This week’s view from the MLB Cheap Seats starts us off at America’s heart land in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals are looking to defend their American League pennant and are fighting the whole way through.
View from the MLB Cheap Seats April 27th Edition
The Royals were involved in three separate dust-ups in just six days, with two different teams. In the daily grind of a 162 game schedule, tempers are bound to flare, but this has gotten out of control. It’s time for new MLB commissioner Robert Manfred to step in.
Starter, and uber talented Yordano Ventura, is where the problem begins. He was slapped with a five game suspension after the Whitesox bench clearing incident. He appears to have a false sense of security behind his teammates. They always have his back, which is great, but only for somebody who has earned said respect. In the latest chapter, he started a rumble with the White Sox’s Adam Eaton, and ran and hid while his teammates defended his obnoxious behavior. For the record, Chicago’s Chris Sale punked him later on that evening, and Ventura continued to hide.
Reliever Kelvin Herrera also received a five game suspension this week, and one could argue it should have been longer. He threw behind Brett Lawrie of the A’s, and then motioned at his head, appearing to imply he would throw at Lawrie’s head next time. All of this over a clean, hard slide two days before. Are we to wait before somebody gets seriously injured before the commissioner’s office sends down a harsh enough penalty that will end this nonsense? Ten game suspensions would make players think thrice.
The New York Mets are officially World Series contenders. The starting staff of Matt Harvey, Jacob De Grom, Bartolo Colon, Jonathan Niese and Dillon Gee is as good as anybody’s, even Washington’s. Sure, the Nationals have the fame and pedigree, but the Mets have the grit and the swagger. What is scary, is that they could’ve had Zach Wheeler in this equation as well. Look for the Mets to add some bullpen depth and offense down the stretch.
The AL East is going to be a dog fight. There’s a log jam, as the whole division is just separated by 2 games. The Rays are surprisingly at the top, and the Redsox are starting to hit. The Yankees appear to be better than advertised, and the fighting Schowalters won’t let Baltimore go away quietly. Even if they are regretting letting Nelson Cruz head west. One thing is for sure, if the Sox want to add Cole Hamels left arm, they better act fast. Adam Wainwright’s season ending Achilles’ injury, just made the Cardinals big-time buyers.
Finally, Josh Hamilton is headed back to Texas. The Angels will pay all but $15 million of the remaining $83 million due to him on his contract. The Angels will get a bit of a break though, as Texas has no state income tax and the difference will be deducted from the total. In all it’s a great story. The Angels no longer have to put on a false face, and Hamilton goes back to where he originally beat his drug addiction. Here’s to hoping he stays clean, and the fans get a glimpse of the Mickey Mantle-esque type of player he once was.
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