Mariners outfielder Víctor Robles has had his suspension reduced to seven games, reports Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times. He will begin serving it tonight. He received a ten-game suspension over a week ago but played for the club while appealing the decision.
The suspension stemmed from an incident which occurred during Robles’s minor league rehab assignment. He had been hit by a pitch numerous times during his rehab, including a few pitches from right-hander Joey Estes, then of the Las Vegas Aviators. Jomboy Media did a thorough rundown of the events which led to Robles losing his temper. As his anger boiled over, he threw a bat towards Estes and his tantrum continued after that.
The league understandably punished Robles, though he exercised his right to appeal. The Mariners reinstated him from the injured list about a week ago while the appeals process was playing out. He has now had the suspension reduced but will need to miss seven contests.
For the Mariners, they will be punished beyond just not having Robles. When a player is suspended for an on-field infraction like this, the team doesn’t get to replace him on the roster, meaning the M’s will have to play with a 25-man roster. The one consolation of that situation is the calendar, as rosters expand from 26 to 28 on September 1st. Still, the M’s will have a shorter bench of just three guys for their weekend series in Cleveland, a key matchup against one of the clubs trying to catch Seattle for a Wild Card spot.
Seattle has Randy Arozarena in left field and Julio Rodríguez in center most days. Since coming off the IL, Robles has been in the right field mix alongside Dominic Canzone and Luke Raley. For the next seven games, those two will handle the spot, with Robles getting back into the mix after he’s served his sentence.
For Robles, it’s going to contribute to a mostly lost season. He dislocated his shoulder early in the campaign, an injury which cost him over four months. He has been limited to just 14 games and has hit .246/.267/.298 in his 60 plate appearances. He still has time to alter those numbers but will have to wait another week.
The M’s were surely hoping for more when they signed Robles last year. A former top prospect, Robles had struggled to click in the majors but seemed to break out with the M’s in 2024. He finished the year with a .328/.393/.467 in 77 games for Seattle. In the middle of that performance, the Mariners signed him to a two-year, $9.75MM deal for the 2025 and 2026 seasons with a 2027 club option.
Photo courtesy of Stephen Brashear, Imagn Images
what a year for robles
played for a week in april, missed the rest of the season with injury, a day away from finally returning and he flings his bat at a pitcher and now faces a suspension. the only thing left to do is get busted for ped’s. or assaulting a gf. that’ll complete the trifecta. or quadfecta.
Don’t leave out the part about him being hit by 5 pitches. Dude was fed up with getting hit by pitches and putting his season in further jeopardy. I honestly don’t blame him for doing what he did. I’d be pissed too.
You are really rationalizing throwing a bat?
It’s been crazy how some Seattle fans are trying to justify it.
I’m not saying he should have done what he did, but I totally empathize with his frustration. I also want to point out that he only tossed the bat in the general direction of the pitcher. Let’s not act like he ran out to the mound and tried to take a swing at him. I saw the replay and I just don’t think what he did was that bad.
Oh, good more morale apologists. I heard his mom made a bad sandwich for him too. Super frustrating. Tantrums are fully understandable.
Not too hard to rationalize the reaction. I’m not a Seattle or Robles fan, but him being hit by 5 pitches in the same series when every single plunk has a fair chance of ending his season when he’s just about to make it back, and seemingly intentional at a point. Not too hard to understand why he’d lash out.
In any case, it doesn’t excuse his behavior, and doesn’t mean Robles didn’t need to get his emotions in check as a professional, but you’re talking about a 28 year old man who was born and raised in the Dominican Republic. Totally different culture where getting HBP over and over again would likely be seen as a challenge and taunt, and quite frankly, on that last HBP… intent is questionable.
Providing context is not an excuse.
Intent was not questionable if you watched the plate appearances. What the heck does where he’s born have anything to do with anything? Thats just excuse making. I get why he was frustrated too, but you CANNOT throw a bat. Period. No frustration, no anger, no nothing. You CANNOT throw a bat.
It is downright shocking to me the excuses. What if the bat hit the pitcher? Would we still be saying he was frustrated?
He’s hit by a lot of pitches because he hangs over the plate. He used to pad his OBP that way when he was a Nat.
Some of those HBP though would have hit anyone in the batter’s box. It’s not like a couple of those just clipped him.
But not to say what he did was right. Neither was Willson and his bat issue. Throwing equipment isn’t a grown up way of handling things. Gum on the field on the other hand….
The context helps to understand Robles’ decision as it happened. He had just been thru a grueling 3.5 month rehab when he couldn’t be part of the team, he gets back into minor league rehab finally and gets hit 5 times in a week, 3 times by the same pitcher. Also going thru a grieving process because his mother recently passed away. So it was a culmination of frustrations to say the least. Does is justify throwing his bat in the general direction of the pitcher?Absolutely not, and to his credit he realized immediately that he crossed a red line and I thought made a very heartfelt and sincere apology on social media. Compared to the Willson Contreras situation that occurred on Monday, I believe that situation was entirely more dire and inflamed with an unhinged amount of anger (and the bat hit someone!). Yet only 6 games for Willson.
I don’t know as I’d classify it as “immediately” since he also charged the mound… LOL. That said, he clearly started to get his emotions in check because he didn’t make it to the mound fists flying which definitely took some restraint.
Listen listen.. he’s got a very long list. He’ll get to all of it eventually given time.
