Why did MLB suspend Toronto Blue Jays’ Guillermo Martinez for 5 games?
Toronto’s batting coach took serious issue with the officiating in Tuesday’s game, but did he have a point?
MLB took the decision to suspend Martinez following his involvement in an incident that took place in a game earlier this week.
MLB suspends Jays’ Guillermo Martinez
According to reports on Friday, Toronto Blue Jays hitting coach Guillermo Martinez was suspended for five games by MLB. “...For his unsportsmanlike conduct during the pregame lineup card exchange,” read the announcement from the league about Martinez’s suspension which was also accompanied by a fine of an undisclosed amount. It is understood that the Jays coach will begin serving his fine from Friday onward.
Was Guillermo Martinez in the wrong?
There is in fact a fair amount of back story to Martinez’s suspension. Let’s start with Tuesday’s game against the Chicago White Sox, when home plate umpire Doug Eddings became the center of attention for the wrong reasons. Eddings’ wide strike zone calls put a blotch on the game and in turn only further enraged Toronto. Indeed, sources indicated that Eddings failed to call six strikeouts and overall had a strike accuracy rating of only 64%.
With that we move forward to Wednesday’s game when as crazy as it sounds, Martinez was ejected before a ball was even pitched. Prior to the start of their second game of the series with Chicago, Martinez could be seen engaged in a heated conversation with Eddings during the exchange of lineup cards. Martinez is known to have directly confronted Eddings about his calls during the the previous day’s game, which ended in a 12 inning White Sox 7-6 victory. It was at that point that Martinez was ejected from the game. With the batting coach having been deemed to have made contact with the umpire, here we are now.
Do the Blue Jays have a disciplinary issue?
Interestingly, Martinez’s ejection is actually the second that the Jays have faced in as many days. Pitching coach Pete Walker was ejected from the fateful game on Tuesday after he too got into an argument with Eddings in the 10th inning. Then there is also the track record of Manager Charlie Montoyo who has been ejected on four occasions this season. If you’re wondering, that is in fact more than any other coach in the league at the moment.