Last Friday, Paul Goldschmidt was hit by an Ernesto Frieri pitch which fractured his hand and landed him on the DL.  Then, despite pre-game warnings (which really mean nothing) the next day, Randall Delgado went “tit for tat” and threw right square in the back at Andrew McCutchen, landing him on the DL.

There are several problems with this entire scenario.  First, who in their right mind thinks Frieri has enough control to hid someone in the hand (cue rim shot).  Second, if you watch the pitch, it’s clear he was trying to throw a bit up and in but Goldschmidt actually moved his hands INTO the pitch.  It was not intentional, nor can anyone get me to believe it was unless Ernesto himself fesses up which is about as likely to happen as for him to become a closing ace this season.

Second, even if he had thrown that pitch at Goldschmidt on purpose, this eye for eye mentality in baseball should not be acceptable.  Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers has himself advocated this behavior.

Third, everyone knew Delgado threw that pitch at McCutchen on purpose and even McCutchen said he was expecting it the entire game.  The problem is that he WAS EXPECTING it.  This mentality is ingrained enough in baseball that if your top player gets hit by a pitch and taken out, you can expect that to happen to your best guy the next day (or same day).  Thank god Frieri is not on the Angels anymore or Trout would be on the DL right now.

“If Goldy’s getting hit, somebody gets an eye for an eye, somebody’s going down, or somebody’s going to get jackknifed.”

– Diamondbacks general manager Kevin Towers, October 8, 2013.

And lastly, NOTHING is going to be done about it. Aside from being ejected from the game, don’t expect Selig to care much about what happened and don’t hold your breath for a suspension.  This kind of stuff happens on a fairly regular basis and isn’t likely to change any time soon.  It’s AT LEAST as dangerous as taking out the catcher at home plate and that was finally fixed (though not without some hiccups along the way).

Personally, I would like to see a serious suspension for intentionally throwing at a batter.  Something like at least 10 days + the length of time said batter ends up on the DL (if they do).  It’s pie in the sky, but maybe some day it will happen before the next cracked rib or worse.