A's owner Lew Wolff calls Royals behavior 'despicable'
Suspensions from league likely to come Tuesday after bench-clearing weekend included two hit batters, five ejections, umpire warnings and lots of posturing.
By
Dave Brown
•
2 min read
Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that Major League Baseball probably will hand out suspensions Tuesday for the recent Oakland Athletics-Kansas City Royals shenanigans stemming from Brett Lawrie's hard and questionable slide into K.C.'s Alcides Escobar. If the league agrees with Oakland A's owner Lewis Wolff, the Royals won't have helped themselves with punishment because of things they've said after the fact.
The most controversial reaction came Sunday from Royals reliever Kelvin Herrera, who threw behind Lawrie in the eighth inning and pointed to his own head as he was escorted into the dugout after being ejected. Many interpreted Herrera's gesture as being a threat to throw at Lawrie's head.
Not quite, Herrera said. It was more like, "Think about it," think about your actions the next time, before you slide like that into one of my teammates. Royals manager Ned Yost interjected Monday, after the A's had moved on and the Twins came to Kauffman Stadium for a fresh series.
Yost, who’d spoken to Herrera, expanded on that Monday, telling reporters in Kansas City, “I can see what he was saying. We kind of talk about it all the time. 'You better think about it. Because we’ve got guys that throw 100. You want to mess around?’ That’s all he was doing.”
A’s owner Lew Wolff, told of those comments, said, “Is that a threat? That’s despicable. And you can quote me on that.”
Wolff said that he visited the clubhouse Monday to compliment Lawrie on how well he’d handled himself after getting drilled in the elbow by a Yordano Ventura pitch Saturday.
Herrera should pull Ned aside and ask him not to interpret for him anymore. Yost was nonchalant about it, but his explanation sure sounded like Herrera still was making threat, even if he corrected for the part about throwing at Lawrie's head. "Think about it or else I'll throw at your ribs, or toe, or arm pit," is still a warning about a purpose pitch. It's not Cole Hamels coming out and admitting to throwing at Bryce Harper on purpose, but it's a close friend.
If league disciplinarian Joe Torre considers what the Royals have said after the fact, the team will have had a hand in punishing themselves. As a favor, MLB should mirandize the Royals players and staff after the next dustup but before they speak to the media about it, reminding them what they can and will be used against them in the halls of league justice.
Also, Kelvin: Ned makes for a terrible attorney.
