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Chase Utley got off too easy

    by John Smallwood
    Published 
Los Angeles Dodgers and former Phillies second baseman Chase Utley broke the leg of New York Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada in the Game 2 of the National League Division Series last October.
In my opinion, Utley targeted Tejada with a late slide that was not on line with the base and only a token effort was made to reach the base.
Utley’s aggressive slide had no intention other than to break up a double play – no matter how violent and dangerous the collision would be.
I don’t think Utley intended for Tejada to get hurt. Still, he pushed the envelope of aggressiveness too far and a serious injury was the result.
Intent or not, there should be repercussions.
Major League Baseball thought so too because it suspended Utley for the next two games of the NLDS, which he of course appealed.
When the Dodgers were eliminated before Utley’s appeal could be heard, the penalty became effective for the first two games of the 2016 season.
Tejada, on the other hand, missed the rest of the playoffs which included a trip to the World Series by the Mets.
Now MLB has rescinded the suspension all together.
Chief Baseball Officer Joe Torre told The Los Angeles Times that the suspension “sort of lost its impact” after Utley was able to continue in the playoffs because of the appeal.
That’s a stupid reason for rescinding a suspension for what MLB called at the time an “illegal slide” that was a “rolling block … away from the base.”
The fact that Torre said he hoped any Mets player upset about the rescinding would not try to take it on Utley in a future game reflects how asinine a decision this was.
“If that happens, we’ll have to address it,” Torre said.
It already had been addressed.
Two games, even the first two, is nothing to a utility player in a 162-game schedule. Now Mets players might feel like no punishment was issued for hurting their teammate.
Maybe someone will feel more motivated to send a message of retaliation – sort of like when pitchers throw at other players intentionally.
The debate last fall was about the vagueness of an illegal slide and the varied interpretations in which it had been applied.
Similar slides like Utley’s had not resulted in suspensions and some had.
On Feb. 25, MLB erased the vagueness by passing a rule that specifically protects middle infielders on slides into second base.
Of course, the players’ union would likely have used the fact that MLB passed a rule specifically to outlaw that type of slide in the appeal process for Utley to say that it was not illegal at the time so there was no basis for the initial suspension.
Torre conceded to the L.A. Times that would likely be an issue on appeal, and since the league’s intent was not necessarily to punish Utley but to get a rule that would outlaw that type of slide, fighting the MLBPA over the suspension was not worth it.
In response to the rule change, MLBPA executive director Tony Clark said, “Our goal in amending the slide rule was to enhance player safety, reduce incidents of injury and do it in a way that respects and preserves bona fide hustle plays that are integral to our game.”
It’s too bad nobody in baseball could rescind Tejada’s broken leg.
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    JS
    John Smallwood
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