Mariners are about to make a mockery of MLB's Victor Robles suspension

We've all seen the video dozens of times now of Seattle Mariners outfielder Victor Robles, on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Tacoma, getting hit with a pitch from Joey Estes and proceeding to pick up his bat and throw it back at the opposing pitchers. From the moment he let go of the lumber, and even though he didn't connect with Estes after throwing the bat, we all knew a suspension was coming. And on Tuesday, MLB handed down a 10-game suspension for Robles.

In case you happen to be one of the dozens of baseball fans who haven't seen the video of the incident just yet, it makes it pretty clear why everyone was certain that a suspension was coming down the pike.

And though there were plenty of calls in the immediate aftermath for Robles to be suspended for the rest of the season, 10 games is a hefty suspension. For on-field incidents, it's rare to see MLB resort to pushing it to double-digits.

Robles, naturally, will appeal the suspension and could see it reduced to eight games or something of the sort before it's all said and done. However, the underlying and admittedly somewhat underhanded truth about this is that the Mariners are probably laughing in Rob Manfred's face over this, because the team has the perfect opportunity to essentially skirt the suspension thanks to the baseball calendar.

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Mariners can laugh off Victor Robles suspension with shady tactic

Robles will have to serve his suspension once he's reinstated from the IL by Seattle. But as Mariners insider Ryan Divish noted, the Mariners can essentially swerve the suspension, or at least feel much less of the potential impact, by reinstating him on Sept. 1 when MLB rosters expand. Essentially, they could use the extra roster spot to stash Robles while he serves the suspension.

On one hand, this isn't that underhanded because, as Divish noted, that's about when Robles was going to be ready to return to action regardless. However, that doesn't make it feel any less shady to use the rules to mitigate a suspension like that — especially when the suspension is for throwing a bat at a pitcher.

It's impossible for Mariners fans to deny the fact that this does at least feel like the M's are dodging the suspension to some degree. It's completely within the rules and Seattle isn't doing anything that could construed as cheating or anything even remotely close to that. I know that and I'm not going to be too harsh on them. But this certainly goes against the spirit of the punishment that MLB is trying to levy in this situation.

So yes, the Robles suspension has come down, and yes it's severe at 10 games. However, it does indeed appear that the Mariners are on track to make a mockery, to some degree, of it by using the rules in place to their advantage.