Major League Baseball has announced a variety of suspensions and fines relating to last night’s dust-up between the Yankees and Red Sox. As Joel Sherman of the New York Post first reported on Twitter, New York first baseman Tyler Austin was slapped with a five-game ban while Boston reliever Joe Kelly will sit out six contests.
Both of those players have appealed their suspensions, meaning they won’t go into immediate effect and could still be shortened. Austin was penalized for charging Kelly on the hill and for his role in the melee. Kelly’s ban stemmed from a finding that he intentionally plunked Austin and also participated in the brawl.
Those two are also among those charged with undisclosed fines. Red Sox skipper Alex Cora and Yankees third base coach Phil Nevin were among them. A host of players on the disabled list — CC Sabathia, Dustin Pedroia, Xander Bogaerts, and Marco Hernandez — were also hit with fines for joining the fracas.
If these suspensions are upheld, they’ll hurt the respective teams somewhat but likely won’t have a major impact on the course of the current season. Still, the ongoing tension certainly makes tonight’s series-ending affair between these rivals appointment viewing and sets the stage for an interesting season-long battle between the two division favorites.
Kelly’s should stay at 6 Austin down to 3.
Give them both whatever I don’t care. That fight was awesome.
They’re both good imo
Going spikes high at 2nd/oversliding the bag and Punching a 3rd base coach- Austin deserves at least the 6 he got.
5*
Hey Dan-did you feel the same way when machado went so far out of the baseline to take Dustin out?
Manny imo overslid the base, but his cleats never went high Mike and he stayed in the baseline.
I agree full heartedly on Austin deserving 5 at least.
Although take out slides are against current rules I didn’t think that was that bad. Besides that’s baseball imo. Today’s generation and the greed in the league ruin all the fun. That being said, the catcher contact rule I agree with more so.
And what’s the difference who punches whom in a brawl? If they don’t want to get smacked then they shouldn’t join the fight.
You heard it here first baseball fans.
The Honorable Edreed20 has ruled.
Austin deserves 10 cuz he intentionally spike Holy
Holt darn spell check
As a Sox fan, it was intentional. He started his slide late and didn’t go to the outside of the bag
Why in the word would he slide to the outside of the bag? There were runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs, and the ball was bunted way too hard right at the third baseman, potentially setting up a double play. That’s called breaking up a double play opportunity. He didn’t slide out of the base path, and he didn’t slide obnoxiously late (Chase Utley style). It’s the second baseman’s job to get out of the way on that play.
The only reason he’d ever slide to the outside was if he was trying to beat a tag, which obviously wasn’t an issue in this case.
That’s nonsense. Stop with the excuses. There’s been a dozen players today talking about it being a dirty slide. Own it and stop being a weasel.
Amen
Unless a Molina or Kendrys Morales was running up 1st base there was no way the Red Sox were turning a DP on a sacrifice bunt where 3B was playing mid way. With the new rules in place there was no reason for Austin to clip Holt with this cleat.
It was a late slide and the cleats were obviously high. If it was a Red Sox player doing the same (sliding late and high) to a Yankee player I’m sure you would be calling for the Red Sox player to be suspended for 10+ games. Yes its the second baseman’s job to get out of the way, but Austin was already making contact with his cleat as Holt received the ball.
Teach the back-up player Holt how to come off the bag
Holt was at shortstop
Hey bass…stop with your superiority attitude. It was a baseball bang bang play. Maybe if Holt learned how to pivot he would have been out of harms way, however he would have had to take off his high heels and jump.
Duh.
Typical garbage from you
Oh contrare, it’s Holt who should be suspended 5 for starting this whole thing for antagonizing and escalating an innocent situation. Call it the Bozo Penalty.
5 games for you then.
Agreed
In fact, I’ll go one better, Holt and Kelly should be banned from baseball. Two useless players who give a black eye to the game.
Way to bring nothing to the table except a moronic statement. Way to go way to class up the Yankee fans clown.
And also Pedroia. He’s the official Apple watch spokesperson. Lmao
How delusional are you?
Ok yankees fan
KELLY should get more for kicking a$$ and Austin should get less because he looked pathetic and weak.
He slid cleats up. He’ll be lucky if every other pitcher in the game doesn’t use him for target practice if he does it again.
Agreed. That’s 27 full innings that Tyler Austin will miss which is still more than John Kelly’s 3 innings. (Assuming he pitches 1 inning every other day.)
who is John Kelly
Kelly can’t pitch a whole inning per game as his manager has learned that he’s not capable.
Does Austin think he is Ty Cobb? Sliding into second base with spikes up could start a brawl anytime!
