Angels outfielder/designated hitter Jorge Soler has had his suspension reduced from seven games to four and he will begin serving that suspension tonight. Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register was among those to relay the update.
The suspension stemmed from a brawl between the Angels and Atlanta last week. Soler homered off Atlanta starter Reynaldo López in the first inning. In the third inning, López hit Soler with a pitch. When Soler came up again in the fifth, a pitch from López sailed up and in. Though this one didn’t hit Soler, he clearly took exception to it. He stared at López for a while before charging at him, with the two throwing punches at each other.
Both players initially received seven-game suspension, with each player appealing. López quickly had his reduced to five games and started serving it. Thanks to an off-day on Thursday last week, that effectively amounted to one start getting pushed back slightly. Soler was also appealing and his status stayed up in the air for a week. It’s unclear if a hearing took place or if he reached a settlement. Either way, the result is that he will miss the next four games.
Teams are not allowed to replace players when they are suspended for on-field infractions. That means the Angels will have to play short-handed for the next four games. The Halos are in the Bronx today and tomorrow, then head home to host the Padres for three.
Soler has been the club’s designated hitter for most of their games so far this season. He has a strong .231/.342/.508 line, so it’s not good to be without him, but the one benefit is that they can rotate a few players through that spot to give them a lighter workload.
Photo courtesy of William Navarro, Imagn Images
He got less for charging the mound? Hahah
Yes, but Lopez got 5 and didn’t miss a start. So they penalized him being in the dugout on his off days cheering on his squad.
Do they give starting pitchers more since they have 4 built-in days off? I’m not sure why Soler got only 4 games when the pitcher got 5. Soler started the brawl and threw many haymakers that could have done a lot of damage if they connected.
Yeah, the idea with SP suspensions usually at least forces the to delay the start by a day or two. Soler misses four games with his suspension, whereas Lopez just has his start pushed back a day, despite being suspended for more games.
It is of note that MLB players are paid per season day, so Lopez is missing one more day of salary (he loses 5/180 of his salary, whereas Soler loses 4/180 of his). It’s hard to work out what’s most “fair” when it’s a hitter and a pitcher being disciplined for the same event.
Throwing at people also does damage…
Kind of hard to prove that was on purpose. Especially because the ball didn’t even hit him in that specific at bat
The suspensions are still out of whack and have no logic behind them. Spin the Wheel again Vanna and that’s your final suspension time!
Pitcher suspensions should be starts not games. It would really have a lot of pitchers not throwing at someone in retaliation to one of his teammates getting hit. It’s difficult to tell sometimes what the intent was. At any time a pitcher with tremendous command could very easily not have his best stuff and it might run in on a batter it doesn’t mean it was on purpose. So if they suspend a SP 6 starts. They can be devastating to a team. Less teams will retaliate as well.
Yes but in reality, i think the most any starter would get is 2 starts n he would almost have to be a chronic ish stirrer
How do you account for the extra per-day pay that the pitchers lose? 6 starts is a whole months pay and that’s pretty extreme considering the precedent.
They should also suspend and fine the umpire for not taking control of the game and the situation.
Had the umpire done his job properly, the fight may not have happened, or at least not to the degree that it escalated to.
Yea! Oh well, back to the basement 🤣
It should have been increased for starting and losing a fight. 5 games each
I do find it interesting that it took so long for the appeal to get run through and the suspension settled upon.
Everyone was like “why is Soler still playing, isn’t he suspended?”