I know I’m going to catch flak for this but truly I don’t
care. I left my Yankees bias at the door and I am looking at this as a fan of
Major League Baseball. The fact that he wears a Yankees uniform means nothing
to me, I’ve also spoken up for Ryan Braun, Barry Bonds and others as the owner
of this blog. This whole Aroldis Chapman thing has me pretty upset, pretty
angry, and pretty furious. I’m sure you could tell in the way I’m writing. I’m
not shoot a gun in a garage furious bit I’m pretty agitated and I’m here to
tell you why.
First and foremost I am all for punishing anyone, sports
players or not, for committing domestic violence. I am also for punishing an
idiot, my opinion, with a gun shooting it off in his garage with a baby in the
house. Call it what it is though and it’s not semantics. You cannot, well
apparently you can, suspend a player under a domestic violence policy when
there is little to no evidence that domestic violence occurred. Witnesses
changed their testimonies, there were no marks on Chapman’s girlfriend the
night the cops came out to his home and there were no files charged. The police
declined an easy opportunity to book, arrest and get some money through fines
and probation (at minimum) from a celebrity who would pay it without blinking
an eye because why? Because they are fans? They are nice guys? No, because they
are upholding their oath to uphold the law and to serve and protect. There was
no evidence that there was any protecting that needed done.
Depending on what you read Chapman may have been the one
assaulted, not the other way around. The last thing I read was that her brother
pushed Chapman down sparking the whole incident. So you get potentially pushed,
the cops are called and they are told a story about domestic violence and the
police find zero evidence of the fact. The police don’t press charges and no
one was arrested, etc. and yet Commissioner Rob Manfred believes he has the
power to suspend a guy for domestic violence under his new policy? Stop me when
any of this makes sense.
I am not ignorant to the fact that something happened that
night but it shouldn’t be on Chapman to prove it didn’t happen it should be on
the police and the authorities to prove that it did. The cops took pictures,
investigated and followed through with the protocol for a domestic violence
case and found nothing. If Manfred wants to show up Ray Rice, the NFL and Roger
Goddell then lay it on Jose Reyes, someone who is actually going to court and
has charges filed against him for what he did. Not Chapman, not without
evidence. And no I don’t believe the decision to waive his right to appeal
shows any evidence of wrongdoing and I don’t hear any evidence of that in his
statement. The league told Chapman, according to Joel Sherman anyway, that he could
reduce his suspension by 10-15 games if he didn’t appeal. If he appealed and
got a 45 game suspension he is delaying his free agency by another season, why
would he do that?
Chapman is taking the month off, will look to build his
value and his character back in 2016 and hit free agency again in 2017. Not
appealing does not show any evidence of wrongdoing it shows that he is making
the best business decision for him and his family. Manfred had to know that if
he was suspended for 45 days that the Yankees would get another year of control
over Chapman and he used it against the left-hander. This is rotten all the way
around and it’s crap. If you want to suspend the guy for endangering the lives
of others for shooting his registered gun that he owned in a garage that he
owned then call a spade a spade. If you have evidence that he hurt his
girlfriend, pointed the gun at her, etc. then suspend him for domestic
violence. Don’t hide behind some policy that you just enacted and don’t hide
behind the fact that you’re trying to send a message and make an example out of
Reyes, Chapman and Yasiel Puig.
Don’t piss on me and tell me it’s raining, especially after
you just pissed on Aroldis Chapman.
Damn, Daniel...
ReplyDeleteWhy not let us know how you really feel about the suspension! I have one question about it...how in hell can one UN-prove a negative?
I think Manfred must think he is King not Commissioner.
Manfred bullied the hell out of Chapman and used his impending free agency against him and held it over his head. He's a bully. He had no evidence unless he magically had evidence that the police, the detectives and their investigators didn't have, and he still suspended him. It's crap and I don't stand for it. Yankees uniform or not.
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