Great start to 2008!!

Here is the text of Major League Baseball's disciplinary announcement, released Friday afternoon:

Discipline has been issued to six members of the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays as a result of the bench-clearing incident that occurred during the top of the second inning of their Wednesday, March 12th Spring Training game at Progress Energy Park, Home of Al Lang Field, in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Shelley Duncan of the Yankees has been suspended for three games and fined an undisclosed amount for his violent and reckless actions, which incited the bench-clearing incident. Unless appealed, Duncan’s suspension is scheduled to begin on Monday, March 31st, when the Yankees host the Toronto Blue Jays in their first game of the 2008 Championship Season.

Jonny Gomes of the Rays has been suspended for two games and fined an undisclosed amount for his violent actions, which escalated the bench-clearing incident. Unless appealed, the suspension of Gomes is scheduled to begin on Monday, March 31st, when the Rays play at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore in their first game of the 2008 Championship Season.

Melky Cabrera of the Yankees has been suspended for three games and fined an undisclosed amount for his violent and aggressive actions during the incident. Unless appealed, Cabrera’s suspension is scheduled to begin on Monday, March 31st.

If any of the three players appeals his suspension, the discipline issued to him will be held in abeyance until the process is complete.

In addition, New York manager Joe Girardi, third base coach Bobby Meacham and hitting coach Kevin Long have been fined for their roles in the incident.

Regular season suspensions for a spring training incident? Opinions are certainly going to vary on this issue, and everyone understands the need to come down hard on players who participate in extra-competitive activities such as brawls, bench clearings, and charging the mound, but wouldn't fines have been sufficient here, big fines? Maybe the collective bargaining agreement limits the size of fines to the point that MLB didn't think fines would be substantial punishment, I don't know. But taking away regular season games seems a bit much for an incident that really was nowhere near as bad as the initial "Brawl!!" headlines suggested.

And the guys at RiverAveBlues.com make a great point about Gomes getting a shorter suspension, when it was Gomes who had to run in from the outfield, at a dead sprint, to attack Duncan and escalate the fight..... What a joke. And then (devilish) Rays manager Joe Maddon weighed in with this gem: "(The Yankees) perpetrated the entire situation, and then to have the punishment doled out (to Gomes) almost on a similar basis, to me is unjust and it's not right." Is he kidding? It is debatable whether or not the Yankees "perpetrated the entire situation," but what isn't debatable is that Gomes was the one player, from either side, whose post-slide actions were the most violent and most likely to lead to further altercation. If anything, Gomes got off light.

It isn't clear just yet whether the Yankees plan to appeal any or all of the fines/suspensions doled out by MLB, but if the Yankees choose to accept the penalties without appeal, then things look like this for the season-opening series against the Blue Jays: Melky Cabrera and Shelley Duncan out, meaning Giambi's at first for the whole series, and Damon's in center, putting Matsui in left. That's all we need, Matsui putting his gimpy knee on the line right out of the gate. And who does this leave for DH, Wilson Betemit? So our DH will be batting eighth? That will be interesting.

What a way to start the season....