The MLB, players union and agents may want to take a good hard look at what exactly has happened over the last few weeks. A new policy was recently put in place to demonstrate the stance and disgust baseball has for domestic violence. Jose Reyes was the first player to violate the new policy and was suspended 51 games.
The Colorado Rockies did, without question, the correct thing by designating Reyes for assignment. Sure they found a gem in Trevor Story, but they were still forced with into a difficult decision and made the correct one. And that decision helped the image of the Rockies along with the image of the MLB.
Fast forward a little less than two weeks later. Reyes has already cleared waivers and signed a minor-league contract with the New York Mets, which is the team Reyes starred for during the majority of his career.
How is it that easy for a person to essentially break the law, get fired, collect everything they were owed by their previous employer and then land in the best situation possible for them? That is sadly what has happened with Reyes.
When he arrived in Colorado last summer, Reyes would have loved it if he heard he was going to get everything owed to him on his contract from the Rockies and be playing for the Mets less than a year later.
Baseball has not done enough by just putting in a policy to take a stand against domestic violence. It truly needs to hold the players accountable as well.
The 51-game suspension was a long enough suspension for Reyes. However, should it be that easy for Reyes to collect on all of his money and have the swift opportunity to join the team that has meant the most to him?
It seems 51 games is a cheap penalty for a guy to pay who clearly wanted to end his career with a contender.
Meanwhile everyone outside of the Denver area has pretty much forgotten that the Rockies did the morally correct thing by parting with Reyes and that Colorado is eating the roughly $40 million that was owed to him.
Come on baseball, if you want to take a stance against a terrible issue society is facing, make sure the bad guys get a fair punishment and the good guys don’t get screwed like the Rockies just did.
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