Evil Astros players - who cheated and won - were never going to miss one pitch in 2020. But Domingo German - never charged with anything - was destined to forego the entire season, and then some. It's one of the most uneven stabs at justice that I've seen in sports.
Yesterday, on Instagram, German - age 27, and coming off an 18-4 season - seemed to retire from the game. Below a photo of himself, he wrote:
“I’ve left baseball. Thanks everyone.”
Listen: We all know justice is a roll of the dice. Michael Cohen rots in jail; Roger Stone parties on a yacht. Crime does pay, if you know the right people. And there are varying levels of wretched human behavior - with violence towards women being near the bottom rung.
According to reports, German last fall was seen slapping his girlfriend at a charity banquet in New York. Here's how the news popped.
The witness didn't call police. Nobody filed charges. Because the witness worked in the Commissioner's office, he or she, in essence, became German's judge and jury. German never faced a courtroom. Based on the witness' account, the Commissioner suspended German for 81 games - which has become the entire 2020 season, and a chunk of 2021.
So, how do we process this? On one hand, somebody apparently saw German slap a woman. Hooray for justice, right? Then again, what if the witness is wrong? Most folks will agree: There is no defense for a pro athlete to slap a woman. But "slap" is an interesting word. And in meting out punishment, shouldn't the authorities have been involved?
And if German played not in NY but, say, in KC - where charity events don't include MLB staff - wouldn't he this week be the Royals' opening day starter?
Look, you want answers? I got nothing. German's case was always a migraine, and the pandemic didn't help. Because of the gray area, I figured somebody would revisit German's suspension and - if he got counseling or made amends - changed it to days out rather than a specific number of games. As it turns out, he will miss more than a full year, when his suspension was only supposed to last half a season.
I hope German is just blowing off steam, that he'll reconsider and come back in 2021. I hope he's gotten therapy, and that he can turn everything around. It's not that he's a Yankee, and we always need pitching, pitching, pitching. From this vantage point, his case never felt right. And now, apparently, German is gone.
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Just speculating here:
1) If he announces his retirement in what will amount to a non-year, and then
2) Returns in the next available full year, will he be considered a
3) Free agent?
Again, I have no idea how it might work but maybe some sharpie agent took out a calendar, looked at it, and used his iPhone to calculate his percentage of German's next full-time contract?
This whole German case stinks. He did something very wrong, OK. But the punishment, compared to similar infractions by other players, seemed harsh. Certainly for a "slap," which is an interesting word. One slap? One and done? Not a punch? Yeah, I know you can't grade abuse on a curve, but we've never known exactly what happened there. What really went on? Was it serious enough to destroy the career of a guy in this 20s?
I don't know. Nobody else seems to, either. Something is very weird about all of this.
P.S. I think the Sharpie agent was the one who drew the hurricane path into Alabama.
This is a miscarriage of justice, if there ever was one. The cheaters in Houston and Boston go scot free, no punishment at all to the players. But a guy gets his career completely ruined for a "slap"? And how does this benefit his girlfriend and his child (I think they said she's the mother of his child)? He can't give them any money if he's not making any. Hell, what if he had punched her instead of slapping her, how many years penalty would that have been? He might be thinking he got cheated. Should have hit her with a baseball bat, and the penalty couldn't have been any worse. I don't get it.
If the cheaters in Boston or Houston had done this, I think they would have got off with a five game suspension or just a warning. ("Oh, it was only a mild slap, and she said something terribly reprehensible, so he was sort of justified in slapping her.")
The Hammer of God
Steven Wright. ARRESTED for domestic abuse 2018.
A whopping 15 game suspension. He had to come of the injured list to serve it (wink, wink). Played for the team supported by racist townie assholes throughout New England.
He learned his lesson though -- stick to steroids.
LBJ's theory is an interesting one. I hope it is true, but doubt he will ever play for the Yankees again.
I am having trouble getting interested in this year's season. Hoss's hallucinations are much more interesting. I propose next year's meetup to be entirely at the bar we pregamed at last year and not give a f'ing dime to HAL's yacht fund.
Domingo deleted the post.
Please don't overthink this. Just let it go. Be at peace Brothers. Many of us were abused by our broken parents. Remember what that felt like and have compassion for the beaten woman.
One more thing. New York State and City are seeing a significant spike in new COVID-19 cases after a rash of risky behavior over July 4th weekend. Far more so than that after the George Floyd protests. Which tells us a couple of things. 1) Coronavirus is still endemic in the population and can spread like wildfire if given the chance, and 2) the protestors behaved much better than your average backyard cookout attendee.
WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE!? HOW MANY MORE HAVE TO SICKEN AND DIE!? JUST SO YOU CAN HAVE A NASTY BURNT HOG DOG AND SHITTY BEER!? FUCKING ASSHOLES!!! STAY OUT OF MY EMERGENCY ROOM!!! DON'T YOU DARE SET FOOT INSIDE MY HOSPITALS!! DIE AT HOME!! I SWEAR I WILL KICK YOU UNTIL YOU BEG FOR DEATH RATHER THAN HELP YOU, YOU GOAT BLOWING, TOILET SEAT LICKING ASSHOLES!!!!!
DO NOT LET YOUR GUARD DOWN!!
Stay safe!! Stay distant!! Wear a mask!! Wash your hands!! FUCK YOU HAL!!!!!!!
Seriously, forever and always, fuck you Hal.
The basis of Western jurisprudence is the right to appear in court, hear the charges against you, and face your accuser.
I understand that, with things like domestic abuse, there are extenuating circumstances. But at some point, we need to move out of the realm of baseball and into the realm of real life.
If German did something criminal, he should face the consequences in a criminal court. When it comes to baseball, the de facto, one-year suspension he faced this year should be sufficient, considering that his original sentence was half-a-year.
Frankly, I'm for all criminal cases being adjudicated in the courts. If any one of us had done this, it wouldn't be handed over to our bosses to decide. We would face charges, period, and in court we would have a lawyer and the right to confront our accusers.
And hey, Bob Klapisch, last seen writing a kiss-ass book with Brian Cashman about how cleverly Cashie duped that stupid Derek Jeter in bringing Giancarlo "Mr. Glass" Stanton to the Yankees.
How the hell does this ethically challenged columnist still have a job?
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