FanHouse BobWatson

Here's how it works in baseball: Texas' Vicente Padilla throws at, and hits, the Yankees' Mark Teixeira twice and gets fined. A.J. Burnett tries to protect Teixeira with a pitch that doesn't hit Nelson Cruz and gets suspended.

All this happened Tuesday at Yankee Stadium, and the punishment was handed down Thursday by Major League Baseball.

"I pitch in all the time, but I can't complain about it," Burnett said before the Yanks hosted the Rangers at the new Yankee Stadium. "Obviously, a warning was issued and nothing else."

Still, he wasn't overly surprised by the decision.

"You kind of expect something to happen when ball comes that close," Burnett said. "It looked bad. Obviously, it was up tight."

Padilla hit Teixeira on the right biceps in Tuesday's second inning and on the rear end in the fourth, prompting Teixeira to stare down Padilla and then blast him as a headhunter after the game.

At this point, it's a safe bet that any headline with the name "Roger Clemens" in it probably isn't going to cast Roger in the best light. (That is unless you subscribe to the Rusty Hardin News-Gazette. Only $15 for an entire year!)

It's no secret that at 45 years of age, Clemens is not that ideal candidate to suit up for the Olympic squad this summer. But he is Roger Clemens, the man that defies age and can teach those young kids a thing or two, right?

Well, not so much says Bob Watson.

"From my standpoint, we don't need that type of distraction," Watson said.

[ ... ]

"I have not talked to the commissioner. I have not talked to (MLB chief operating officer) Bob DuPuy, nor have I talked to his agent, but I just think the distraction that he's carrying right now, from my standpoint, we don't need that," Watson said.

What's most interesting about this is that Watson has not only been the GM of the Astros, but the Yankees as well. And even he's not feeling Rog nowadays.

To be fair, Watson indicated that Clemens elbow was another cause for concern, but I have a feeling without the Mitchell Report and the Mindy McCready allegations, Mr. Passion and Glory himself would have at least been invited on to the team as some sort of special instructor or coach. Such is life now for Clemens, I suppose.

The "what's on Jake Peavy's hand?" mini-controversy didn't really spill over into the work week, meaning a lot of baseball fans unplugged from the internet from Friday evening through Monday morning didn't even realize it happened. And that's fine, because really, this was much ado about nothing.

Of course, Major League Baseball had to do something about the half-hearted allegations made by Joe Torre and the Dodgers, so on Monday Bob Watson called Padres GM Kevin Towers and told him umpires will pay special attention to Peavy's throwing hand in future starts but stopped far short of launching an actual investigation. From the San Diego Union-Tribune:

The commissioner's office is aware of a photograph showing a dark substance on the forefinger, middle finger and thumb of Peavy's pitching hand, shortly after Peavy threw a two-hitter against the Dodgers on Saturday. The phone call from Watson, according to a major league official, didn't reflect anything "untoward" on Peavy's part but was a "general reinforcement" of rules forbidding a pitcher's use of substances such as pine tar.

In hindsight, I find the timing of this whole non-story to be a little funny: it was almost a year to the day after Francisco Rodriguez faced similar accusations last year after he was spotted by a blogger going to his hat early and often. The problem then, just like now, is that no one raised any objections until after the fact, so it's all just a bunch of finger-pointing and he-said/she-said without actual proof anyone was doing anything against the rules.

As you may or may not have seen (and if you haven't, by all means go look before you do anything else this morning), Larry Bowa went absolutely berserker when umpire Ed Montague tried to tell him to get back in the coach's box the other night.

It was a big deal: Bowa got ejected, he threw stuff in the dugout, spilled drinks, screamed a lot and after it was all over, Tony Kornheiser made Dirty Dancing jokes. Good times. Naturally, Bowa was suspended, especially considering his tirade resulted in Joe Torre bumping into Montague several times. And naturally, Bowa is not what you would call "excited" about his suspension.

