TUESDAY: The Pirates suspended Kela after he got into an altercation with Hector Morales, their director of cultural readiness and peak performance coach, Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports tweets.
MONDAY: The Pirates announced today that they have reinstated righty Keone Kela from the 60-day injured list. He’ll move directly onto the suspended list, however, with the team also announcing a two-game suspension for an unstated violation of the Uniform Player’s Contract.
The UPC (see it here) allows clubs to “suspend the Player without salary for a period not exceeding thirty days” upon a “violation by the Player of any regulation or other provision of this contract.” Written notice must be given to the player and the MLB Players Association.
It’s rather unusual to see such team-issued discipline, even if it is contemplated by contract. In some cases, collectively bargained agreements vest sole disciplinary authority for certain matters in the commissioner’s office. The Joint Drug Agreement, for instance, specifically forbids “any adverse action pursuant to a Uniform Player’s Contract” owing to violations of the terms of that agreement.
There’s no indication as of yet as to what led to Kela’s suspension. Neither is it evident whether he will attempt to challenge it in any way.
Kela, 26, has missed much of the season with shoulder issues. He carried a 4.63 ERA with 11 strikeouts and four walks through 11 2/3 innings before hitting the shelf. Kela had been expected to function as a key late-inning arm for the Bucs. He turned in a strong run last year after being acquired at the trade deadline.
It’s not clear whether there’s any realistic chance that Kela could be dealt, but it’s at least hypothetically possible — especially if he’s able to show good health upon his return and the Pirates decide to move some assets. Kela is earning $3.175MM this year and comes with another season of arbitration eligibility.
What did he do?
No one seems to know. The Pirates said they won’t comment any further, Kela hasn’t said anything, and no one else seems to know the reason yet.
Ok thank you
Chris Sale ?
Hilarious
Fire Huntington
Kela has been known to do this crap. he was suspended by the rangers a few times for literally not trying on the mound.
For what?
For the Archer trade first of all.
What about the 9 other trades he nailed. Trading Nate Mclouth for Charlie Morton? Joel Hanrahan for Mark Melancon? Melancon for Felipe Vasquez? AJ Burnett for a bag of Peanuts!!??
The Archer trade was forced because fans had been protesting the Cole and McCutchen trades in the 2017 offseason the Pirates got several major league players back in those deals.
Plus Meadows is very streaky and Glasnow was pitching over his head. Now he might not return this season..
Signing Lonnie ChisenDL with the whole off-season budget.
..and Yes. The lineup would be about 8 wins better with Meadows.
Probably the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen is a team trade their #1 prospect during a Rebuild …
Should make you sick that couldve had Meadows & Bell in same lineup for next 5+ years.
And who cares if he made some solid trades .
Here’s the big ones:
Jason Bay
For Andy Laroche and Craig Hansen
Gerrit Cole
For Moran and Musgrove (neither one is good. One might be dece)
Chris Archer
For #1 , #2 & #5 prospects (Meadows, Glasnow, Baz)
3 of the worst trades in MLB history on his 3 biggest trade chips.
We’ve got the Pirates coming in at #5 in terms of players performing with respect to the size of their contracts… Good moneyball if you will.
citywidespotlight.com/mlb-gm-player-grades
They’re also #5 in the division..
aka the only thing that matters.
Freddy-Meadows average since the AS break is .282.He has three home runs.
He is Corey Dickerson with more power.
Glassnow May be seriously injured.
NH should never have been boondoggled over adding the Miler.
The problem is Archer just is not anywhere near an ace and that is becoming evident.He is more like a decent fourth
But don’t put Meadows into the HOF just yet.
Jason Bay took the money and ran.They also got more players than you say.Granted none of them turned out but that was one of his early trades.
Moran and Musgrove are two very decent Major League players.Even Feliz is pitching decently,and the fourth has played decently for the Pirates when called up.
Time will tell with Archer but he was overrated by NH.
Do you really think that getting Rivero was only a solid trade?
Do you really think that these three trades were some of the “worst trades in ML history”?
Err… what???
Texas sent out Kela in no small part because of his prior behavior issues.
Let’s not act like Pirates aren’t just trying to save 2 days pay
Whaaaaat
he’s no longer uniform? did he fall to pieces or melt away?
He came apart at the seams.
Attaboy Joe.
He opened the manager’s door, then farted, and quickly closed it.
I fart, in your general direction!
All of you would fail the same cultural readiness tests that Kela did.
After two burritos
Taco. Taco. Burrito. Burrito. Taco Flavored Kisses.
Dont think cause I have alotta money I wont give u taco flavored kisses honey
I wish he did do that, anything to make Hurdle’s postgame press conferences more interesting would be appreciated.
Please don’t think that Clint is going to turn into Mr Personality anytime soon.
He shows no enthusiasm.
I must admit it is not easy with this pitching staff.
He was much better the three years that the teams were good.
