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TAMPA – A group of professional athletes taking a serious problem seriously.
Sounds pretty basic, right? In the case of the Yankees and Domingo German, however, this has been shocking. We’re not used to our teammates turning the heat on each other, as several Yankees now have on the German, the pitcher who is looking to come back from an 81-game suspension for breaking the protocols of domestic violence from Major League Baseball.
Many of you don’t like it, according to emails from readers. Like it or not, however, it’s real, and it’s not over.
As he attempts to rehabilitate his baseball career, German will operate with a confidence deficit – “skating on thin ice,” as Luke Voit put it on Wednesday – with the people he needs most.
The German took the next step on Wednesday by speaking at a Zoom press conference, and the 28-year-old handled the mission smoothly. Through an interpreter, the native of the Dominican Republic took responsibility for his actions on September 16, 2019 and acknowledged that he had to “show that I can definitely become a better person and let my actions speak for myself”.
This session lasted over 30 minutes and ended around 1:40 pm. Less than an hour later, Voit delivered his quote of the day in German and said: “We have his back, but he skates on thin ice and he owes his life together. For good measure, Voit added, “He screwed up. A lot of guys look at him differently now, but I believe in second chances, and the guy deserves a second chance.
Giancarlo Stanton, more diplomat while making his point, added: “In the clubhouse we all have difficult things, some much worse than others. But it’s our job to support in the right way when the opportunity arises. “
Add in the words of Zack Britton from last week – “Sometimes you don’t control who your teammates are and this is the situation” – and you have a clear picture that the German is facing a climb.
Not impossible, however. Sees and Stanton both framed their criticisms with words of support, and on Wednesday German, who apologized to his teammates on Tuesday, praised Britton for offering “some really great advice on how I can go. improve ”and expressed his understanding of Britton’s sharp rhetoric.
“He did enough to gain the opportunity to be here and compete and be a part of this team,” manager Aaron Boone said of German. “Now the proof is in the daily life he leads.
We don’t usually hear such harshness from our teammates when a player comes back from a long suspension, whether it’s domestic violence or performance enhancing illicit drugs. When the Mets re-signed Jose Reyes in 2016, after Reyes received a 52-game suspension for a domestic violence penalty while with the Rockies, team captain David Wright called them Reyes’ actions of “horrible, terrible”, but fully supported unconditionally. decision. He loved the sinner and hated sin, the standard game in these situations.
When the Astros traded to Roberto Osuna of the Blue Jays in 2018, amid Osuna’s 75-game domestic violence suspension, veteran Houston pitcher Justin Verlander, not looking thrilled, told reporters: “It” is a difficult situation. I think what we need to remember here is that the details weren’t revealed. We don’t know the whole story.
To reiterate a recent point, the Yankees know most, if not all, of German history. They experienced it in real time. Whether this happened a few weeks before the playoffs, whether it surely hurt the team’s chances of surviving the Astros in the AHL (it didn’t), it shouldn’t matter in the big picture, but the German felt compelled to say, in his press conference: “When my team needed me the most in 2019, before I started the playoffs, I wasn’t there for them. And for that, I beg your pardon.
The Yankees players seem ready to forgive without forgetting. To try to make it work without pressing the reset button.
They take it seriously. Good for them. If they can take advantage of this seriousness to help the German rebuild his life and restore his professional viability? Even better.
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