GERMAN'S SUSPENSION: FAIR OR TOO HARSH?

On Thursday, Major League Baseball finally announced their decision on Domingo German's investigation. It was good timing because before the announcement was made we were wondering IS MLB DRAGGING THEIR FEET WITH GERMAN? Now that we know the outcome of the investigation I'm wondering about something else....

So Yankee fans know now that German will serve an 81 game suspension, but 63 of those games will occur during the upcoming season. The other 18 games count as time served from 2019 when he missed the end of the regular season and the postseason. So we know the punishment....but now we are left to wonder if the number of games missed fair or is it too harsh?

I am not questioning if German did something wrong here. There's no place for domestic violence, so we knew there would be consequences for this. German got his suspension and we know he's not appealing his suspension. He has agreed to counseling, and will make a donation to Sanctuary for Families, a non-profit organization dedicated to aiding victims of domestic violence. Rob Manfred and Major League Baseball are making a statement here....Domestic Violence will not be tolerated anymore. This isn't the first time baseball has dealt with domestic violence, but German's case isn't quite the same as ones in the past.

The difference here is that German’s suspension is the longest for a player who never was charged with a crime and fourth longest overall. In June 2018, San Diego Padres pitcher Jose Torres was given a 100 game suspension.

In July 2019 Odubel Herrera of the Phillies was given 85 games and May 2016 Hector Olivera on the Atlanta Braves was given 82 games. If you don't recognize any of those names it's because none of these players have appeared in the major leagues since their suspensions.

Last week we talked about the New York Post said HERE that "German’s offenses don’t appear to be as egregious as those of Astros closer Roberto Osuna, who served a 75-game suspension last year, and they’re regarded as worse than Mets reliever Jeurys Familia, who sat out the first 15 games of the 2017 season." We said that the article made it sound like the New York Post was guessing that the suspension would be between  and 75 games based on their logic. I was skeptical about it.

We will probably never get additional information on what happened exactly. I just wonder how MLB concluded that 81 games was the right number when German was never charged with a crime. On the other hand, Aroldis Chapman was suspended for the first 30 games of the 2016 season after shooting a gun in his garage after a domestic dispute that prosecutors decided not to pursue.

I'm glad MLB is taking a tough stand on domestic violence. I just wonder how they got to 81 games and is that number justifiable when no charges were filed against German. I guess we have a long time to debate it since German is out until June.

Do you agree with Manfred's decision of 81 games? What will the Yankees do with German after his suspension is up? I hope Manfred will be this tough when he makes his ruling against the cheating Astros. I'm anxiously awaiting that decision too.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @nyprincessj 

IS MLB DRAGGING THEIR FEET WITH GERMAN?

Spring Training will be here before we know it and the Yankees are still building the best team for 2020. We've heard about rumors to add a reliever, a left handed bat and a new backup catcher. All things that can and will be sorted out with time. But we've had a lot of time already dedicated to Domingo German's suspension....and the future is still unclear.

I guess I am not always the most patient person in the world, but as far as German's domestic violence investigation it's been four months now. That's a long time for this process, so isn't that enough to investigate and get a decision on this IF we have all of the facts?

I would like to think so. Back in November we heard from multiple sources that MLB was close to a decision, in fact there are three HERE, HERE and HERE all giving us the same information...."decision coming soon." So what gives?

Did they just get bad information? Or is there more to the story NOW that we didn't know before? The New York Post even wrote "While a penalty hasn’t been determined for the Yankees’ right-hander, German’s offenses don’t appear to be as egregious as those of Astros closer Roberto Osuna, who served a 75-game suspension last year, and they’re regarded as worse than Mets reliever Jeurys Familia, who sat out the first 15 games of the 2017 season. The fact that German spent the last nine games of the season plus the Yankees’ nine postseason contests on administrative leave upon discovery of the incident figure to be part of the negotiation between Major League Baseball and the Players Association for the final number."

We all know this isn't the first domestic violence case that MLB has encountered, so the fact that it is taking four months now leaves me wondering why this investigation is taking this long. If "German's offenses don't appear to be as egregious" as Osuna but "worse than Jeurys Familia" and that is factual information they should have enough information to make a decision, right?

German already missed the final weeks of the regular season and the postseason without being officially reprimanded by MLB. German was put on administrative leave and still does not know what additional consequences he will have as a result of this investigation. So the question of "how much more time" is still out there. The New York Post write up makes it sound like it is between 15-75 more games....we'll see if that is accurate.

We are getting close to two months since MLB was in the final stages of their investigation and players report for Spring Training next month. I'm sure the Yankees and German would like to have resolution to this so they can both prepare for the future. I don't condone what German did, but MLB should have this investigation wrapped up by now assuming they have all of the facts, and German should know what his punishment is by now.

Do you think this investigation is taking too long? How much more time do you think German will  miss? Comment and tell us.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @nyprincessj 

THAT TRADE BETWEEN THE NATS & JAYS? IT'S OFFICIAL!

The Washington Nationals are in the midst of a makeover after their disappointing season last year— one punctuated with Jonathan Papelbon choking Bryce Harper in the dugout late in the season.

In their latest move, the Nats have unloaded the guy that Papelbon replaced—closer Drew Storen is heading north of the border to Toronto in return for outfielder Ben Revere.

Revere adds another lefty bat in the lineup (in addition to 2B Daniel Murphy who the Nats added this week) and plugs a hole in the outfield left by Denard Span. Span was signed by San Francisco as a free agent on Thursday.

(In Photo: Daniel Murphy)
Storen performed well with 29 saves and a 1.73 ERA until the Nats got Papelbon. Storen was asked to take over eighth inning reliever role and didn’t get another save for the rest of the season—which ended in September after slamming his dumb in his locker. I don’t see his role changing since the Jays have Roberto Osuna as their main closer, but a fresh start and new locker room for Storen may help him get back to his performance level.

This trade should also give some indication to the looming question for Nats fans on whether the team would keep Papelbon as their closer.

GM Mike Rizzo repeatedly told reporters that he would keep both Papelbon and Storen in the bullpen unless a real baseball offer was made. With this trade of Storen, it’s likely that Papelbon will remain in D.C. unless Rizzo can get another quality arm for unloaded Papelbon.


   
--Alexis Garcia, BYB's "Eye on MLB" Columnist &
Los Angeles Dodger fan
Twitter:  @heylexyg



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