Alex Cintron suspended for 20 games
After it was discovered that the Houston Astros had been stealing signs during their World Series winning campaign in 2017, most anticipated that they would be the most hated team in baseball both on and off the field. While the league warned other teams that there would be a zero-tolerance policy when it came to retaliation, that hasn’t stopped some players from trying.
However, last weekend against the Oakland Athletics, it was the Astros looking to take revenge into their own hands.
Houston were playing Oakland in a regular season contest when all hell broke lose. Athletics’ outfielder Laureano was hit by a pitch from Humberto Castellanos with one out in the seventh inning. The former Astros’ player began exchanging words with hitting coach Alex Cintron before leaving first base, taking his helmet off and sprinting toward the 41-year-old.
Laureano had been hit three times by the Astros over the three-game series and it was the fifth time an Oakland player was hit by a pitch. Not a single Houston player was hit by a pitch all series. Both Laureano and Oakland pitcher Mike Fiers played for the Astros during their World Series winning campaign. It was Fiers who had ultimately revealed to The Athletic in November that the Astros used a video camera in center field to steal opponents’ signs.
The revelation sparked an intense investigation by the league who discovered the claims were indeed true and the Astros had an unfair advantage over opponents. Nonetheless, they were not stripped of the 2017 World Series which did not sit well with most other teams and players.
While Laureano was fined and handed a six-game suspension, Cintron was also fined but given a 20-game suspension. The suspension is the longest for an on-field incident in 15 years. However, the hitting coach said on Tuesday that he has no problem with the punishment handed down by MLB.
“I accept MLB’s suspension and will learn from this,” Cintron said in a statement. “Although I never referenced Ramon’s mother, my actions were inappropriate. I apologize for my part in Sunday’s unfortunate incident. As coaches, we are held to a higher standard and should be an example to the players. Hopefully, other coaches will learn from my mistake so that this never happens again in the future.”
The punishment is a quite a significant one as the league looks to send a message about bench clearing brawls. It is never a good look when both teams leave the dugout to fight on the field, but it is made even worse when it happens in the middle of a global pandemic and violates the league’s COVID-19 protocols.
“I just thought that, whew, boy they threw the book at us big time. But what can you do?” said Astros manager Dusty Baker, via Sportsnet. “The ruling is the ruling. I talked to the powers that be in the commissioner’s office this afternoon and we had a good conversation. So … we have to deal with it and hopefully this brings our guys even closer together. He was a big part of our team.”
The incident was not the first one for the Astros’ this season, as they already went through an intense affair with the Los Angeles Dodgers who they beat in the 2017 World Series. Cintron had also played a role in the brawl that was sparked there, and the league knew they had to hand the hitting coach a significant punishment this time.
It will remain to be seen whether the Astros are involved in any more dust ups this season, but don’t be surprised if we see another bench clearing brawl involving the franchise before the campaign is done.
