If you were the Commish...

Roger Clemmons made some remarks about introducing himself to Barry Bonds' protective gear a few days before he plunked him. Now, the Rocket is schedule to go this weekend against the Mets in Shea. Some say (mostly Mets and their backers) that Clemmons spoke and acted with the intention of being suspended so he wouldn't have to face the Mets at their place (where he'd have to bat and face their ire for transgressions in the past).

The commissioner's office is supposedly "looking into" the remarks and the beaning and deciding whether to take action.


What, if anything, is the best punishment for Roger? Suspend him? hold off on a decision until after the game against the Mets? Just let him face the mets?

First of all, if I were Bud Selig I'd kill myself as a favor to baseball fans.


Second, you used the expression "beaning". I don't consider what Clemens did a beaning. He threw a waist high pitch that missed the inside edge of the plate by a few inches. If Roger wanted to injure Barry Bonds he would have.

po-tay-to, po-tah-to. Fact of the matter is that bonds racked up a hp in the stat column against Clemmons after the Rocket implied that he would do just that.

I have not side on this, but I thought it was an interesting scenario.

Personally, i'd like to see him throw against the Mets.

So then its true that he wanted to injure Piazza?

no punishment.


pat

If I were the commish, I'd 1) make my daughter sell the Brewers because A) it's a conflict of interest and B) she's doing such a great job handling that team; 2) stop threatening us with "contraction"; if a team goes out of business, so what? let 'em go out of business; 3) if Clemens said he would hit Barry Bonds and then did it, suspend him for a week without pay AFTER the Mets series. I'm a big Yankee fan (since 1960), but Clemens (a great, great pitcher) is a head-case and a head-hunter and ought to be taught a lesson; and 4) resign as commissioner becuase I'm doing an even worse job than I did when I ran the Brewers myself.

As much as I despise Clemens I doubt that he's truly psychotic enough to try and hit someone in the head because of a couple of home runs. Of course, you seldom see big league pitchers miss with fastballs by more than a foot, so who knows?

Andy-Don't you find it funny that:


A-Selig claims that the Brewers lose tens of millions of dollars annually (not a hard thing to do when the owner is paying herself tens of millions of dollars annually).

B-Selig claims that contraction has everything to do with teams' financial situations and not their wins and losses.

C-Selig would never even consider contracting the Brewers.

??

Selig's job security is essentially based on what Casey Stengel long ago said the secret was to not getting fired: "You've got to keep the half of the team that doesn't like you from the other half that is undecided."

No punishment.


Okay, now I need to explain. I'm 24 years old (seems like just last week I'd say I was 23), but I consider myself a little old fashioned in baseball sense. I'd much rather watch Ted Williams play than Barry Bonds...and the two have much in common. And I've never seen Barry play.


And, yeah, I think that what Clemens did was, in some sense, 'wrong'. He tried to hurt a guy.


But man, I'm tired of the body armor. I'm tired of people camping over the strike zone. I'm tired of pitchers not being allowed of pitching inside. I'm tired of 50HR seasons. I'm tired of 10-8 ballgames.


Clemens tried to establish where he wanted to pitch. I have no problem with that. But if, when NY visits SF, SF retaliates, I have no problem with that, either.


Same thing with Piazza. Of course, with Piazza it's different, because Piazza is spineless. I'd honestly be surprised to see anything from the Mets. And I think it's likely that Torre will sit Clemens.


I grew up in Seattle, which means that I am one of the few who have had the opportunity to listen to the greatest play-by-play announcer in the history of sports...Dave Niehaus. His partner, Ron "Red" fairly, is moderately atrocious. However, Fairly is an advocate of players regulating themselves, and I agree with him on this point. A bean for a bean, a plunk for a plunk. The league should only step in when things get out of control, which would be almost never.


Sure, we'd have more HBP. And we'd have more basebrawls. But we'd also have better baseball, where pitchers can pitch....


just like the good ol' days.


Josh

Josh,

I basically agree with you, but I think Clemmons' error was in saying what he was going to do; not in doing it. You don't like the body armor? just hit him. Don't say you're going to do it. That's bush.

As for the mets, I do think that Clemmons will be on his ass if he goes this weekend. Shawn Estes (who wasn't even there when all of the history went down) is scheduled to throw against Clemmons, and Estes is kind of a hothead. Also, he wants to establish himself as one of the boys, so I'm pretty confident that he'll go after Clemmons from the words "Play Ball".


I'm like you: Eye for an eye, but I think that players are too sensitive now. You get hit, you take your base, and hope that your pitcher gets one of theirs. None of this staring down crap and charging the mound crap that's pervasive nowadays. You get one, they get one, case closed and play ball.

Why is Piazza spineless? Should he have charged the mound when he was unconscious? Or maybe in the world series so he could get ejected and possibly suspended? Piazza is one of the toughest players in baseball, he gets the crap beaten out of him because he actually takes hits while blocking the plate instead of trying the swipe tag and routinely plays with injuries.

in the world series he clearly should have done something other than cower in fear. What happened after that? he held the mets to four hits (or so) and they folded. even lenny harris chided him for not charging. piazza should have worn a cup instead of panties.


of course i am a yankee fan so what do i know? :-)


Pat

its funny that you mention ron fairly, because earlier this mroning i was reading Leonard Koppett's Thinking Fans guide to Baseball,and on teh subject of pitching inside he quoted an interview with ron fairly!essentially he confirmed what you said above.


pat

True...I may have to rethink my stance. The preceding proclamation by Clemens was likely his greatest offense. But at the same time, that serves as a bit of a warning. It also serves to throw out any shadow of doubt that it was deliberate.


With regards to Shawn Estes, I think you may have hit the nail on the head. I hadn't considered that. I'm fairly anti-Clemens, inasmuch as I'm a huge Mariners (read: Anti-Yankees) fan. When Estes was drafted by the Mariners, he had a 98 mph fastball. I wish he still had that heater to use against Clemens!


I'm curious though...in light of all of the recent 'news' about steroid use, if you had to guess one player who you think is on 'roids, who would you pick? For me, it's no doubt, Clemens. I'm not saying he is on roids. I'm just saying I think he's most likely on 'em.


j

I think that there is nothing wrong with taking a stand. Yes, as a catcher, Piazza takes a beating. And I, of course, unlike tabloids, wasn't trying to insinuate any conclussions about his sexuality.


But after Clemens threw the bat at Piazza, Piazza looked up, stunned (who wouldn't be?), and Clemens walked toward Piazza. Piazza did nothing. He walked away. At that point in time, there was no question which team was more competitive, more 'into it', and would win. None.


Josh

Based on what he's done, I'd be surprized if Clemmons was on them. He's always been big, so, if he were on juice, I'd think that he started back in college. His career's been on track for too long without a breakdown for me to really think that he's been taking them.

he does have those roid rage moments, though, but I think you can chalk them up to his being a natural asshole.


About those who've received chemical/technological career improvements (not saying that they are taking them; just that I wouldn't be surprized if they were):

Barry, obviously is the first suspect

Sammy

Albert Belle (though he's retired now)

Piazza

Brady Anderson

Jeff Kent

Just about anyone else who's numbers/size showed a sudden increase over the course of a single offseason.


Best quote out of all of this was Karros' as he emphatically denied using them himself, while stating that what everyone else did was their own business.


Note to Eric Karros: Given your numbers, I don't think anyone implied you were on them.

and I'm a dodger fan.