Yesterday, the disturbing allegations against Domingo German came amid a cloud of questions: Without a police report, without a filed complaint, without a hearing, without a completed investigation, German apparently has been banned from the post season, what could be the most important - and thus, visible - games of his life. The charges were barely 24-hours old before a sentence was rendered. Al Franken, anybody?
This NY Times article examines some of the questions orbiting German's situation, which seems to have been affected - and amplified - by the fact that the alleged spousal abuse happened at or after a charity event attended by MLB staffers. Apparently, they witnessed or heard things; hence, German's 7-day administrative leave, which in a few hours morphed into a season-ending ban. Bang... just like that.
Listen: If German assaulted his wife - or anybody - he needs to be punished, according to the rules. And frankly, the cloud over him during the playoffs might not be worth all the media scorn that would erupt. (That's probably why the Yankees seem to be cutting bait.) It's a lonely place, asking questions in possible defense of a guy charged with beating his wife. But I wonder if German will get a fair shake. It looks like he didn't even get a hearing before being banished.
The Yankees, playing in Gotham, face far more intense scrutiny than other teams. At some point next month, Houston will bring in closer Robert Osuna, the 24-year-old lightning bolt with 36 saves. I trust the truth squads of Fox and ESPN will neglect to mention Osuna's 2018 domestic violence charges, which last Sept. 24 were neatly lawyered into a restraining order, so he could pitch in the post-season. That came with this piece of poetry from the team: “The Houston Astros look forward to Roberto continuing his commitment to be a productive and caring part of our community. The Astros remain committed to increase our support regarding the issues of domestic violence and abuse of any kind. We have engaged with a number of local, state and national organizations — and we look forward to working with them in the short term and over the long term.”
What nice words. Surely, the bards are working on a new stanza for German. I wonder if he'll ever pitch for the Yankees again. Of course, our closer is Aroldis Chapman. Hmm. This is a strange time.
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Of note is that the Player's Association did not fight the charges against German...
BINGO MR. DUQUE.
OSUNA.
CHAPMAN.
POETRY.
NO POLICE REPORT?
WHY IS THERE A DOUBLE STANDARD IN EVERYTHING TODAY?
I would love not be dreading these playoffs, but there's a death by paper cuts feeling about our chances, always seems if something goes right, the JuJu gods offset each and every Yay with two Nays,,,,, Urrgggggg
I haven't seen anything about Torres today. "Weakness" in his lower legs, overall "weakness" later in the game...I know I'm being paranoid, but Jesus, Lou Gehrig--God forbid.
This thing with German is weird. Weirder still that the Yankees don't gerrymander an Osuna kind of deal that keeps him on the field. This is one I never saw coming, and never would. If there was no police involvement, no filed complaint, no nothing, how does it come to this? Did people at the event actually see him commit this act? What exactly was the act, anyway? A beating? A slap? A push? Was it verbal abuse and nothing physical?
Abuse isn't something that can be lumped together as "all things are equal." There are degrees, and degrees of danger, and it matters. The lack of detail isn't really acceptable. It is very much an Al Franken kind of situation, in that everything gets the same weight, and that trivializes more serious charges by equating them with lesser bad behavior. There is actually a scale of odiousness, and it should be taught by making the right examples. But America loves simplicity. It's almost surprising that we don't send jaywalkers to death row.
The great playwright Tom Stoppard wrote a fantastically funny 15-minute version of “Hamlet” in which the Danish prince’s encounter with his murdered father’s ghost is reduced to: “’Tis here! ‘Tis there! ‘Tis gone!” which is pretty much how the Yankees are treating the Germán Case: while the NY Times opines that he will be out for the rest of the season, there is no mention of him on the Yankees’ website. No news article, and his name has been entirely scrubbed from the rosters, even the 40 Man Roster which still includes someone named Ellsbury.
On another topic - All of you certainly know far more than I about the game and its wild history, so please excuse me if this is a stupid question: is there any precedent for having an umpire removed from a game? Or somehow punished?
Good question, Austria—I can't think of one.
Most of the time, I think it would be horrible to remove the human element of real umps from the game. Then I see things like the 9th inning last night, and I wonder if they can really keep up with the game today.
Among other things, shouldn't there at least be a certain level of physical fitness required? I know it's not a lifestyle that facilitates healthy habits. But wasn't it Joe West who, a few days ago, had to take ten minutes hoisting himself up on Rajai Davis' back, in that hilarious incident in a Mets game? Isn't it entirely possible that his vision was influenced by how long he'd been holding his impressive bulk up on his barking dogs last night?
Austria's Only...the only known umpire ever removed from a baseball game was John McSherry, who, while umpiring a game, dropped dead from a heart attack. Mid 90's, I believe.
Where are today's version of Woodward & Bernstein, sniffing out the truth through inside contacts and solid detective work? That's the only way to know why German got the bum's rush.
My feeling for Franken was limited by the fact that he didn't fight. If you don't fight, no one is going to fight for you.
