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Suspensions Not Always A Bad Thing

Brad Mills was suspended from last night's blitzkrieg victory over the Cubbies, and the Astros will somehow have to manage without Aneury Rodriguez and his 13.50 ERA for three games.

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But my question is this: do suspensions really matter in baseball? From a player's perspective, the answer is an overwhelming "yes".

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A Pujols-less Cardinals team or Braun-less Brewers team obviously makes a huge impact. Heck, even a suspension to a 2-hole or 7-hole hitter hurts a team. But, it all depends who gets suspended.

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A player like Aneury Rodriguez seems pretty expendable to the Astros; he's pitched in just over three innings, and to be honest, hasn't exactly been very accountable. 

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With the suspension of Rodriguez, the Astros depth took a hit.  

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But what are the chances that the Astros actually need Aneury Rodriguez? The only plausible scenario would be an extra-inning game, where bullpen arms are short. Basically, the chances of the Astros needing Anuery Rodriguez to win a game are pretty slim.

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This is why I'm in favor of suspensions...at least when they bear little expense to performers of the team.

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That's why I don't mind seeing Brad Mills tossed or suspended. He's doing exactly what he needs to do--find a way for these rookies to play inspired baseball. And after last night's 16-hit, 11-2 barrage, I think he accomplished his goal. 

Images by eflon used in background images under a Creative Commons license. Thank you.