Dee Gordon, the sweet-swinging and fast-running second baseman of the Miami Marlins, is going to be gone for a while.
But that's not the sad part. The sad part is how many people will be too angry to miss him and how many tough questions have to be asked in the meantime.
The news itself is a tough pill to swallow in its own right. Shortly after the Marlins finished off a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Gordon's old team, with a 5-3 win Thursday night, Major League Baseball blindsided everyone with the announcement that the two-time All-Star will sit for 80 games as punishment for riding dirty.