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Credit where it’s due: I thought MLB commissioner Rob Manfred would bungle this one.
What was I to believe? Have you seen how he’s handled everything else as commissioner?
But just as blind squirrels can find a nut and a broken clock is right twice a day, Manfred spun the wheel of justice and came up with a just punishment for both A’s outfielder Ramón Laureano and Astros hitting coach Alex Cintrón after their benches-clearing altercation Sunday at the Coliseum.
Laureano, who lost his cool after being goaded by Cintrón in the Astros dugout, was handed a six-game suspension. Such a ban was always looming — Laureano messed up and copped to his mistake almost immediately, but there’s no amount of apology that could get him off the hook for breaking physical distancing guidelines because he wanted all the smoke. The only question was how long the suspension would be and a six-game ban seems… adequate? It’s certainly hard to argue it’s not a proper punishment.
The A’s will certainly miss arguably their best player so far this season. The only consolation is that they have a big lead on the Astros in the American League West standings thanks to their weekend sweep of Houston at the Coliseum.
The real punishment — the important decision — was levied onto Cintrón, though. He’ll be suspended 20 games on top of having to live the rest of his life being best known for being a coward and a punk.
Are 20 games enough? I don’t know. I’ve never seen a coach act so unbecoming, so there’s no precedent for this sort of thing, though it’s believed to be one of the longest suspensions in baseball history for a bench coach.
But that precedent has been set now, though. Let’s hope no one needs to cite it anytime soon.
I do know that there’s justice in Cintrón having to miss nearly four times the games Laureano will.
Remember, he wanted a fight, and Laureano, stupidly, tried to oblige him. One guy had just been hit by a pitch for the second time in a game and the third time in the series. He was running hot. It’s not an excuse, but it’s the truth. The other guy was sitting around, watching his best sluggers not hit, all while not correctly wearing his mask. Then, after his jawing and posturing — did you see him hike up his pants? — he ducked behind a wall of Astros, never even entering the fracas he was partially responsible for starting.
Coaches, even bad ones like Cintrón, are supposed to set a positive example. I’m glad Manfred made an example out of him.
Of course, I wish he had made an example of Cintrón earlier. He was, after all, part of the Astros when they were electronically stealing signs. And according to Astros emails published in the Wall Street Journal, Cintrón was one of the key figures in “driving the culture” of cheating. Yet he was never named in the MLB report.
Did he rat on his superiors in exchange for keeping his job?
Given what he showed us Sunday, it wouldn’t surprise me.
The heat of this moment will eventually dissipate. Laureano and Cintrón will serve their suspensions and return in due time. And in a few weeks, the only thing that will be lasting from Sunday’s events will the reputations of Laureano and Cintrón.
Laureano will be known for being a hothead. That’s not a new rap. But he’ll also be a folk hero for not backing down from a fight. Yes, his decision to charge the Astros dugout was stupid, but at some point, you have to respect the gall.
Cintrón? Well, no one will remember him for his career as a Major League player. No, he’ll be best remembered for his role with the Astros and Sunday’s events, which means he’ll be remembered as a cheater who also proved to be a punk and a coward when the camera was on him.
Manfred didn’t mess up the suspensions, but Cintrón having to live with that well-earned reputation that seems to be a far worse punishment than anything the commissioner could have handed down.
