Major league baseball announced that Mariners outfielder Víctor Robles has received a 10-game suspension and an undisclosed fine from the league. The suspension will begin as soon as Robles is reinstated from the injured list, though Robles has filed an appeal and the suspension is being held in abeyance until the appeals process is complete. Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times reported these details prior to the official announcement. Divish notes that the M’s would have to play a man short during the suspension.
Robles has been on the injured list for most of the year. Back in early April, he made a sensational catch in San Francisco but crashed into the sideline netting and dislocated his left shoulder, causing a small fracture in the humeral head of said shoulder.
A week ago, he was finally able to begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Tacoma. During that week, he was hit by pitches multiple times, as shown in this video breakdown from Jomboy Media. Though he was hit five times, only three of them were technically counted as hit-by-pitches, with the other two counting as swings. Regardless, the final incident saw Robles hit by Joey Estes of the Las Vegas Aviators. Of the five times Robles was hit, three of them were out of the hand of Estes, though the final two were counted as swinging strikes.
Regardless of how it was scored, Robles was clearly upset and threw his bat towards the pitcher’s mound. It doesn’t appear as though it hit Estes or anyone else, but major league baseball is understandably taking a firm stance against a player using his bat in this dangerous manner and sending Robles a message.
President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto spoke to members of the media, including Adam Jude of the Seattle Times, noting that the club tentatively planned to reinstate Robles from the IL next week but those plans may change with the suspension. Divish suggests that perhaps the best plan is to reinstate Robles on September 1st, so that the M’s can at least play with a 27-man roster, though that would push his reinstatement into the middle of September. Reinstating him earlier would mean playing with a 25-man roster for a while, though that would also mean Robles would be able to be reinstated for more games.
It’s also unclear how long the appeals process will take. Sometimes, players appealing a suspension will hang in limbo until their team goes to New York, where the MLB head offices are located. The M’s don’t play in New York again this year, so it’s not clear when the appeal would be scheduled for. Robles being in the minors could also complicate factors. The M’s would surely love for the appeal to drag out into the winter and for Robles to serve his suspension next year, since they are currently in a playoff race, though MLB presumably wouldn’t let it play out like that.
Photo courtesy of Stephen Brashear, Imagn Images