KC Royals Discipline Announced: Kelvin Herrera Suspended

After a drama filled weekend with the KC Royals and the visiting Oakland Athletics, it seemed to be only a matter of time before discipline would be hitting the Kansas City clubhouse. It was announced by Major League Baseball on Tuesday afternoon that Yordano Ventura and Kelvin Herrera would both be fined an undisclosed amount. In addition, Herrera would receive a five-game suspension. This disciple came after both pitchers intentionally hit A’s third baseman, Brett Lawrie.

No suspension is good news, however, under the circumstances this news does not seem to hit the Royals too hard.

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First of all, all KC Royals fans can be thankful that Ventura will not be missing a pitching start because of a suspension. Ventura seemed to do what he felt was necessary to protect his team under the unspoken rules of baseball so a fine seems to be appropriate.

As for the suspension to Herrera, many an analyst predicted an even greater suspension time so we will take the five games, whether or not we agree with it. Herrera also announced Tuesday that he would appeal the suspension. This, of course, is the smart thing to do. Lowering the suspension time is the ultimate goal of the appeal, but it also buys time which seems to be more important right now. With the injury to Greg Holland, there is already a huge piece missing in the Royals bullpen. Thankfully, the Royals have a lot of bullpen depth; however, the last thing the Royals want is to have two holes in the bullpen. By the time Herrera serves his (hopefully reduced) suspension, Holland should be back and able to help fill the role usually handled by Herrera.

We might not agree with the discipline enforced but the damage seems to be minimal. The Oakland A’s did not receive any discipline from the weekend events. The teams are set to face each other again in late June, which should definitely be interesting since the teams seem to have some unfinished business.

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