On Tuesday New York Yankees relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman accepted a 30-game suspension from MLB. The question is: why, if he did nothing wrong?
By Robby Sabo
You remember the situation.
As a little kid, you’d do something wrong. Whether it was coloring on the wall, throwing food at your brother, or running in the hallway, you’d do these wrong things and instantaneously know you’d be punished.
While walking around during the aftermath with an ashamed stature and nervous energy, an interesting thing happens: Your parents don’t punish you to the level you thought was coming. You accept this punishment with open-arms due to the fact you felt the wrath of hell was going to be unleashed.
This detailed example above has to be the only humanly possible explanation regarding the events today surrounding New York Yankees flame-throwing reliever Aroldis Chapman.
Today Chapman was suspended 30-games by Major League Baseball under its new domestic violence policy for the events surrounding his alleged incident last October.
It was also quickly revealed that Chapman will not appeal this suspension.
“Today, I accepted a 30 game suspension from Major League Baseball resulting from my actions on October 30, 2015,” Chapman said in a statement. “I want to be clear, I did not in any way harm my girlfriend that evening. However, I should have exercised better judgment with respect to certain actions, and for that I am sorry. The decision to accept a suspension, as opposed to appealing one, was made after careful consideration. I made this decision in an effort to minimize the distractions that an appeal would cause the Yankees, my new teammates and most importantly, my family. I have learned from this matter, and I look forward to being part of the Yankees’ quest for a 28th World Series title. Out of respect for my teammates and my family, I will have no further comment.”
Wait a second. Why is Chapman accepting this suspension – which will last the entire month of April – if he did nothing wrong?
Am I missing something here? Wasn’t this case completely dismissed?
This isn’t a three-game suspension, or even a 15-day DL stint for a nagging hammy. This is a suspension that’ll render the Yankees closer useless for over 15 percent of the Yankees season.
So what’s at the heart of the issue here? Well, to simply put it, it’s the idea that Chapman already understands how lucky he is.
He knows he dodged a huge bullet here, and instead of fighting it tooth-and-nail, he’ll play nice with Rob Manfred and MLB and play the part of the good citizen. He did a lot wrong that night.
Moreover, the Yankees understand what a steal-of-a-deal they came away with. 30-games is basically nothing in the grand scheme of things – despite understanding Chapman could’ve actually fought this to the letter of the law.
In the end this story is very much like the one we’re familiar with while growing up. The tale of the young one who received and accepted a light punishment knowing full-well he/she should have received much more.
Both Chapman and the Yanks will take the 30 games and run away laughing.
