Brett Lawrie has been suspended four games for his actions Tuesday night, and he’s also earned a fine. It’s hard to find much to cull about that four-game suspension, because word was only recently handed down. Much of what’s out there was written before anyone knew how long Lawrie would be out.
Bluebird Banter: How Many Games For Brett Lawrie?
But on that subject, I thought it’d be interesting to take a look at people’s expectations. We all knew Lawrie would be suspended; we just didn’t know for how long. At Bluebird Banter, the audience was asked what kind of suspension Lawrie would get. Not what suspension he should get; what suspension he would get. The results:
1 game
7 percent2-4 games
34 percent5-7 games
39 percent8-10 games
13 percentMore than 10 games
5 percent
Lawrie got four games, while 57 percent of the audience figured he’d get at least five games. More than a fifth of the audience figured he’d get at least eight games. This is just one poll, on a biased website, with a limited sample, but ... well now I don’t know how to continue that sentence. My sense is that people are mildly surprised that Lawrie’s suspension is as short as it is, given the way that it looked, and given how much attention it has received. But Joe Torre made a point of noting his understanding was that Lawrie didn’t mean to hit the umpire with his helmet, and that undoubtedly factored in.
Lawrie won’t miss a lot of time because of this. He will find himself with a more widespread reputation because of this. I don’t know if Brett Lawrie cares about that. He probably doesn’t. It’ll be interesting to examine how Brett Lawrie’s strike zone is called from here on out, as umpires might not take too kindly to Lawrie treating another umpire the way that he did.
See More:
