Oakland A’s Ramon Laureano has suspended 6 games for brawl with the Houston Astros

The Oakland A’s and Houston Astros had a bench-wiping brawl on Sunday, with Astros coach Alex Cintron and A’s outfielder Ramon Laureano serving as central figures.

Penalties were announced Tuesday, and Laureano received a suspension of six games, reports Susan Slusser of the SF Chronicle. Cintron was hit with a 20-game suspension, by Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Nightengale adds that it is the longest ban ever given to a premiership coach.

Laureano has appealed his suspension, per a press release from a league. It was originally planned to start on Tuesday, but will now wait for the appeal process. Cintron is effective immediately.

In the 7th inning of Sunday’s series final, with the A’s just a few frames away from completing a whip and the Astros dropping to third place, Houston drilled relief Humberto Castellanos Laureano with a pitch. It was the second time in the match that Laureano was plundered, and the third time in the series – twice by Castellanos, and once by Brandon Bailey, the player for whom Laureano was traded between these two clubs after the 2017 season.

Laureano spotted Castellanos on his way to first base, but eventually got to the bag. Cintron, the team’s hit coach, however, continued to yell at him and go into further confrontation, visibly hesitating to the dugout and apparently saying something about Laureano’s mother (Cintron denies that part). The outfielder finally had enough and sprinted to Cintron, although he was stopped on the way by some Astros players. Laureano and A’s catcher Austin Allen were exposed, but no one from Houston was booted.

For more details, here is our full story and some video, as well as a sequel.

While he did not condone his actions, the A’s Laureano generally defended by insisting that he would only do such a thing if unfairly agreed. Laureano regrets losing his cool as well as accepting the impending consequences, saying he did not think the Astros were deliberately hitting him. See Slusser’s full script for more info.

It’s not clear when Laureano’s suspension will begin, but when that happens, the A’s will be without their starting center fielder and one of the hottest hitters on the team. Fortunately, they are deep in the field, and they can still field three strong veterans – Robbie Grossman in left (169 wRC +), Mark Canha in center (137 wRC +), and Stephen Piscotty in right (hit a walk-off grand slam last week), with super-sub Chad Pinder also available to help out.

Hot takes

To Laureano, this sounds similar. My verdict was that he would finish five games – I do not know exactly how the appeal process works, but often they are reduced. Alternatively, Laureano could simply appeal the start of his absence to a more strategically favorable part of the schedule, such as the seven upcoming inter-league games instead of AL West division matchups. But whatever the result then, it is not 10 or 15 as something ridiculous, in some attempt to set a hard example for the league.

I feel like Laureano was not the primary person to blame, but he still did something wrong, and so punishment is in order. This seems honest.

As for Cintron, I do not really get it. What does the suspension of a coach achieve? Especially for a part season? Of course, coaches play a role and make a difference, but I’m not sure it’s one that can be measured in a number of individual games. Beginner pitchers tend to get longer ties than position players because of the way their playing time is planned; give a starter four games and he will not even miss a start, so you have to go up to 8-12 to really do anything. How many coaching games does one player play equal to?

I do not see much point in stopping Cintron for less than a full season. Just send him home and tell him to come back next spring. That is the example to be set, that coaches should set the example in this era of strict rules and protocols. Maybe the Astros will just take care of it themselves and cut ties with him – they should be desperate for a PR win at this point, and this would be a very easy one, especially since they are not riding much at the moment.

In the end, justice seems to be more or less done. The player from the A got what he came for. Someone on the Astros took at least some sort of punishment. Case closed, pending appeal.