PHILADELPHIA -- The Mariners were bracing for disciplinary action from Major League Baseball towards Victor Robles after he threw his bat towards an opposing pitcher on Sunday evening while on a rehab assignment at Triple-A Tacoma, and the sanctions indeed landed before Tuesday’s 6-4 loss to the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.
Robles was suspended 10 games and received an undisclosed fine for his conduct, and the suspension will not go into effect until he returns to the active big league roster -- which itself will impact the Mariners’ intended personnel construction in the immediate future.
Robles is appealing, and the discipline will be held in abeyance until that process is complete.
The Mariners had been targeting Robles’ return at some point during their upcoming homestand, likely next week. However, president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said at Citizens Bank Park that those plans might now “need to be altered.”
“Now, the timing isn't really up to us anymore,” Dipoto added. “We have to just wait until this kind of runs its course.”
Whenever Robles is activated and begins serving the suspension, the Mariners will be forced to play one man short. However, rosters will expand from 26 to 28 players on Sept. 1.
But among those expansions, teams may only add one additional pitcher -- which is typically the more valuable addition, given the wear and tear of the season by this point. Activating Robles before Sept. 1 would both force Seattle to play one man short until rosters expand and subtract a current player as a corresponding move.
“We'll get the extra spot, but in theory, then you're losing that spot,” Dipoto said. “So, I'm not sure it actually helps. What it means is that if Vic doesn't come off of his rehab until September, it just means we won't be able to have that extra position player unless we forgo the extra pitcher, because you're only allowed to have one [extra] pitcher.
“And everybody at this time of year, us included, invites having that extra arm. It's a long year, and that's where it affects us. We just have to kind of reassess what we keep at that time, and we probably won't know until it's kind of right in front of us, just based on what's happening around our team, which way to go.”
If Robles isn’t activated until Sept. 1 and the suspension isn’t reduced, the earliest he could return is Sept. 12 against the Angels -- more than two full weeks from his targeted return based on the timeline that Dipoto shared on Tuesday.
It’s unclear if the suspension’s framework could be altered, potentially allowing Robles to serve portions or the entirety of the suspension in the Minors, rather than seeking a reduction to the number of games at the Major League level, which is typically the most likely outcome if appeals are successful.
Because there’s no denying that Tuesday’s sanctions impact the Mariners team wide as much as Robles individually, especially given that he’s been on the IL since April 7 with a left shoulder dislocation and that the incident took place in the Minors.
“The event itself is kind of unprecedented,” Dipoto said, “which is why to have a Major League player on a rehab assignment who's kind of caught up in a moment like that, it just doesn't happen. So there was no real precedent for ever having dealt with anything like this before. So [in terms of] the days, the dollars, we were anticipating something significant, and it's pretty significant.”
Robles was ejected in the third inning of Sunday’s game when he was hit by an 89.8 mph fastball from Las Vegas right-hander Joey Estes in the chest, as Robles’ bat came through the zone while he was attempting to get out of the way.
Technically, it was not ruled a hit-by-pitch, though Robles had been hit by a pitch three times in 18 plate appearances on his rehab assignment until that point, all against Las Vegas and once from Estes, who’d also hit Robles in the big leagues last Sept. 4 in Oakland.
Robles issued a lengthy apology via his Instagram on Monday, in which he also revealed that he lost his mother this year unexpectedly, and also expressed regret to the Rainiers' clubhouse.
“I feel badly for him,” Dipoto said, “because if that's your only view of Victor Robles is picking a video of that off social media, this is a wonderful guy. He just had a moment where anger got the best of him, and he reacted in a way that you just can't react.”