TAMPA – A group of professional athletes who take a serious matter seriously.
Seems elemental enough, right? In the case of the Yankees and Domingo German, however, it feels shocking. We are not used to teammates wrapping each other up in the heat as several Yankees now have on German, the pitcher trying to return from an 81-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball’s domestic violence protocol.
Many of you do not like it, based on reader emails. Like it or not, but it really is, and it’s not over.
As he tries to rehabilitate his baseball career, German will have a lack of confidence – ‘skater on thin ice’, as Luke Voit put it on Wednesday, with the people he needs most.
German took his next step on Wednesday by speaking at a Zoom news conference, and the 28-year-old handled the assignment smoothly. Through an interpreter, the Dominican Republic-born took responsibility for his actions on September 16, 2019, acknowledging that he must “show that I can definitely become a better person and let my actions speak for themselves.”
The session lasted more than 30 minutes and ended at about 13:40. Less than an hour later, Voit uttered his latest German quote, saying, ‘We have his back, but he’s skating on thin ice and he needs to get his life together. For good measure, Voit added: “He got confused. 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 diplomatic while still making his point, added: ‘In the clubhouse we all have difficult things, some worse than others. But it is our job to support them in the right way when we have the opportunity. ”
Throw in the words of Zack Britton from last week: “Sometimes you can not control who your teammates are and this is the situation” – and you have a clear picture that German is facing an uphill climb.
Not an impossible one. Voit and Stanton both backed their criticism with words, and on Wednesday, German, who on Tuesday apologized to his teammates, praised Britton for “giving really good advice on how I can improve” and he said. understanding expressed for Britton’s sharp rhetoric.
“He did enough to get the opportunity to be here and compete and be part of this team,” manager Aaron Boone said of German. ‘The proof is in the daily life he leads.
We usually do not hear such austerity from teammates when a player returns from a long suspension, whether domestic violence or illegal drug improvements. When the Mets re-signed Jose Reyes in 2016, after Reyes drafted a 52-game suspension for a domestic violence penalty while with the Rockies, the team’s captain, David Wright, described Reyes’ actions’ awful, terrible ‘. called, yet fully, unconditionally supported. the decision. He loved the sinner and hated sin, the standard game in these situations.
When the Astros played for the Blue Jays ‘Roberto Osuna in 2018 amid the 75-game suspension of domestic violence, Houston veteran Justin Verlander did not look excited, telling reporters:’ It’s a difficult situation. I think the thing we need to remember here is that the details did not come to light. We do not know the whole story. ”
To repeat a recent point, the Yankees know most of German’s story. They went through it in real time. That it happened a few weeks before the post-season, that it certainly harmed the team’s chances of surviving the Astros in the American league (they did not), should not matter at all , however, German feels compelled to say: at his news conference: “When my team needed me the most in 2019, before we started the playoffs, I was not there for them. And for that I ask for forgiveness. ”
The Yankees players seem willing to forgive while not forgetting. To try to make it work without pressing the reset button.
They take it seriously. Good for them. If they can use this seriousness to help German regroup his life and restore his professional viability? Even better.