Major League Baseball has finally handed down the full suspension for Jose Reyes‘ off-season domestic violence issue. Today, MLB announced that Reyes will be suspended retroactively to February 23rd of this year and won’t be available until after May 31st. That brings his suspended game total to 51 games. In addition to his suspension, Reyes will also donate $100,000 to a charity that supports domestic abuse victims. He will be suspended without pay, as confirmed by Jon Morosi via his Twitter account.
Jose Reyes accepts unpaid suspension from @MLB through May 31, covering what had been paid administrative leave since spring training.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) May 13, 2016
The 32 year-old shortstop was placed on paid leave by MLB to allow the prosecutors to do their due diligence on this case. All charges eventually ended up being dropped, but that still doesn’t allow Reyes off the hook when it comes to punishment from MLB. The new Sexual Assault, Child Abuse and Domestic Violence policy went into effect in August of 2015. Much like the NFL’s disciplinary rules, MLB Commissioner, Rob Manfred, is in charge of handing out the punishments. A similar instance to look at is the Aroldis Chapman suspension that was handed down this spring. Chapman’s incident was much like Reyes, in the fact that both had charges against them dropped, and MLB still proceeded with a lengthy suspension. Reyes got a heftier ban than Chapman, probably due to the severity of the incident. Chapman has made his 2016 debut and his New York Yankees debut at the beginning of this month.
The new MLB policy has been tested early, with the issues of Chapman and Reyes and the returns in public eye seem to be justified. While the charges were dropped, that doesn’t mean something didn’t take place. And MLB has done a good job of setting a precedent for these suspensions, in the scope of the severity of the offense. You can be sure to see more of these suspensions taking place as well, as more domestic violence issues arise. Another intriguing piece to both the Chapman and the Reyes situation is their team’s willingness to move them in the midst of their legal troubles, and the fact that teams are actually interested.
Buster Olney reported today that the Rockies had been fielding a few calls on Reyes for after his suspension, via Twitter.
Sources: There are teams interested in dealing for Jose Reyes as he prepares to return. Will be credited with time served in his suspension.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) May 13, 2016
It helps that the emergence of Rookie of the Year candidate, Trevor Story, has overshadowed what could have been a major distraction for the Rockies. Story has stolen the starting spot from Reyes without a doubt, and while a team like the Rockies could use Reyes as a backup, trade-bait for starting pitching would be a smart GM move. Unfortunately they may have to take on a large chunk of his salary to get teams to offer what they would need. The Cincinnati Reds were still able to pull of a move for Chapman after the domestic violence issues caused a presumed “done deal” with the Los Angeles Dodgers to fall apart.
Reyes is expected to attend extended spring training before starting his rehab stint at AAA on June 1st.
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