Carlos Quentin won’t be suspended as long as Dodgers manager Don Mattingly had hoped, but Major League Baseball will reportedly be handing down a stiff punishment for the San Diego Padres outfielder.
UPDATE: Friday, April 12, at 9:53 p.m. ET by Ian Hanford
According to MLB‘s Public Relations department, Quentin’s eight-game suspension is official although he does plan to appeal:
—End of update—
According to Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports, Quentin will be suspended eight games for charging at Zack Greinke on Thursday night:
Quentin’s suspension stems from a bench-clearing brawl in the Padres’ 3-2 loss to their division rivals. Standing at the plate with the count in his favor, Quentin was pegged by a Greinke fastball. Quentin subsequently charged the mound on the Dodgers ace, leading to Greinke suffering a fractured left collarbone after trying to brace his body against the charging outfielder.
After the game, the entire Dodgers organization made their thoughts clear about Quentin. Star outfielder Matt Kemp and Quentin had to be separated by police after getting in a face-to-face altercation outside Petco Park.
Angered at the injury of his prized hurler, Mattingly said that Quentin should face a long suspension.
“[Quentin] should not play a game until Greinke can pitch,” said Mattingly (per Hardball Talk). “If he plays before Greinke, something is wrong. Nothing happens if that guy goes to first base.”
According to the Los Angeles Times, Greinke will be out eight weeks after undergoing surgery on his collarbone. The 29-year-old right-hander signed a six-year, $147 million contract with the Dodgers this offseason and was expected to co-anchor the staff in 2013 along with Clayton Kershaw, a fellow Cy Young Award winner.
Even in the optimistic eight-week time frame, this collarbone injury will sideline Greinke until at least sometime in June.
As for Quentin, the suspension keeps him out just long enough to avoid San Diego’s next matchup with Los Angeles. The two sides start a three-game series at Dodger Stadium on Monday, April 15, which would be right in the middle of Quentin’s absence.
Like all MLB suspensions, Quentin will have the right to dispute his eight-game ban. There is no word at this time whether he plans on filing an appeal.
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