Well that’s OK, its not like they need him in the bullpen or anything…
** extreme sarcasm alert **
Kela has been nothing but problems since getting traded to the Pirates. It took him 3 days to report from Texas. A little birdy I have in the media said Kela did nothing but complain about being sent to Pittsburgh. in Spring Training, he said he will not be speaking to the media. He opens the season pitching like trash. Ends up on the IL, and has a setback everytime he gets ready for rehab. Huntington just needs to cut his losses and release this clown.
He gave the impression that he didn’t want to be a Pirate from day one. I’m so glad others have seen it. There were times on the mound (honesty, most of the time) when it looked like he wanted to blow it, like he just wants cut/out in any way. Really feel bad for saying it, but something just hasn’t jived from the get go. (& I’ve heard rumblings of Clubhouse issues and that he’s a hot head).
sabermetrix commented above saying Kela was suspended by the Rangers for not trying on purpose. Doesnt surprise me at all. Huntington should throw Kela under the bus and publically state what Kela did. That trade isnt getting enough heat. Not that Taylor Hearn is Glasnow or Meadows, but he would be very useful in the Bucs pen or rotation right now.
Kela had the reputation in Texas of being a bully and clubhouse cancer. It looks like that’s followed him to Pittsburgh.
Not for nothing I’ve been to Pittsburgh multiple times and that’s probably the last place id want to be as a big leaguer. Imagine being in the NL Central, you get to visit St. Louis, Milwaukee and Cincinnati on your most common road trips. But hey, who am I to judge?
He can pick and choose his team to play for when he becomes a free agent,if he makes it that far.
He should consider himself lucky to be a MLer.
Pittsburgh is a real bad place to play. Great ball stadium. Easy media. No crime great suburbs treated like gold. 500 team. Not that bad
Does anyone know of any other examples of “violations of the Uniform Player’s Contract”? I am so curious what he did to get suspended…
Whatever he did, it was clearly something that the team couldn’t ignore and had to make an example of him.
Otherwise, the smart move would be to let him come back, hopefully pitch a clean inning and then trade him right after the game.
I remember when the Pirates got him for next to nothing (Taylor Hearn), I asked my buddy who’s a Rangers fan why they’d just give away their 24 save closer.
He told me Kela was rumored to be a total mess in the locker room and was starting fights with his own team and coaches. Rumors also were that he randomly just decides to not play when he doesn’t feel like it. Yikes.
If that’s what’s going on here now, he maybe should pursue his new career in ditch digging.
Jeez if the guy gets suspended for not trying I wish the MLB would suspend the entire ownership group for not trying
You sir have earned a thumbs up for your dig at Bob “Thanks For” Nutting.
How do you not try on purpose? And is the opposite unintentionally trying really hard?
He seems to be really trying, on purpose.
This is a rumors site… let’s start some!!!
Keta was suspended for making fun of Bob Nutting’s name.
He was suspended for looking too much like Boston Rob in this photo
I’ll say it again…The Curse of Tyler Glasnow…
Do we have to keep giving a million chances to guys who are awful just because Glasnow looked good for a while this year after being awful for years?
Get Clay Holmes out of here. I knew he’d lose the game for them as soon as I saw him warming up but…man…he sure figured out how to do it in spectacular fashion.
He’s gone when Kela comes on.
They should send him to AAA as a starter as he has always been.
He is not a relief pitcher.
Dovydas is getting rocked in AAA now.I think that he has lost all of his confidence. There are four pitchers that the Pirates can choose from to designate when Kela comes on.
The bullpen has been terrible after April except for a short stretch.Even the decent ones like Feliz and Crick are not good in the clutch.
I hope that Kela gets his act together quickly as I would like to see the Pirates get to .500 by the end of the year.
They could’ve used Kela tonight in the 10th.
That suspension didn’t take long.
Director of cultural readiness, eh? Man, things sure are different these days.
What he heck is a cultural readiness coach
An altercation with a cultural readiness coach? Isn’t that a bit redundant? Anyone who calls themselves a cultural readiness coach should be prepared to be ridiculed until the end of time. What a joke. PC culture at its best. Conform!
You realize a lot of MLB players are not from the US and a cultural readiness coach is a pretty good idea, right? No? Just going to rail against ‘PC culture’ like an out-of-touch boomer? OK.
So you are saying they need to conform to our culture, yet you are okay with him getting into an altercation with the guy whose job it is to help him assimilate as best he can? Strong logic.
It could be a different title than “translator.”
Only the pirates could do something so stupid
Which “so stupid” thing did they do…
1) Provide their young foreign players with the tools they need to move to, work in, live in and succeed in a new country?
2) Suspend a player who behaved in a poor manner towards a team employee?
Morales tried getting Keone to bone up on his knowledge of Nietzsche. A beatdown ensued
What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.
I “Kant” even spell “Zaranthusra”!
Sounds rather Deleuzional.