Miami Marlins Jose Urena appealing suspension is ridiculous

After being handed a six game suspension, Miami Marlins “pitcher” Jose Uren has decided to appeal.

By now, virtually everyone has seen the way that Miami Marlins “pitcher” Jose Urena decided to begin his outing against the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday. He fired a 97.5 MPH fastball into Acuna’s elbow, the hardest pitch he had ever thrown to start a game, and one of the fastest of his career. The benches emptied, and Urena dropped his glove while motioning for the Braves to come get him.

Naturally, afterwards, Urena claimed that he did not intend to hit Acuna with the pitch. Instead, he was simply trying to establish the inside part of the plate, and what happened with a mistake. Nonetheless, for his actions, Urena was hit with a laughably short six game suspension, which essentially meant that he would get an extra day off before making his next start.

Yet, being lucky enough to walk away with just six games was not good enough for Urena. Instead, he is appealing the suspension, which will potentially allow him to pitch on Sunday. Somehow, he feels that his actions do not deserve the six games he was given.

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In one aspect, Urena is correct – his actions did not warrant a six game ban. Instead, they deserved far more, as Major League Baseball could have taken a stand against intentionally throwing at a batter. This slap on the wrist was not nearly enough, a vacation instead of an actual punishment. Urena should not have been able to see the mound for, at least, the rest of August.

Instead, by issuing his appeal, Urena will be able to more or less dictate when his punishment begins. With the Braves coming to town next weekend, Urena could choose to begin his game after his possible outing on Sunday, thereby ducking Atlanta for the rest of the year. It would be a cowardly move on par with his decision to hit the white hot Acuna in the first place.

Accidents certainly happen. Sometimes, a curve does not break, or a fastball rides too far inside. And that is what Urena is trying to claim, that his pitch was a mistake, a fastball that came too far inside. While he is the only one who truly knows what the intent behind that pitch was, it is not difficult to infer otherwise from his actions that night.

Miami Marlins starter Jose Urena is appealing his suspension. Instead, he should be grateful that he was only banned for six games, and take the punishment due.