'For getting kicked out of the game and to get a three-game suspension, that's a joke,' Bowa said. 'It's totally uncalled for. You got guys that tested positive for steroids and they admitted they took them. No suspensions. I get kicked out of a game and get three games plus fined? There's no justice.'

Bowa also indicated that Bob Watson, baseball's vice president of on field operations, has "an agenda" against him, and went so far as to say that if "Bob Watson was a man, I think he'd call me on that one." Ohhhh. The Commissioner is going to freaking rip him a new ... oh right. This is baseball. Bud Selig probably won't do a thing, other than let Watson chastise Bowa in public (maybe) and force the grouchy third base coach to serve his sentence.

Bowa does have a point though -- a three game suspension for participating in the time honored tradition of dirt kicking and screaming at an umpire seems a bit steep when Guillermo Mota just can't find his way out of baseball, even if Montague, as some reports indicate, told Bowa mid-tantrum that he was headed for a suspension.

On Saturday, E told you about Bob Waston's burning desire to go back to Houston and take his old position as General Manager back. Today he got his interview with Drayton McLane and he seems to think it went pretty well:

"From my standpoint, it went extremely well," Watson said. "They know me from the time that I spent here 12 years ago. Of course, (McLane) gave me the opportunity back in '93, and I think the only thing I wanted to tell him was I was healthy and that I had the desire to do this job.

"I have a very good job now. I probably have a more powerful job and do more for baseball than I would being the GM for the Astros, but I wanted to convey to him I wanted to do this job and was healthy and had the passion."

Watson hasn't been a GM anywhere since early 1998, when he stepped down as Yankees' GM for health purposes right before their 114-win season. As you're probably aware, Watson is the MLB vice-president in charge of discipline right now, which means you hear his name whenever someone gets suspended. Or whenever Terry Francona doesn't dress properly.

Previously at FanHouse
Bob Watson Has Eyes for Drayton McLane
Fashion Police Interrupts Red Sox Game

It's been a rough year for the Astros. They are, after all, in the only division in recent memory in which a .500 team might actually take first, and they're stuck in the back of the pack with the Pirates. They've since fired GM Tim Purpura and manager Phil Garner, and are building a new city, hopefully with the brick and mortar of rock and roll. (I have no idea what that means.)

Anyway, despite the struggles, the Astros are already attracting interest:

Of all the candidates for the job, [Bob] Watson is the only one who truly knows what it is to love Houston, to love the Houston Astros and to have literally shed his blood and sweat trying to bring a winning product to Houston fans on the field and in the front office.

"I have really a real feeling for the Houston Astros," he said. "As you know, and hopefully our readers know, that in 1964 I signed with then the Colt .45s, so I go a way back. I've been with this organization in a number of capacities. And I left to go to New York, and bottom line is I left a job undone. I'd like to culminate my career of some 43 years as we speak with bringing in and putting this club where it needs to be.

"And I think the other reason is I think Drayton McLane deserves to have a championship club. He has worked so hard and tirelessly. He has spent a lot of his money and energy trying to make this a championship city, and I'd like to help him accomplish that."

So there you have it. Whether or not you think the Purpura firing was a bit of overkill -- the point was made with Garner, who didn't seem to be having much fun anymore anyway -- it's good to see that the Astros have at least somebody waiting in the wings. People, including former employees, actually want to work there! Who knew?

(HT: Baseball Musings)

I've never understood why baseball managers and coaches are forced to wear uniforms in the dugout. Can you imagine Bill Parcells roaming the sideline in up plays wearing football pads? Or Phil Jackson drawing up basketball plays in shorts and a tank top? Of course not. So why is baseball any different?

I'm not sure we'll ever get the answer to that question, but at least we know how serious Major League Baseball is policing this issue. From the Boston Globe:

Red Sox manager Terry Francona was peeved this morning that a (major league baseball) security person made him show that he was wearing his uniform top in the second inning of Wednesday night's game with Derek Jeter at second base.

