Astros’ Yuli Gurriel Suspended For 5 Games In 2018 Season
The Dodgers dropped game 3 of the World Series to the Astros, but that wasn’t what made the headlines following the game. Instead, it was a racial gesture made by Astros’ Yuli Gurriel that was on everyone’s mind.
The gesture came in the Astros’ dugout after Gurriel had taken Dodgers’ Yu Darvish deep in the bottom of the second inning. Check out the video below and see for yourself.
https://twitter.com/CoIIier/status/924077740990623745
The video went viral almost immediately and caused a real uproar on Twitter, and rightfully so. There is no for room for this in Major League Baseball, or in any setting for that matter. Arguments were being made for both sides, with some saying Gurriel should be suspended, to others saying everybody should just move on and that he did not mean anything bad by it. Well, it looks like Comissioner Rob Manfred will try and please both of these parties.
On Saturday, Manfred spoke to the media and announced that Yulieski Gurriel will be suspended for the first five games, without pay, of the 2018 season. He also said that the salary will be donated to charity and that Gurriel will undergo sensitivity training in the off-season.
One of the major points that Commissioner Rob Manfred brought up was that he did not want to penalize the rest of the Astros players for Gurriel’s actions. Because of this, he decided that the suspension should be served in 2018 as opposed to in the World Series. It’s definitely a tough position to be in, and I get that he wanted to be fair to both sides, but it doesn’t really make sense to suspend him for 5 games in 2018. It’s kind of like saying that what Yuli Gurriel did was bad, but not “suspending him from the World Series” bad, which just causes confusion.
Here is more from Manfred on the situation:
The Major League Baseball Players Association also tweeted a statement on Saturday saying that Gurriel will not appeal the suspension, which is definitely the smart move on his part. Lastly, the Houston Astros organization commented on Yuli Gurriel’s actions. You can read the full statement below.
The Astros have released the following statement: pic.twitter.com/BKo6b1CLV7
— Houston Astros (@astros) October 28, 2017
How do you feel about this decision? Do you think it’s fair, or did Gurriel get off to easy? Let us know in the comments below!
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That is absolutely bs that he did not get suspended in game 5. Who cares about the regular season it’s what he did now that should matter. He should have definitely been suspended in game 5. Yuri and Astros u have lost my respect
Mr. Manfred,
With all due respect when you say you didnt want to punish the whole team in the World Series I find that wrong but your going to punish him after the World Series. Teams fight win make mistakes but actions for there mistakes must immediately be rectify. I am Japanese American and an offended by Gurriel. I also believe we makes mistakes and learn from them, but to let him off the hook for a later punishment is offensive.
He should be suspended for the rest of the series! Such a disgrace to the Majors! I can’t believe that he’s only suspended for the next season! Fuck you Gurriel!
As a lifelong fan of baseball I find myself wondering why? Why the gesture, why the delayed suspension, why aren’t we asking if the gesture caught on camera was all there was to it, or had there been more, ( remarks, tauts or other gestures). If a player felt comfortable making this insulting, demeaning and racially charged gesture in the dugout with the possibility of cameras I have to wonder about the general prevailing attitude of the team as a whole.
The Commissioner should also have considered the feelings of the fans in addition to the the “fairness” to the teams involved.
He should be suspended NOW, not in 2018!
He did this to the poor guy that lasted only 1 2/3 innings, gave up four runs.
In a game his team fell behind 2-1 in the series. He already felt horrible, then to have this mockery. His suspension should have been WS game 4 when the awareness for him & all the viewing audience is fresh!
Oh racism is not tolerated in MLB. But….. its not important enoigh to take care of right now. It can wait. Total BS either its a problem and you handle it, or like most businesses that generate tons of money from us it can wait. Its actually more insulting to make his BS statement and say oh we will punish him later, then just say oh we dont give a shit and no punishment be handed down.