Austin should have gotten longer for his intent to injury on his slide into second. The video shows he kicked his leg to the left and put his spikes squarely on Holt’s leg. It wasn’t a natural slide.
You realize they reviewed the slide when it happened right? And they said it wasn’t illegal.
And they were wrong.
He slid right at the bag. The review was correct.
What review? There wasn’t a play on 1st base nor were they going to get a DP on that play. Had there been a play at 1st and Holt threw the ball, they would have been awarded the DP because of Austin. Jose Bautista massaged Forsythe’s leg and got popped. Austin’s antics would have resulted in another out.
Oh Maui-get with the program. There are now reviews and however it goes the decision is FINAL. So either accept the rules or go skip rope with the cute ones in the playground.
They didn’t review the slide. Holt didn’t make a play to 1st so the play wasn’t reviewed.
Wrong and wrong. The review was over whether or not there was a double play attempt/possibility.
Yep, the crew asked for a determination on whether there was a possibility of a double play. No way they ask for that limited decision unless they’d already determined that the slide was bad enough to look at the second part of the rule.
You seem to be the only person that actually paid attention.
You can’t review a genius. **eye roll**
You can’t prove intent on the slide. It wasn’t even the thing that gets him suspended though. It was charging the mound and the punch he threw at the coach for no reason
Just like you can’t prove intent on getting hit by the pitch Kelly says it got away from him.
I’m not that naive and apparently Major League Baseball isn’t either
I mean, you can say it’s obvious all you want and it may appear to be. But like you said, you can’t prove intent unless he flat out comes out and admits it like Hamels admitted to beaning Harper a few years ago.
The instant Austin was plunked Sox teevee broadcaster Jerry Remy noted that it was obviously a response to his high slide at second base a few innings earlier. Need any more?
The only time I can recall a pitcher admitting that he hit a batter intentionally was Cole Hamels after hitting Bryce Harper. And, iirc he was sanctioned for it. Other than Hamels MLB pitchers know that admitting the truth can get you a suspension.
That’s an interesting interpretation of the video. I didn’t see it that way at all. I saw a natural, aggressive slide directly into the bag. His left leg was bent and his foot was out there some, but I didn’t see any sort of kicking motion. I think some middle infielders have just became so accustomed to never being touched out there that the slightest contact gets them all riled up. Tyler Austin is a guy who is trying to seize the opportunity he’s being given right now. He’s overcome cancer in the past which speaks to his character and fighting spirit. You can make assumptions about his “intent to injure”, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Evidenced by the look of shock on his face when Holt mouthed off to him.
Against the new rule to overslide the bag and/or have your feet over and into the fielder. Straight in and stop on the bag, that’s it. Precedent is now set that the rule doesn’t apply.
Actually, it’s not against the rules to have your feet over at all. The rules only states that you have to be able to reach and maintain contact with the bag on your slide.
Actually that’s wrong. You can over slide the bag as long as you can still remain in contact with the bag.
It is to completely overslide the bag which is what he did cmon are you really defending the slide it was a bad slide intent or not end of story.
YouTube is a handy tool there Bruin,why not go back and watch it again. Maybe after that take your Meds.
I have watched Cheerios and it is clearly bad slide I h e watched it a dozen times doesn’t change the fact that it’s a bad slide. Austin should look at the slide JBJ did on a vulnerable Didi he can learn something.
Joe Torre always gives the NYY the easiest punishment, n the Redsox the worse.
Wrong
Come play poker with me if you think that was a shocked look
I don’t have a dog in this fight, but from my view of the video, Holt was absolutely going for a spike-first takeout. Kelly plunked him with a 98 mph heater back, so I think everything balances out in the eyes of old school baseball as it should. Play ball!
You mean Austin not Holt
Yes — thanks for the pickup
Only thing missing? Kelly isn’t in late season form and sitting at 100mph yet and regularly hitting 102mph.. Might have stung a whole lot worse..
Austin’s slide was clean. Kelly shouldn’t have thrown at him. Kelly should get 6 and Austin should get 3, because at the end of the day he charged the mound even if it was after Boston retaliated.
Austin’s slide was not clean pretty much the text book of a bad slide let’s see he slid past the base with spikes up its textbook it’s against the rules now so no it wasn’t a clean slide not even close. He should get more then five games he got off easy.
I have no problem with the slide. Even if it was a bad slide, a spike in the leg is nothing close to a 99mph fastball to the head area.
Kelly is a clown and deserves a whooping.
It wasn’t a beanball. He plunked him in the back. Betances’ 98 to head of James McCann last year was a bean ball, retaliating from Sanchez getting plunked.
