Rick Porcello’s Suspension Reduced to 5 Games

Sometimes, Major League Baseball’s suspension policies make absolutely no sense. In the case of Rick Porcello following his incident against the Tampa Bay Rays, “no sense” is an understatement.

Porcello was originally suspended for 6 games after he threw at Tampa’s Ben Zobrist, but he immediately appealed the suspension, and even made Wednesday night’s start. Then, the foolishness kicks in as he then announced that he was “ready” to serve the ban, and as a result, MLB lowered the suspension to 5 games.

On the surface, it seems incredibly ridiculous that a player being “willing” to serve a suspension would somehow lessen a punishment, but that’s not even the entire story. Because Porcello is a starting pitcher who only appears in 1 out of every 5 games, the suspension would have made virtually zero difference in the first place, and with the All-Star break arriving, it accomplishes absolutely nothing now.

While it certainly isn’t the fault of Porcello that MLB’s rules allow him to virtually avoid punishment, he was given a ban for an on-field incident and the spirit of that ruling is being ignored here. In the long run, it won’t matter as the Tigers can simply use one of their better starters following the break, but what message does this send to the Tampa Bay Rays?

Porcello’s emergence as a solid (-ish) pitcher has been a nice story this season for Detroit, but he was in the wrong here and, as such, he should be punished further.