Wasn’t sorry when the Nats let him go. He’s the very definition of a Tootblan waiting to happen. It’s always just a matter of time.
No horse in this race. He should be suspended, but I keep looking for how long a suspension the pitcher Estes received. Robles was hit five times in five innings (slight exaggeration) including more than once by Estes. Did he at least get at least a 15-game suspension?
Yeah PED’s and assault are right in line with rest of those things…
Victor Robles contract is why the Braves would be crazy to trade Michael Harris II
The way Michael Harris has played since the AS break, no one is trading him at all.
I still think Contreras’s incident was worse since it was in the majors and he was after an umpire but what do I know
I disagree. The key issue to me is that Robles was an overhand toss that could have hit someone in the head.
Contreras had a waist level sort of flip.
The bat hit Cardinals coach in chest and head.
Baseball
I would suspend Contreras five games for a waist level flick of the bat and his other antics.
I would suspend Robles seven games for a much more powerful overhand throw of the bat.
Contreras’ suspension will cost him more money.
That’s one way to try and get new and better coaches
And Willson Contreras got how many games for going absolutely ballistic on Monday and throwing his bat at the umpire but hitting his own batting coach with it instead?? Then he had to be physically restrained by Marmol to keep him from going at the umpire even further. But I think he only received a light sentence of 6 games, which is under appeal. Geez at least Robles’ bat didn’t actually hit anybody.
I would love to hear the reasoning behind reducing the suspension. If ever a full suspension was warranted, throwing a bat over hand at another player would be it.
I love Robles, but totally agree. To HBan22’s point, I don’t blame him for being pissed at all, but I absolutely do blame him for doing what he did.
He could have seriously hurt someone with that bat, and at a minimum he guaranteed that he hurt himself, his teammates, and this org’s chances of making the playoffs by being so immature in the moment.
Again, love him, but that is unacceptable behavior from a pro.
You would think so, but seems like close to 100% of the time these suspensions get reduced.
Would’ve got less time if he charged the mound like a man
Was Joey Estes suspended? If not, it ain’t fair.
It’s not fair that someone got suspended 7 games for overhand hurling a bat at another player? Crazy man.
It’s not crazy Robles was suspended. He should be. What was Estes’ suspension that ignited this?
I don’t think you should be allowed to hit a guy 4 times in less than a calendar year (although technically one of those was ruled a strike because Robles swung). Personally I think it’s fair if a player you do that to chucks a bat at you, as if to say “it’s not so fun to get thrown at, is it?”
The least we can do is make a very clear public stink about it the next time Joey Estes hits someone. He should be commented on and referred to as a head hunter for this garbage. And he should absolutely be pre-warned the next time he faces Robles, and immediately ejected and suspended if he hits him again.
No one threw at him intentionally. If you want to justify physically assaulting minor leaguers for having poor command, I’d say that’s childish and wholly stupid.
You should take a look at the Jomboy breakdown for a better understanding.
It wasn’t poor command.
I was at that game and his command was on point before the HBP that ignited all this
I have watched it. Not one at bat was an intentional hbp. If you think there was one, please tell me the specific at bat.
The fastball in that Robles swung at, then threw his bat?
You know better than to justify this awful behavior, Stevil.
Each one one of them, which came after Robles tagged Estes for a double.
Three times from Estes alone. None were pitches that grazed him. There isn’t any excuse.
Worth noting Estes has 4 HBPs on the season. Two of those officially were Robles (one of the HBPs was ruled a swing, therefore not recorded as an official HBP) and the scouting report on Estes suggests he has good to plus command. So does his BB%
Believe what you want to believe, but anyone who looks at it rationally understands that they were throwing at him.
Don’t ty to put words in my mouth. I never said, nor suggested, that throwing the bat was justified. You should learn the difference between understanding a situation and condoning it. That’s what most fans here are doing.
Oh he hit a double off me, now I’m going to pluck him repeatedly. Does that even sound right? The scouting on Robles is he can’t hit the fastball in. Those ABs, the fastballs in were sprinkled between offspeed away. This is how people pitch. You KNOW that. This is a minor league pitcher that lost command on a few fastballs in. Do you really think Estes was head-hunting Victor Robles of all people because of a double? That’s beyond the pale Stevil. What Robles did is completely unjustifiable. Not even if he was hit 5 or 6 more times. You cannot EVER throw a bat.
I understand why he did it too. Justifying it, IS condoning it.
What was it, if not poor command? You said it. I’m not putting words in your mouth.
You’re going on mute. I’ll tolerate a little nonsense, but not excessive nonsense.
There’s nothing else to do, just throw the bat at him. Everyone learns that in t-ball. If you get hit enough, you are welcome to physically attack a player with a weapon. It’s common sense.
Or he could charge the mound like a man. It’s CRAZY how bad M’s fans want to justify this action… for Víctor Robles of all people. A true all-time Mariner.
Jerry, bring up another bench player (Rivas?). You can do without 53 relievers for a week.
After tonight, the Mariners are facing almost entirely right-handed starters for the next week, meaning Canzone or Raley would have been starting anyway. It’s a handicap for the team for pinch-hitting/running, but (at the moment) not the worst thing to happen.
Contreras should have got much more, he was throwing it towards an Umpire. It’s just that a coach was in the way.
The Cardinals should add a couple of games after his suspension. His behavior is Not the Cardinal Way