I don’t know what textbook you’re reading but it’s not the one the mlb uses to enforce their rules. They reviewed it and said it was clean
He’s reading the Red Sox homer textbook titled…It’s Everyone Else’s Fault All The Time…
GOOD ONE LOL
Slide was clean. He slid square to the bag. Spikes caught on his pants. His leg did not come up until after his spike caught. Rewatch the video.
Slide wasn’t clean he overslid the bag cmon with spikes period end of story it was a bad slide. JBJ coming up short of a prime DD was a clean slide he didn’t try to blow him up when he had the chance.
“Prone”
If Austin’s slide was clean, Holt wouldn’t have had an issue with it. It was slightly late and the cleats were definitely aimed at Holt’s leg. I get that the slide was intended to break up a double play, but that doesn’t instantly make the slide clean. If Austin was just going for the “breakup the double play” his foot could’ve easily been positioned downwards as opposed to it being up and aimed at Holt’s leg. If the roles were reversed the Yankees fans here would be calling for the indefinite suspension of the Red Sox player (and vice versa the Red Sox fans would be calling it a clean slide).
No way how did Pedroia and bogarts and Alex Cora get fined that not good at all
X and Peddy get fined because they broke the rules. They probably should get suspended too, there is a precedent for that
If you are on the DL, like CC, XB, and DP are and you leave the bench during a fight it’s a fine
I recall Mark Buehrle being suspended one year for something, could be wrong though
1 year?
No Austin shouldn’t
If anything, the other way around. Kelly’s should go down to two at most, while Austin’s should go up to 9 or 10. Austin made the dirty slide into 2nd, then charged the mound. Just the absurd ruling to expect from former Yankees manager Joe Torre. Not only is he wrong to be protecting his Yankee boy and team, MLB should be giving stiff penalties for mound charging, which this is not, so Torre ends up encouraging this disgusting behavior.
Why should Kelly’s go down? He threw a baseball at Austin. With clear intent. And then proceeded to start throwing punches. I don’t know how you possibly think that should be two games
He only threw punches because a guy was attacking him.
After he attacked threw at Austin lol. If Kelly didn’t want to get suspended, he should’ve done what any logical person would’ve done and not throw a projectile at someone on purpose
And let Austin do that to someone else? The time to teach a lesson was then and there. Logic was to square Austin in the back to say, “don’t pull that crap again.”
That Yankee punk Austin (1) made a dirty slide, (2) slammed the bat, (3) CHARGED THE MOUND, and (4) punched a Red Sox coach in the face, and he gets only 5 games, but Kelly hits him in the side, not in the head or legs, with a pitch and he gets 6 games? FIRE JOE TORRE!
Lighten-up-there-Francis
Hey JD can’t prove intent
Pretty sure it was Austin who charged the mound. He only gets 5 games total bullshit.
ahahahahahaa, hate the Yankees much?
Austin made the dirty slide into 2nd
—————
Huh? The umps reviewed the slide, and deemed it perfectly legal. Why would they suspend a player for a legal slide?
Stupid comment of the day.
Brock Holt keeping his head down to hide his smirk.
Torre should be fired.
How does the guy who intentionally started the whole thing with a beaning get only 6 games? These suspensions are always beyond stupid.
No the guy who made the bad slide started it period
The umps didn’t think it was a bad slide.
Not at all.. the guy who threw the pitch started it. The bad slide didn’t warrant something like that.
Throwing at someone is so much worse.
Um ask the Mets about that. They might disagree.
Bingo! Kelly was just being a good teammate
and having his guys back! That’s how you build good chemistry on a ball club.
Wasn’t so much a brawl as a bunch of rich kids slap fighting each other.
Those are hefty but fair enough imo.
I’m just trying to figure out how everyone is overlooking the fact Austin punched a Boston coach in the head….. forget the slide and think about that
Give me another scuffle tonight
I wouldn’t be upset
After that Austin slide JBJ came into second with Didi sitting on the bag he could of completely blown him up and ended Didi’s season but he pulled up short. They almost got a double play but JBJ did the right thing unlike Austin he should look at that classy play by JBJ and learn something. If JBJ comes in spikes high on Didi all we would here about is how bad his slide was and all seriousness he could of done it and been totally legal. JBJ touch of class.
huh I didn’t even know this happened, Only brawl I heard about yesterday was the Pads/Rox one. Guess it was a good day for brawls.
would be nice if the author of this post would provide some insight on what the umps reviewed in the Austin slide….
