Because it’s hard to see where exactly their priorities lie.
Brian Costa of The Wall Street Journal wonders via Twitter why White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen received a two-game suspension for tweeting minutes after being ejected from a game against the Yankees. Meanwhile, Braves pitcher Derek Lowe is still scheduled to start Sunday’s game even after being apprehended for driving under the influence:
How is it that a manager gets suspended for tweeting while a pitcher who gets arrested for DUI is set to make his next start? Ridiculous.
I posed the same question to [Mets pitcher R.A.] Dickey, who had asked about Lowe. He agreed with my thoughts completely. “You can print that,” he said.
Let’s not forget that, in March 2010, someone leaked information that Rangers manager Ron Washington had tested positive for cocaine during the previous season. Not only was Washington not punished, but MLB managed to keep the news suppressed for several months.
Hopefully, MLB will come to its senses and suspend Lowe before he takes the mound against the Cardinals.
EDIT: I have been reminded that Commissioner Bowie Kuhn’s 1980 suspension of pitcher Ferguson Jenkins, who had been arrested in Toronto for carrying illegal narcotics and faced criminal prosecution, was overturned by an arbitrator on the grounds that Jenkins might have incriminated himself if compelled to discuss the matter with Kuhn. Accordingly, the likelihood of a suspension of Lowe at this time seems virtually nil.