Soft Justice

So Ubaldo Jimenez gets a five game suspension and an undisclosed fine for purposely hitting Rockies shortstop and former teammate Troy Tulowitzki with a pitch on Sunday. The Indians pitcher will appeal. Instead of appealing he should be very thankful that the suspension was basically a slap on the wrist.
A five game suspension for a pitcher is much different than a five game suspension for a regular player. To a position player, five games means he sits out five games. For a pitcher, in the days of five man rotations, means he gets his start pushed back a day. Big deal.
If you want to make a pitcher's suspension mean something, then make it a 15-game suspension. Then he would miss at least two and probably three starts. That has some bite to it.
Is a five game suspension going to stop a pitcher from throwing at a player? I don't think so.
Suppose Tulowitzki suffered a broken elbow? He could have missed 40, 50 games? More? I don't know. But I do know that a pitcher pretty much can mess with a guy's career and a team's season with little in the form of punishment from baseball.