I see a lot of people saying the umps reviewed it and said it was legal. That’s actually not true at all. They reviewed it to see if there was interference but the rule states that the fielder needs to demonstrate intent to make the out, in this case a throw to first, in order for their to be interference. Holt showed no intent to throw to first so there was no interference. They did not review to see if it was a dirty slide as this is not within the guidelines of instant replay.
Just because the umps said it was legal , doesn’t mean it wasn’t dirty baseball !
OH NO NOT HANLEY,SUCH A CLUBHOUSE LEADER!!!
I knew the comments section would be fun after this. Here’s a radical thought: They both deserved suspensions, Kelly’s 6 is not equivalent to Austin’s 5 because Kelly would only be available for 2, at most 3, but whatever. Let them both serve a little time. Baseball doesn’t need this stuff.
And for all those fans who say there’s nothing wrong with plunking someone–Andrus just had his elbow broken on an unintentional plunking.
Baseball needs to police itself. That’s why you have the so called un-written rules. Not the Twins version that you’re not allowed to bunt against the shift nonsense. But if a player does something showy on the field like calling out a pitcher after hitting a home run or makes an aggressive slide that could cause injury or other similar things, then someone’s getting a high pitch that hits the arm or shoulder. It’s a pressure valve, makes sure everyone knows the rule.
Austin raised his spikes, a move that’s caused injuries. Kelly responded. Sure, they should both get suspensions, but Kelly hopefully kept Austin from pulling off this move again.
Very well said
By the way, to my down voters… consider my middle finger raised with a toothy grin on my face.
I own my opinion, unlike trolls who are too weak to comment.
You’re a real class act!
Tyler Austin? Never heard of her.
They fought like they were on quaaludes. Couldn’t even stagger at each other without falling down.
“They fought like they were on qualudes”what person under 40-something understands that reference?
Lemmon 714 ! The good old days ! They don’t even make them anymore . Sigh .
Loved the way Judge and Stanton corralled the players back to the Sox dugout.
Easy to do with a bunch of dirty rotten toddlers. Put em back in day care.
Amen !!!! Yankees are dirty players
Facts: The slide was reviewed. The umps at the headquarters in NY determined it was NOT an illegal slide, if it were they would’ve been award a DP for “take out slide”, but a take out slide it was not. Facts > Feelings.
My Take: Joe Kelly one on one versus anyone on the Yanks, sans Toe, would thoroughly destroy the pathetic 170lb Kelly. Imagine if the benches didn’t clear, we’d be scraping what was left of Kelly off the rubber. The Sox may be a better baseball team overall in mid/early April but the Yankees have a squad full of NFL ready players.
you’re wrong. see post above.
Hey Agent slide legality wasn’t reviewed what was reviewed was determined that Holt was not going to first and therefore a double play would be rewarded which makes the idiot slide by Austin even more of a poor choice.
“Not”
Bruin1012 proves both intellect and social decorum will forever elude Bostonians.
As it reads he was charged for charging mound and fight nothing for the ruled legal slide. They are suspending Austin for what he did wrong, provoked by Kelly hitting him not for his legal slide. It was better game when players policed game and not rules. Softening all sports for the snowflake era. Kelly was trying to police over something under bad judgement was dirty, not by rule. Therefore he deserves to be suspended double the days of Austin as the instigator and the fact that he is bullpen pitcher not an everyday position player. I wish it was back to days of no suspensions, and look forward to another tough series next time around. Plate collisions were an exciting part to the game. If someone gets hurt sliding in , it’s part of the game and they knew heading home there’s a chance of getting hurt so beware of your actions. Hopefully it’s rivalry back on full steam ahead( as much as it can be with the ever softening athletes of today).
They both should get community service at an old folks home or VA hospital TOGETHER at the same time. Give them a reality check.
I’m admittedly a Sox fan, and the way I see it is this:
It was a hard slide that Holt and the Sox took exception to. Was it dirty? Meh. It wasn’t Machado worthy, but it wasn’t textbook either.
Kelly plunked him in the back, which is a textbook for a response. He didn’t head hunt, and he didn’t hit him in the arms or legs to injure. Austin had a chance to take it at that point, he had to know it was coming, and he charged the mound, and got his ass kicked by a guy 4 inches shorter and probably 30lbs less. Ouch.
I think it’s telling that Judge and Stanton acted like a human shield for Kelly over their teammates.
As for the suspensions, they both deserve 5 games. Kelly for hitting him, and Austin for charging the mound, and for his cheap shot on Febles after Kelly kicked his ass. Nevin probably also deserves a 1-2 game one, guy is a hot head, and always has been, but I guess I give him credit for sticking up for his guys.. I see Nevin getting head spiked by a player a-la Zimmer when he gets older.