Darvish has had his say. He is a class act. Not so much Gurriel. He has shown the world his true self. Time for us to let it go and get back to the WS.
Ethnic prejudice has no place in sports, and baseball must recognize that truth if it is to maintain stature as a national game.-Branch Rickey
Kids are taught sportsmanship at a young age- and Yuli’s example is exactly what kids should NOT be emulating. MLB should have taken a harder stance but at least they did address it. Hoping for a Dodgers win which would silence the Astros and show who has class!!
Ethnic prejudice has no place in sports, and baseball must recognize that truth if it is to maintain stature as a national game.-Branch Rickey
Kids are taught sportsmanship at a young age- and Yuli’s example is exactly what kids should NOT be emulating. MLB should have taken a harder stance but at least they did address it. Hoping for a Dodgers win which would silence the Astros and show who has class!!
Gurriel should absolutely have been suspended from the World Series! What a childish, racist, utterly stupid thing to do! If the Commissioner can’t bring himself to do his job then the Astros management should have! Someone, other than Darvish, needs to show some class and make an absolutel statement that this behavior is completely unacceptable.
He should be suspended for the rest of 2017 not 6 months later. And not wanting to hurt the rest of the team to bad he should of thought about that before that stupid stunt he pulled.
It’s a team sport. How you practice affects how you play, how you play affects the out come of the game. As a high school coach I cringed when I heard about this, wrong message is put out there. He should have been suspended immediately. I’ve been on the receiving end of racial slurs, there’s no place in the game or society for this type of actions, no place.
Shamful on all accounts. You don’t discipline a child six months after he/she behaves badly.
It’s team sport. Everything you do (positive or negative) represents the team. He should have been suspended immediately, at least one WS game, then perhaps 4 during the 2018 season.
He totally got off easy.
Sensitivity Training?! What a joke! His pay going to the Astros Foundation? Another joke.
To me it’s insult to injury.
Shameful!
Gurriel should have been suspended for the rest of the series. Gurriel should have thought about of the rest of his team mates before he mocked Darvish. If a Black player had been mocked there would have been no question about a immediate suspension for the rest of the series. Delaying the suspension until next season is like punishing you dog a week after the dod has done something bad.
This is not the naive act of a very young major leaguer. Gurriel is old enough to know what he is doing and to think that this act would be well received by those around him who witnessed it. Racism is everywhere, and Texas has more than its share. I’m glad MLB and the media reacted to it as they did. Suspension for five games next year is a negligible penalty. I would support suspension for a World Series game.
No question about it Gurriel should have been suspended immediately! Not six months after the fact!
I think the punishment is crap and if you really want someone to learn their lesson he should’ve been suspended for at least one or two games of the World Series with no pay and still donating his money as they are I think five games of next season is nothing when you consider how many games they play he doesn’t want to hurt the rest of the Astros for his actions but if you think about it it’s a team sport If they lose the game it’s not one single player’s fault they all lose togetherLittle disappointed in the commissioner I thought he would’ve done better than this
He should be put out now. It happen this year not next. It may effect your team but maybe he should have thought about that before making these faces. Throw him out.
For somebody with a maricon haircut a a sissy first name, this moron should be the last person making fun of someone else.
*and a sissy first name
Suspend him now. Anything less is a gutless move by the Commissionet!!!!!!!
Lame. Not much of a punishment at all. When do we do something that has real bite? This was less than a slap on the wrist. Who cares about “the rest of the team”? They should bear the brunt as well. Joke.
Would you delay punishment if your child displayed this kind of behavior? And would this punishment have been enough if he mocked another ethnic group!
Yu Darvish is the Class Act here! Just ask one of his Ranger Fans. Gurriel deserves more than a slap on the wrist .
He thought he was being funny like showing off with his silly hairdo. But this ain’t funny.
Once again MLB takes the low road. If they wanted to be fair, he should have been suspended 1 game during the WS, and the rest the next season.