"That was as embarrassed as I've been in a long time for baseball," Francona said at his pregame press conference today.

[...] "The timing to me was incredible," Francona said. "He made me show him. I thought Jeter was going to steal third." Francona said that the exchange caused him to miss one pitch.

[...] At one point Francona said he told the security person, "Can you wait a second?" The security person said, "No."

Granted, I'd be a little more sympathetic to Francona's situation if he was trying to go for Connie Mack's elegance instead of Bill Belichick's slob fashion, but still, how does this affect the game? And more importantly, why is this so urgent it needs to be addressed in the middle of a game?

Baseball fans have learned a few things about Ian Snell this year: 1) he's really, really good -- dude has a 3.31 ERA and has been one of the few shining points in yet another dismal Pirates summer; 2) he likes chicken salad, even if he is a little clumsy in the kitchen.

But perhaps the most entertaining thing we've learned this year is, 3) he's really, really intense. He's not afraid to call out his teammates when the losses start piling up, and as the Rockies discovered last week, he's not afraid to call out his opponents when he thinks they're stealing signs.

In hindsight, though, he realizes now he may have said some things he didn't mean when he unleashed his fury against the Rockies ... like when he said he would "kill that dude" who was stealing signs, and "it's all right, I'll get them next time." Whether it's true remorse or someone got in his ear and let him know MLB generally frowns upon not-so-vague threats, the Denver Post reports that Snell to call up Rockies manager Clint Hurdle before Thursday's game and apologize.

Will that be enough to ward off any repercussions from the commissioner's office? Only time will tell. The Post revealed that Bob Watson has already conducted an investigation and that "the recommendation for punishment is on the commissioner's desk." It seems likely that Snell will find out one way or the other at some point this weekend.

When I found out that Ivan Rodriguez was suspended for a game after bumping Mike Winters, my initial thought was, "No big deal. Just take it on an off day and move on." Apparently, I think quite differently than Jim Leyland and Ivan Rodriguez.

Rodriguez let it be known on Saturday that he thinks the suspension is uncalled for, but he had nowhere near as much to say about it as his manager.

"I'm tired of this," manager Jim Leyland said on Saturday. "We've had it happen a couple of times this year. I had another guy suspended for something he didn't do. Neither one was called for.

"When you rant and rave, you have a chance of probably getting thrown out. But this suspension, which is uncalled for, has nothing to do with the umpires. This is MLB (Major League Baseball), not the umpires. I want to make that perfectly clear.

"I think the suspension is totally out of line. The umpire gave a very fair report that Pudge did not intentionally bump him.

"I don't think it's a matter of him taking a day off so it's OK for him to be suspended," said Leyland. "That's bull. That's just saying they're right, so we'll pick the right day and everybody's happy. That's not the point. The man shouldn't have been suspended. That's ridiculous.

The hammer of justice that is Bob Watson has made a decision, and Ivan Rodriguez is going to have to live with it. Ivan will have to sit out a game, and his wallet is a bit lighter this afternoon, thanks to bumping home plate umpire Mike Winters on Friday night in Seattle.

"If I did [bump him], I just did it barely," Rodriguez said on Thursday. "I didn't do that on purpose. There was no reason to take me out of the game there."

You did, Ivan. We all saw it. Though I tend to agree that you didn't do it on purpose, whether intentional or not, if you bump an umpire or make any kind of physical contact you will get tossed. It's just the way it is, and has always been.

Rodriguez did have a right to be angry though. After Yuniesky Betancourt swung and missed during a hit and run, he fell over the plate and got in Pudge's way as he tried to throw out Adrian Beltre at second base. Beltre never did come around to score, rendering the argument and ejection meaningless, but Winters still blew the call pretty damn badly if I do say so myself.

Rodriguez or the Tigers have not said when he'll serve the suspension, but it's doubtful he'll appeal. Considering catchers get a day off pretty regularly as it is, an appeal would be rather pointless.

Previously at FanHouse:
Ivan Rodriguez Could Be Suspended