitcher, the batter's safety is put at risk. Robles, on two separate occasions against the Philadelphia Phillies, threw a ball at to a batter who was in no way prepared to hit. The second time, Phillies catcher Cameron Rupp was almost hit in the head. For Robles to not be paying attention to the batter being in the box and ready to hit once can be considered an oversight. For it to happen again, is completely unacceptable. I am neither for or against the quick pitch, but when it leaves a hitter defenseless against a pitch of 95 or more MPH, there is no reason for it in the game.
3. Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays. I applaud Jose Bautista for what he has done since 2010 at age 29. His story is an inspiration to players who do not star right away as well as those who could be late bloomers. However, Jose seems to carry a burden around with him whenever he plays the game. One that seems to be a little more than what we would consider a competitive fire. He is very short on umpires, cannot be pitched to inside without thinking he is being thrown at and seems to always be in the middle of an altercation with another team. My question has always been, "why is he always so mad?" His actions in the game against the Orioles this season set him apart and he continued it into games against Kansas City during the season and into the postseason against the Rangers and Royals. I am not against the bat flips and the antics with things like that, but I am against a player who always seems like he is ready to start a fight with somebody on the field.
2. Sean Rodriguez, Pittsburgh Pirates. SImilar to Carlos Gomez of 2014, Rodriguez gets a little credit for something that happened in the previous year. Rodriguez was right in the middle of a Tampa Bay Rays/ Boston Red Sox incident in 2014 and seemed to not get over his problems in 2015 with the Pirates. In spring training, he challenged Phillies RHP Kevin Slowey to a fight after he was struck out. Prior to the final pitch for the strikeout, he was quick pitched. Looking at the video, it seemed pretty harmless. Rodriguez looked like a hothead yelling at anybody that was near. During the Pirates' Wild Card Game against the Cubs, Rodriguez decided he wanted to gain some attention to himself and charged the field like a madman looking for a fight. Cubs RHP Jake Arrieta was just hit by Pirates LHP Tony Watson as a means of retaliation for an incident earlier in the game. If not for Rodriguez, this incident would not have been as big a deal as it was. He tops it off by lying about things afterwards, saying "it was because David Ross put his hand around my neck." While that may or not be true, somebody needed to stop this uncontrollable freak from running on the field like a possessed lunatic.
1. Yordano Ventura, Kansas City Royals. This one seemed pretty easy, similar to Luis Cruz' actions in the 2013 WBC. When Ventura challenged first Mike Trout, then Adam Eaton, leading to two bench clearing incidents that both could have been avoided, I told myself, "what could beat this?" Plus, it both had happened by the end of April! Unlike 2013, there was a Sean Rodriguez that made it closer than I ever could have imagined. Almost to a point where I considered a co-champion for 2015. But when I looked at each incident, I realized how out of line Ventura was. In the case with the Angels, Ventura had no reason to complain about a single to center field. Ventura stared him down to first base. And watching the White Sox thing, all Adam Eaton did was hit a ball back to him. Ventura's actions are why this award (fictitious award) was created. Hopefully the veterans in the KC clubhouse have helped Ventura grow up a little bit since April and winning a World Series Championship would humble a player who acted no better than an inmate who was just released from prison after having his mouth taped shut for six months.
5. Troy Tulowitzki, Toronto Blue Jays. Troy had the benefit of going from a team waiting for another season to finally be finished to a team with a chance to win the World Series. Surely, the acquisition of the former Colorado Rockies star SS helped the Blue Jays advance as far as they did. However, the talent of the Blue Jays roster was probably good enough to win the AL East without Tulo. Game five of the ALDS between the Texas Rangers and Jays was entertaining and obviously had a lot of emotion. However, Tulowitzki went overboard when he incited a fight with Rangers RHP Sam Dyson after a polite conversation by home plate after an inning was over. Dyson himself had overreacted when he thought Jays DH Edwin Encarnacion was showing him up earlier in the inning. By the end of the inning, the issue was over. No reason for Troy to start things up again. Especially with a pitcher that simply gave him a tap in the rear as a way to say, "Let's move on."
