NBC SportsTalk: Should the Marlins have fired Ozzie Guillen? - MLB

I was on the tee-vee last night, debating with a man named Steak — really — about whether the Marlins should have fired Ozzie Guillen. File that under “things I never would have guessed I’d be doing this time last week.”

Anyway, one thought occurred to me after we taped this thing. If the Marlins truly thought that Ozzie Guillen was expressing support for Fidel Castro, his crimes and his policies, that certainly would have justified Guillen’s firing because that’s just nuts. If they did not think he was doing that, however, then he deserved no punishment whatsoever.

All of which just reinforces the notion that the five game suspension and the contrition tour is just bunk designed to mollify angry people, not to foster that “sensitivity that the game’s many cultures deserve” which Bud Selig was talking about yesterday, and that’s pretty weak sauce, even if the anger is understandable.

Oh well, whatever.

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CLEARWATER, Fla. — Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins needs surgery for a torn ACL after injuring his left knee Thursday fielding a grounder in a spring training game and is expected to miss a significant amount of time.

The Phillies did not say when Hoskins would have the surgery or exactly how long the slugging first baseman might be sidelined.

Hoskins hit 30 homers with 79 RBIs last season for the reigning National League champions.

He was backing up to play a chopper on Thursday when the ball popped out of his glove. Sooner after, he fell to the ground and began clutching his left knee. Teammates gathered around him before he was taken off of the field.

Hoskins, a free agent at the end of the season who turned 30 last week, hit six homers in Philadelphia’s playoff run last season. The Phillies lost to the Houston Astros in the World Series.

The injury was another blow for the Phillies, who will be without top pitching prospect Andrew Painter for another few weeks because of a sprained ligament in his right elbow. And slugger Bryce Harper isn’t expected back until around the All-Star break after undergoing Tommy John surgery in November.