Franken's apologists—if I can lurch into politics for a moment—made a big deal of Kirsten Gellibrand's role in all this, and deep-sixed her presidential campaign in retaliation. But you know, consulting my handy dandy, pocket-sized copy of the Constitution, there's absolutely no place where it says the junior senator from New York determines the fate of the senior senator from Minnesota.
In the case of German...who knows if he wants to fight or not? He's a 27-year-old from another country. His team has severed all contact with him under MLB's bizarre—and, apparently, haphazardly applied—rules, and he's probably been told not to speak to the press.
I hope to hell he has a smart agent who is at least telling him to lawyer-up. If he doesn't, his teammates should be telling him that.
All right, some good news for a change: YES just announced that The Gleyber's MRI was negative.
Now with any luck they will have him sit for a couple days.
Oh, and JM, yes, I think these injuries now SOUND much worse than they are because of the limitations on what teams can say. When I first heard that someone had suffered a "core" injury, I thought they had hurt an inner organ, or the spine.
But it was just a euphemism, as are "lower body injury," "weakness," etc.
Finally, can I just say again that I hate Toronto? It's just all the little things about this club that bug the hell out of me.
Last night, it was Teoscar Hernandez, who hit a double to left in the 9th inning and had to do a little celebration at second base.
Your team has lost 91 games and is 36 1/2 out of first. You're hitting .222 on the season, you just hit a meaningless double in a meaningless game off a marginal pitcher who got off the EL two minutes ago...and you're celebrating.
Yeah, you go, Teoscar. You are some big deal.
So today West has already thrown out Ma Boone. From all the way across the diamond. Because he was chirping at the home plate ump, who is nearly as incompetent as West was last night.
Oh, and then the home plate ump threw out Marcus Thames.
Well, hey. It's a beautiful fall day. You want to get back, put your feet up and watch a little college football in the locker room, then go stroll through Central Park. These umps have lives, too.
Never mind all those suckers in the stands who shelled out all that money to see this game...
There is a part of me that see the Yankees reaction to the German thing as a reflection of the team's character. I'm talking about the "business as usual", reaction. I mean this in a good way. All year they have lost people (for what ever reason) and they just take it in stride.
You're gone. Who's next. You're back. Grab a bat.
Even if Gleybar was hurt. (And am I glad he's not.) They just go with
Luke,
DJ
Didi
Urshala.
and get the DH freed up for the return of EE or whomever.
Doug K.
Herr Weitz: I found this via the Google machine:
"This date 1996 (posted 01 April 2019)
"Seven pitches into the Opening Day game between Montreal Expos and the Cincinnati Reds at Riverfront Stadium, MLB umpiring veteran John McSherry collapsed and died of a massive heart attack.
"The game was postponed."
With respect to Hoss' thoughts on placing weight/fitness limits on professional baseball participants, consider this (from Wikipedia):
"John Patrick McSherry (September 11, 1944 – April 1, 1996) was an American umpire in Major League Baseball who worked in the National League from 1971 until his death. McSherry wore uniform number 9 when he entered the National League, then wore number 10 from 1979 through the rest of his career. A respected arbiter, he was one of several umpires who were noticeably overweight. McSherry was officially listed at 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) and 328 pounds (149 kg), but some sources placed his true weight close to 400 pounds (180 kg). His weight may have been a major factor in causing his sudden death due to cardiac arrest, which occurred behind home plate during the opening game of the 1996 Major League Baseball season in Cincinnati on April 1, 1996."
To answer your question, Carl J. Weitz, Woodward and Bernstein were downsized and they're working in public relations.
Joe West just said the ball that hit Gardner was a strike.
He was able to call him out anyway.
Soon he will start calling balls and strikes from third.
Why fight or NOT fight the German season-ending ban?
I figure the Yankees already penciled him in for few (if any) innings in the post-season. Of course, they probably base that on Sevi going 3-4 innings in a few starts, which might bite them right in the butt.
And they might be thinking they've already squeezed out the most Domingo has to give in 2019 (which, who knows, might be true).
So: The team decided not to fight. German and his agent got that message, and he/they decided not to stand alone. Best to let it go away by quietly melting into the woodwork. It worked for El Chapo, didn't it?
That's one explanation.
The other explanation: The guy abused the woman in front of witnesses. I hope that's not true, and I hope that - at most - the abuse was verbal, not physical.
But if he was stupid and/or drunk enough to hit a woman -- with or without people watching -- he needs a decent 5-month cool-down period. At least.
No comments until we know what happened.
JFoB, you make a good argument.
Reality is he's gone for now. Crucify or absolve him when it is determined what he actually did.
For the Yankees going forward, not as catastrophic as it may first seem.
Big game tomorrow. 19 home series in a row at stake. Stay up on the trolley dodgers and catch up to the colt 45s.
I agree that it won't be a game-changer. And I suspect he is gone for good.
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