4. Hansel Robles, New York Mets. Ever since Latroy Hawkins pitched for the Mets in 2013, Mets pitchers have been executing the "quick pitch" as a way to keep a hitter off balance. Jeurys Familia and Jennry Mejia are the most known to use the pitch. Somewhere along the line, the idea of the quick pitch was given to Hansel Robles. However, an important part of the delivery of the pitch was left out. See, while the pitch is intended to keep the hitter off balance while not completely ready to hit, there has to be a measure of safety taken. When a hitter has a ball coming at them when they are nowhere near set or even looking in the direction of the pitcher, the batter's safety is put at risk. Robles, on two separate occasions against the Philadelphia Phillies, threw a ball at to a batter who was in no way prepared to hit. The second time, Phillies catcher Cameron Rupp was almost hit in the head. For Robles to not be paying attention to the batter being in the box and ready to hit once can be considered an oversight. For it to happen again, is completely unacceptable. I am neither for or against the quick pitch, but when it leaves a hitter defenseless against a pitch of 95 or more MPH, there is no reason for it in the game.
3. Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays. I applaud Jose Bautista for what he has done since 2010 at age 29. His story is an inspiration to players who do not star right away as well as those who could be late bloomers. However, Jose seems to carry a burden around with him whenever he plays the game. One that seems to be a little more than what we would consider a competitive fire. He is very short on umpires, cannot be pitched to inside without thinking he is being thrown at and seems to always be in the middle of an altercation with another team. My question has always been, "why is he always so mad?" His actions in the game against the Orioles this season set him apart and he continued it into games against Kansas City during the season and into the postseason against the Rangers and Royals. I am not against the bat flips and the antics with things like that, but I am against a player who always seems like he is ready to start a fight with somebody on the field.
2. Sean Rodriguez, Pittsburgh Pirates. SImilar to Carlos Gomez of 2014, Rodriguez gets a little credit for something that happened in the previous year. Rodriguez was right in the middle of a Tampa Bay Rays/ Boston Red Sox incident in 2014 and seemed to not get over his problems in 2015 with the Pirates. In spring training, he challenged Phillies RHP Kevin Slowey to a fight after he was struck out. Prior to the final pitch for the strikeout, he was quick pitched. Looking at the video, it seemed pretty harmless. Rodriguez looked like a hothead yelling at anybody that was near. During the Pirates' Wild Card Game against the Cubs, Rodriguez decided he wanted to gain some attention to himself and charged the field like a madman looking for a fight. Cubs RHP Jake Arrieta was just hit by Pirates LHP Tony Watson as a means of retaliation for an incident earlier in the game. If not for Rodriguez, this incident would not have been as big a deal as it was. He tops it off by lying about things afterwards, saying "it was because David Ross put his hand around my neck." While that may or not be true, somebody needed to stop this uncontrollable freak from running on the field like a possessed lunatic.
1. Yordano Ventura, Kansas City Royals. This one seemed pretty easy, similar to Luis Cruz' actions in the 2013 WBC. When Ventura challenged first Mike Trout, then Adam Eaton, leading to two bench clearing incidents that both could have been avoided, I told myself, "what could beat this?" Plus, it both had happened by the end of April! Unlike 2013, there was a Sean Rodriguez that made it closer than I ever could have imagined. Almost to a point where I considered a co-champion for 2015. But when I looked at each incident, I realized how out of line Ventura was. In the case with the Angels, Ventura had no reason to complain about a single to center field. Ventura stared him down to first base. And watching the White Sox thing, all Adam Eaton did was hit a ball back to him. Ventura's actions are why this award (fictitious award) was created. Hopefully the veterans in the KC clubhouse have helped Ventura grow up a little bit since April and winning a World Series Championship would humble a player who acted no better than an inmate who was just released from prison after having his mouth taped shut for six months.
Photo credit- dailyplayer.com
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