Yankees: Suspensions revealed for Aroldis Chapman melee and Kevin Cash got off easy

Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman has been suspended for headhunting, and Rays manager Kevin Cash and Aaron Boone will also sit out.

After fighting back against the Rays’ up-and-in cheddar and taking things more than a step too far, Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman had to see a suspension coming when he declined to talk to the media after Tuesday night’s game.

As expected, the punishment dropped before Wednesday’s series finale, and it’s a bit different than many of us suspected.

Bracing for the extreme following Rob Manfred’s hefty eight-game suspension for Joe Kelly (later reduced to five), Yankees fans instead will only lose Chapman for three games, an amount of games that can easily be balanced with his workload.

On the other hand (sighs), you’re not going to like Kevin Cash’s suspension very much.

So Chapman will miss three games for what amounts to bad optics. There was no way to prove intent beyond a shadow of a doubt, but after cooler heads failed to prevail, MLB had to levy something here. Three games won’t affect New York too much; their closer will appeal and then elect to serve his suspension whenever he needs a mini-break.

As for Cash and Boone, though? The Rays manager cut a WWE promo following Tuesday’s game, claiming he’s got a “whole damn stable of guys who throw 98 miles per hour” that are ready for the Yanks in the series finale. After grandstanding against headhunting, he basically admitted he was planning on retaliating by creating some bruises on Wednesday night. He’ll now sit out that game, but that’s it.

And what did Boone do? He was blamed for Chapman’s malfeasance, and got hit with the same penalty as a man who produced the postgame equivalent of the wide-eyed throat-slitting gesture. Doesn’t make much sense.

Neither manager will be around as the histrionics continue on Wednesday, and that’s probably better.

But we’re just as confused at how MLB deemed Boone and Cash’s actions to be equivalent as we are thankful that they didn’t throw the book at Chapman and change a pennant race.

Cash had the chance to be the universally-acknowledged victim, but couldn’t get through a solemn postgame rant without escalating the situation significantly. Just because he doesn’t throw 101 with spotty control doesn’t mean he isn’t equally responsible for inciting whatever violence is to come.

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