After the Indians and Royals exchanged some plunkings during last weekend’s series, Indians closer Chris Perez took to Twitter after a win to let his followers know how he felt about the game, and the Royals:
Huge team win tonight; time for a sweep to tell the Royals it’s not “Our Time”, it’s #TribeTime. P.S.You hit us, we hit you. Period.
— Chris Perez (@ChrisPerez54) April 15, 2012
In case you weren’t sure when watching the game, Perez confirms that Jeanmar Gomez hit Mike Moustakas after Shin-Soo Choo was plunked by Jonathan Sanchez (again) the inning before. Why that never happens! But Perez was fined all of $750 for his tweet, which Joe Garagiola Jr., MLB’s Dean of Discipline, said ‘demonstrated a reckless disregard for the players on both clubs,’ and, if we’re going to strictly adhere to the MLB Social Media policy, I’m guessing broke Rule No. 8:
Displaying or transmitting Content that constitutes harassment of an individual or group of individuals, or threatens or advocates the use of violence against an individual or group of individuals.
I’d say Perez’s tweet advocates self defense more than anything else. It’s a nothing tweet and I guess that explains why he was fined bread crumbs. But he shouldn’t have been fined at all, especially when you consider that the players actually involved in “the use of violence” were only fined $500.