Suspension Predictions and Strasburg Surgery Day

It is a fateful day for NatsTown for several reasons today. First, it's Strasburg Tommy John surgery day. Good luck to Stephen in a long, stressful recovery. We all look forward to seeing you again soon... ish.

Also today, MLB is expected to lay down the suspensions for Wednesday's ugly Nationals/Marlins brawl. While I have no insight into the inner workings of the MLB disciplinary office, I thought I would take the time to predict some of the suspensions that would be handed down in bullet points, so here we go:

• Nyjer Morgan - Season - He's already facing a 7 game suspension for an incident in Philadelphia. The league says they won't weigh other incidents when considering Nyjer's discipline. That can't possibly be true. Nyjer has shown signs of disregard for the safety of other players and fans. He taunted fans on the way off the field after the brawl. The league is fed up with Nyjer Morgan stories in the playoff hunt, and they want it over with.

• Chris Volstad - 10 games - Volstad threw at Nyjer twice in one game. MLB doesn't look upon that kind of thing kindly, even if it may have been warranted. It's equivalent to two of Volstad's starts.

• Gaby Sanchez - 5 games - By now, everyone has seen Sanchez, a rookie, absolutely wreck Nyjer after he jumped and punched Volstad. Sanchez was the 3rd guy into the battle, and with the severity of the clotheslined hit, I think he'll get a work week off.

• Doug Slaten - 1 game - Slaten hit Gaby Sanchez to retaliate for his hit on Nyjer. You have to imagine that he gets some time to think about what he's done. No more than a game or two, though.

• Edwin Rodriguez - 1 game - Pitchers don't usually throw at guys without some encouragement from the manager. Volstad threw at Nyjer twice, so it will be a game off for Rodriguez. Maybe two.

• Jim Riggleman - 1 game - Same as Rodriguez, since Doug Slaten hit Sanchez.

• Pat Listach - 1 game - This is a stretch, and I'm not sure that he will actually get suspended, but I think with the image of Listach on top of Chris Volstad at the bottom of the pile is pretty damning. You never want to see a coach IN the pile. He'll probably get something.

I'm taking a leap here, and I look forward to seeing how accurate I am. I'd love to hear all of your predictions in the comments section and will try to respond to them throughout the day.