Mike Axisa makes a number of observations about the Yankees deal for Aroldis Chapman, but this one stings:
I think it’s pretty gross the Yankees essentially used a domestic violence incident to buy low on a player. That’s how I feel. You’re welcome to feel differently. The Dodgers had a deal in place for Chapman earlier this offseason, then backed away when news of the incident got out. (Here’s the story if you haven’t seen it.) The Reds then dropped their asking price — Brian Cashman confirmed it during a conference call yesterday — and the Yankees swooped in. There are a lot of people out there whose lives have been impacted by domestic violence and I think turning a blind eye to it sends a very bad message. Pro sports teams — it’s not just baseball, it happens in every sport — have shown time and time again they will overlook stuff like this as long as the player is good enough. I’d like to think the Yankees hold themselves to higher standards but it’s clear they don’t. It’s one thing for a player to be a jerk and difficult to get along with. Allegations of domestic violence are much more serious. Not a good look, Yankees.
I suppose this is one of the perverse incentives of the suspension system. If MLB decides Chapman should be suspended, the Yankees can argue that he served his time and learned his lesson. They can even point to Alex Rodriguez as an example of the team being wrong about wanting to welcome back a player. If MLB decides not to suspend Chapman, the Yankees are geniuses for taking advantage of the Reds. If there is no system in place, then teams have to deal with the public relations flak with no support from MLB. It’s quite possible in that system, Chapman would be persona non grata. Note that the Boston Red Sox releases Wil Cordero in his prime due to such an issue. His salary suffered for a couple of seasons before he bounced back a bit, but he probably cost himself millions of dollars. If the Red Sox had MLB cover, they might have kept him.
(There are other examples of this. One that comes to mind is the idea that umpires issuing warnings on hit batters leads to more retaliation than letting the teams handle it themselves. The other is the difficulty of suing tobacco companies due to the federal regulation of the industry.)
If he is suspended, they’ll get an extra year of control before he hits free agency since players don’t accrue service time on on a domestic violence suspension. That’s another perverse incentive.
Hm, I’m not sure I agree. I mean, I’m totally with Axisa that unlike steroids or being a clubhouse jerk or showboating or any of that stuff, domestic abuse is a serious moral issue, so I do not put Chapman in the same bag with various baseball playing schmucks.
However, the Yankees aren’t in any way rewarding Chapman. He won’t make any extra money or get any benefits at all from the trade, and it wouldn’t cost him a cent if every team in baseball refused to trade for him. So I don’t see that “buying low” is sacrificing any moral principle for the sake of winning.
Axisa is right, of course, that the Yankees have in the past made a public showing of having ‘character guys’ on the team, valuing personal attributes and not just baseball talent. So, they won’t have that image anymore. But I don’t see that they’re doing anything that’s actually wrong.
My niece was an officer in the military police.. One case she excused herself was that of a husbands friend due to a conflict. His wife falsely accused him of abuse after he found she was cheating on him with a fellow officer. Both were officers. He was court martialed and ultimately convicted on very flimsy evidence due in part from pressure by current Administration to do something about abuse of women soldiers, and is doing time now. Life is ruined. My niece and her husband left the service at the first opportunity.
My point is, we are sometimes too quick to assume such allegations are true. Its best to let the criminal justice system work in such cases, as we do in virtually every other criminal matter players may be involved with except steroids. Even then, they don’t always get it right, but at least there is a system in place that has to be far superior to MLB’s dictatorial justice.
Wyy MLBPA leadership gave MLB’s commissioner carte blanche on this is mind boggling. Just surrendering players rights to a fair trial. One could imagine conflict of interest in terms of what players get the harshest penalties. Players who have large contracts and are not performing, players who get service time stopped and teams get an additional year of control, etc. Horowitz has shown arbitration is a joke so there really is no fair appeal process since MLBPA refused to exercise their right to fire him after the Arod hearing and he then went on to rule Bonds was not blackballed, both of which were laughable
My own thoughts on the matter, which I have no doubt will prove terribly unpopular: sports leagues have no business policing criminal matters.
Rob McMillin » Thanks Rob!