12 receive suspensions for heated Mariners-Angels incident

June 28th, 2022

Major League Baseball on Monday announced discipline for 12 members of the Mariners and Angels following Sunday's ugly benches-clearing incident in Anaheim that spilled into an on-field fight.

Here are the Mariners' suspensions:
• LF : seven games
• SS : five games
• CF Julio Rodríguez: two games

And the Angels:
• Manager Phil Nevin: 10 games
• 3B (currently on IL): five games when he returns and not allowed on Angels' bench next seven games
• Assistant pitching coach Dom Chiti: five games
• RHP : three games (not appealing)
• RHP Ryan Tepera: three games
• RHP Raisel Iglesias: two games
• Bench coach Ray Montgomery: two games
• Interpreter Manny Del Campo: two games
• Catching coach Bill Haselman: one game

MARINERS' REACTION
Each of Seattle's players will appeal. The Mariners have also been informed that they can stagger the suspensions, meaning that they won't be without the trio for the same stretch. The club cannot replace the players on the 40-man roster, meaning that when players are suspended, they'll be short-handed. Those three were the only Mariners players who were ejected from Sunday's eventual 2-1 loss.

Regardless of the appeal process, Monday's announcement is nonetheless a blow for the Mariners, who are already missing key contributors Ty France, Mitch Haniger and Kyle Lewis to injuries. Crawford, Winker and Rodríguez are three of their best bats among the healthy -- ranking among Seattle's top five in wins above replacement among position players, per FanGraphs. They also placed catcher Luis Torrens on the 10-day injured list on Monday with left shoulder inflammation, sustained in the fight.

One day later, the incident was the topic of conversation in the home clubhouse at T-Mobile Park, where the Mariners opened a seven-game homestand, beginning against Baltimore.

Winker, who was still frustrated postgame on Sunday, elaborated further after tensions had subsided on Monday, outlining his perspective of how things developed, saying that the fight was instigated by Rendon and Nevin from the dugout.

"If they throw [Wantz] out, it stops. If he hits me and they eject him, I go to first base. If the guy in the cast and their manager don't talk, nothing happens. But they were talking, and I didn't want to talk.

"As far as I'm concerned, it's done," Winker said. "We're just going to worry about next time we face them beating them. That's all that matters. No one is here to 'tough guy' talk to the media and no one's here to do this and do that or talk about fines, suspensions, whatever. That's going to happen regardless, so we're going to beat them."

Mariners manager Scott Servais, who was ejected Sunday but not suspended, also shared his thoughts before Monday's game.

"It's not something that should be a part of Major League Baseball," Servais said. "Certainly, you can say, 'Well, this should have happened or that should have happened.' You can't go back in time and change it. So there will be some suspensions coming and it'll hurt, because there are players involved that play a lot for us and they do a really good job. And any time you lose a key guy in the lineup, it hurts."

Rodríguez was not told why he was ejected on Sunday and was still unsure on Monday if he would be suspended. Asked for an explanation by a pool reporter on Sunday, crew chief Adrian Johnson said, "That will be in the incident report to Major League Baseball." Rodríguez was not seen throwing punches.

"No, I was just trying to pull people away," Rodríguez said.

The appeal process is expected to take place in the coming days.

ANGELS' REACTION
Nevin was hit the hardest and just 19 games into his stint as the club's interim manager. He'll be out for the club's three-game series against the White Sox, their three-game set in Houston this weekend, their two-game slate against the Marlins next week and the first two games of a four-game series in Baltimore next weekend. He said before Monday's game that he didn't put in Wantz as the opener with the intention to throw at Mariners players.

"That's not factual," Nevin said. "But I don't want to get into a war of words with that. What's done is done. Yesterday's over and done with. We're focused on the White Sox today."

Additionally, Rendon was suspended for five games for his actions after leaving the dugout. He'll serve his suspension next year when he returns from the injured list and is also prohibited from being in the Angels' dugout for the next seven games. So, it won't impact the Angels this season.

Wantz received three games for intentionally throwing at Winker in the second and isn't appealing, which means the Angels will be a man short in the bullpen in their three-game set against the White Sox.

Tepera received a three-game suspension while Iglesias was given a two-game suspension. But both Tepera and Iglesias are appealing and were eligible to play against the White Sox on Monday. Iglesias maintained his innocence on Sunday, but he threw a bucket of sunflower seeds onto the field once he was told he was ejected from the game.

Among the Angels' coaching staff, Chiti received a five-game suspension, Montgomery received two games, Del Campo received two games and Haselman received one game.

Nevin, Chiti and Del Campo started serving their suspensions on Monday, while Montgomery and Haselman will both serve once Chiti returns from his suspension. Montgomery is expected to fill in as manager for Nevin.