St. Louis Cardinals: Everything that is wrong with baseball in one moment

The St. Louis Cardinals are known for their “Cardinals way,” and MLB is becoming known for its conflicts and cover-ups.

The St. Louis Cardinals were perpetrators of theft themselves when they stole information from the Houston Astros organization. Or rather Chris Correa was guilty of the actions. MLB levied punishment against the Cardinals but their investigation (and that of the FBI) took a long time for such a little return.

MLB is faced once again (too frequently facing such things) with the need to investigate the behavior of someone affiliated with baseball. The most recent occurrence happened in last night’s World Series game when Yuli Gurriel made an inappropriate gesture that was captured on national television.

If you weren’t watching, there’s a clip of it below. In the bottom of the second inning, Gurriel slammed a home run off of the great Yu Darvish. Once Gurriel- a person of minority decent nonetheless- made it back to the dugout to celebrate, he was caught laughing and making a gesture with his hands mocking Darvish’s eyes.

According to what has been released, this gesture was made between two teammates and that Gurriel never intended for it to be broadcast. But, we all know, that “never intending to broadcast” does not excuse an inexcusable offense of this nature.

Following the moment’s broadcast, Twitter went crazy. World Series watchers were calling for Gurriel’s suspension and removal from the Astros’ lineup. Watchers were anxious for the post-game interviews in hopes of learning just what was going through Gurriel’s mind.

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Once the game finished, however, Gurriel did not take to the podium. Instead, he was interviewed in the clubhouse at his locker and questions were quickly shutdown and ended shortly after they began. We know today that Gurriel did apologize for the incident but would he have done so had he not been nationally broadcast?

All of that considered, the real problem with MLB in this (ignoring for a moment the human flaw of racism) is their slow-footedness. We know that Matt Carpenter is a slow runner, having even lost a foot-race with Yadier Molina, but MLB is even slower in its reaction and punishment of shameful actions.

Earlier in the 2017 season, MLB faced shameful actions from Kevin Pillar and Matt Joyce and it did respond (not terribly quickly though).

Even more so, and despite the fact that we now know that Manfred is to speak on the issue at 4pm ET, MLB’s slothful process is highlighted unfortunately once again in the proceedings of this Gurriel/Darvish moment.

And there it is: even if an investigation could happen faster, the appeals process under the current and proposed CBA allow a player to continue to appear on the diamond during an appeal. I have no problem with due process during the season but once the postseason begins, this needs to be truncated.

My final point is echoed by so many around Twitter and it is the fact that Major League Baseball must do something about the Cleveland Indians franchise or- at the very least- change the logo.

So, MLB, you have many things to change. You should certainly enforce action against the pitiful and mean thing that Gurriel did and hopefully Manfred will hand down punishment at 4pm. Additionally, Gurriel- to reflect his genuine apology- would be wise not to appeal whatever punishment is levied.

Next: Closer candidates

What do you think the punishment will be? What do you think it should be? Let me know on Twitter and thanks for reading!