Benetti: Why MLB should rethink its beanball rules and punishments

On Friday, Major League Baseball had to decide which of these was worst:

A). Punching a player who said, "I'm not talking to you" and set off a brawl.

B). Retaliating and punching the player who did A).

C). Hitting another player in the leg after warnings were issued and saying afterward (according to mlive.com): "Hey man, no hard feelings but you've got to understand the way this game is going … it could have been way worse … with me, if hitting a guy in the leg is what I have to do, then that's what I did. Fortunately for me, I know where my pitches are going and I hit a guy in the leg today to take care of my teammates and protect them."

D). Being the manager when C) happened.

E). Hitting another player in the head with a ball.

F). Punching defenseless players in the pile during the brawl.

G). Throwing behind yet another player and being ejected.

Now, take a minute and put them in your own order, then read on.

In order of severity, the punishments, in descending order, were this:

1st place: A (7 games)

2nd place tie: C & F (4 games)

4th place: B (2 games)

5th place: D (1 game)

6th place tie: E & G (0 games)

This was not an easy task for baseball, certainly.

Sorting out what happened in the Yankees-Tigers multiple-benches-clearing bash on Thursday is thorny for a number of reasons. But our take-away is that defending oneself against a punch at home plate (after saying "I'm not talking to you," yes) is more reprehensible than hitting someone in the helmet with a pitch at 98 miles per hour.

I know pitchers need to throw inside. I get that. It's a way to establish the plate and its surrounding territories and gain an advantage both spatially and psychologically against a hitter.

The good news from this deal is that James McCann, the Detroit receiver hit in the skull by Dellin Betances' wayward pitch, is ostensibly fine. He played Friday night in Chicago. He's not on the concussion list. Everything is intact.

But what if it wasn't?

Say McCann suffered a severe injury. Do we truly think Betances would have been suspended zero games? I don't think so. Major League Baseball would have felt the need to act.

Legislating against results doesn't work. If we only cite people for driving 30 over the speed limit if they get into fiery crashes, many more people would be turning our roads into the Autobahn. Those escaping citations would be just as dangerous as those whose cars are burning, but they wouldn't be touched.

Rules need to be directed at acts, and that's why the beanball issue is so difficult.

There's a chance Betances didn't mean to hit McCann. If he missed his intended spot by inches (or the ball slipped out of his hand), logic says he shouldn't be as culpable as someone who actually meant to throw at the head. Except that the head comes along with high personal risks.

That's where "strict liability" comes in. The term means, essentially, that harm happened and the person harmed doesn't have to prove why it did.

If baseball had a strict liability rule for pitchers who hit batters in the head, we wouldn't have to ask what Betances meant to do. He'd just be suspended. Fair or not, the rules would apply to every pitcher and they'd all be aware.

And we would no longer have to see a pitcher who hit a batter in the leg be suspended for longer than one who hit someone in the head.

• Jason Benetti is a play-by-play broadcaster for the Chicago White Sox, as well as ESPN. Follow him on Twitter @jasonbenetti.