Mike Rizzo on MLB's betting suspensions: 'You have to be smarter than that'

The big news in baseball this week? Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano was ruled permanently ineligible and four other players were given one-year bans from baseball for betting on games.

And to Nats GM Mike Rizzo, that is just stupid.

“I don’t want to comment on this instance specifically because I don’t know the details, but in general, if you’re betting on baseball, what are you doing?” Rizzo said during his weekly appearance on Wednesday with 106.7 The Fan's The Sports Junkies, which is presented exclusively by our partners at MainStreet Bank — Cheer Local. Bank Local. Put Our Team in Your Office. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender. “You know you’ll be banned, and is it that important to you to bet on it? You have to be smarter than that; you won’t get away with it, because they have some pretty smart people looking out for it, and they’re gonna get you. I blame nobody but the players.”

Rizzo and the Nationals remind players of all of MLB’s rules each spring, especially on gambling as it has now become so prevalent, but this is another example how there are always learning opportunities.

“This is something we remind our players of every year, and this will be another opportunity to educate our guys further,” Rizzo said. “It makes no sense to me to risk your career to place a few bets. This is a good opportunity to remind the players to be smart and not risk your career for something so frivolous.”

That all said, since gambling and betting is so prevalent in sports these days, should there be a larger conversation now about Pete Rose and his lifetime ban?

“I loved him, he was a great player and certainly a Hall of Fame talent, but risk and reward, that’s how I look at it, and there’s consequences in life. This was a big one,” Rizzo said. “He broke the cardinal rule that gets you banned for life, unless the Commissioner changes his mind. There’s room for conversations on it because gambling has been incorporated into the landscape, so there is some conversation there that could happen, but the rule was there then, too, and he chose to break it.”