Major League Baseball has denied a request from Bryce Harper and the Philadelphia Phillies, to allow extra time to put on an arm brace on once he gets on base, citing pace of play issues. 

Yesterday, Rob Thomson spoke with reporters and told them he was worried in the ninth inning because Harper didn’t have time to put his brace on while he was on base. At the time, Nick Castellanos even burned a timeout to try to give Harper some extra seconds but that wasn’t enough. 

After the game, Harper addressed the issue and said that he brought it up to Major League Baseball and even contacted Rob Manfred directly, although they wouldn’t approve his request. 

Here’s what Bryce Harper told Matt Gelb from The Athletic

“We talked all the way up to Mr. Manfred and they said we wouldn’t have more time to do that, [It’s a] pace of play thing, of course. It’s going to be tough. … Sometimes it gets jammed or caught. I hope maybe some umpires have some feel about it. Some umpires usually do. I appreciate that out of them. But we’ll see. I know they’re going to try to give me extra time, I want to be able to get it on and get it going.”

Cool. Nice job, MLB. Idiots.

Forget one of the league’s biggest stars who just came back from Tommy John surgery faster than any human in the history of mankind while capturing the eyes and ears of all sports fans across America in the progress.

Why should anyone give him a few extra seconds to put on a protective brace so he can play baseball? 

Seriously though, give me a fucking break. This is absolutely ridiculous and pretty tone deaf from Manfred and the rest of the crazy people inside the MLB headquarters. 

Not to mention, Harper reached base FIVE TIMES yesterday and only had an issue once.

We are literally talking about a matter of seconds to ensure player safety and the league won’t budge. 

MLB issued a statement explaining their decision to deny Harper’s request. Get a load of these guys…lol 

“MLB does not make exceptions to the playing rules for individual players. The league consulted multiple orthopedists and athletic trainers before deciding on the current policy, which is that players are allowed to wear protective equipment while running the bases, provided they put it on within the proper time frames.”

Could this all be about Bryce Harper’s comments about the new rules from early April? Maybe. He told ESPN that players “want our game back” when asked about it. Doesn’t seem like he and Rob Manfred are hanging out anytime soon. 

Regardless, the MLB will grant Harper extra time when he walks up to the plate tomorrow for his first at-bat in Citizens Bank Park this season which will make their denial of extra time for his arm brace look even more stupid. 

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