Why am I suprised?
The sport of baseball isn't anywhere close to perfect. Theres some serious problems, which I don't pretend to have an answer to. Yet there are some idiocies that could easily be fixed, if only someone was paying attention.

John Lackey, starting pitcher for the Angels, was suspended for throwing at a batter on May 24th. Fine. What does Lackey do?

He does what every other pitcher does when suspended. He appeals, continues to pitch, and when it becomes convenient to get an extra days rest, he drops the appeal.

With Aaron Sele returning to the rotation, Lackey would get an extra days rest anyways. So by serving the suspension now, Lackey doesn't even have to miss a game. Every pitcher does this, as they should. Every pitcher will continue to do this, as they should. It’s a stupid rule, and its something MLB could fix painlessly.

As it stands, there is incentive for a starting pitcher to throw at people because of a lack of tangible punishment. Suspend a position player, or a reliever the five games. Fine. Wouldn’t it make a lot more sense to suspend a starter ten days so that he is forced to actually miss one start?

Is anybody upstairs paying attention? I know, that’s a bad question. Those of us who follow this game already know the answer to that one.
Curt  ¶ 9:40 AM