Here's the reason why Major League Baseball decided not to suspend Matt Bush
On Thursday, I wrote about why baseball fined Texas Rangers right-hander Matt Bush rather than suspend him for "intentionally" throwing at the Blue Jays' Jose Bautista.
The decision warrants a more detailed explanation.
My initial report stemmed from a source with knowledge of baseball’s disciplinary process telling me that there was little precedent for suspending a pitcher who had not been ejected; the players’ union likely would have challenged a suspension, and won.
ESPN's Buster Olney countered on Twitter by citing four examples of pitchers who were suspended without being ejected — Kyle Farnsworth in 2008, Cole Hamels in '12, Ryan Dempster in '13 and Marcus Stroman in '14.
I then asked the source for further clarification, and was told that baseball's decision to fine and not suspend Bush was based on rulings in 18 similar incidents from May 2000 to April 2015.
The most recent of those incidents involved the Royals' Yordano Ventura, who was fined and not suspended for intentionally throwing a pitch at the Athletics' Brett Lawrie under the same circumstances that Bush hit Bautista — with no warnings in place.
How, then, does baseball explain the suspensions of the four pitchers cited by Olney?
Hamels and Dempster essentially admitted that they hit a batter — Bryce Harper in Hamels' case, Alex Rodriguez in Dempster's — costing them the benefit of the doubt, the source said.
Stroman threw a pitch near the head of Caleb Joseph, Farnsworth threw one behind the head of Manny Ramirez — and pitches thrown near the head almost always result in a suspension.
Bush hit Bautista in the ribcage. At that point, the umpires issued warnings to both teams. The Blue Jays' Jesse Chavez was automatically ejected — and received a three-game suspension — for hitting the Rangers' Prince Fielder in the bottom half of the inning.
The guest on the @JayAndDan podcast was @Ken_Rosenthal! They chatted about Bautista/Odor, Kershaw and Vin Scully! https://t.co/09oOfLMeBn
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) May 19, 2016
