NEW YORK, NY – Some things just stick in the craw. You can try ignoring them but eventually they need to be talked about, confronted and hopefully… resolved. Throwing your wife or girlfriend around, smacking her or threatening her with a gun or knife, all fall under the above categories. Here in NYC, we have three MLB stars – Aroldis Chapman of the New York Yankees and Jose Reyes and Jeurys Familia of the New York Mets – that represent a troubling trend; looking the other way if a guy can help the team.
Aroldis Chapman’s girlfriend, with whom he has a child, told police that on Oct. 30, 2015 the lefthander pushed and choked her at his South Florida home. She said family members broke up the argument, but she was scared enough that she hid outside in the bushes. Why? Because she heard gunshots… Chapman’s account of the events doesn’t exactly contradict her side, as much as he and his handlers apparently thought/think. He said that he only poked her shoulder, and then fired seven rounds into a concrete wall and one through a window in his garage… Just 8 rounds, folks.
THE NEXT DAY…
On October 31, 2015 in Maui – Halloween – Katherine Reyes told police that her husband, Jose Reyes, grabbed her by the throat and shoved her into a sliding glass door before security called police. She told police she had injuries to her side, neck and wrist before being taken to the emergency room. The Rockies were so disgusted they cut him, eating $110,000,000.00. One Hundred and Ten Million Dollars. The Mets picked him up for mere sheckles, shaking hands with him and the Devil in welcoming Reyes back “home.” To sum this up, here’s a quote from Ted Berg: “I must endure (and I suspect I’m not alone, here) the icky experience of watching a dude with whom I simply can not identify play baseball for my local club.”
And now with have that familiar feeling with Jeurys Familia. And eerily enough, his dark turn took place exactly one year after Reyes’ – on Halloween 2016. Here’s the account, as per The Daily News:
On Oct. 31, Rivas called 911 and stated that Familia was “drunk,” and “going crazy.” The police reported they found scratches on her chest and a bruise on her cheek. Rivas claimed the scratches came from the couple’s 1-year-old son and the bruise came from leaning on her cheek, Balsamo revealed Thursday. She also told the prosecutor that two knives that were found by police on the ground in the apartment were not used to threaten her, but that Familia used them to jam a bathroom door, where he barricaded himself that night.
It was the rest of this article that got my goat. It’s gist was basically about how the Mets will cope with losing their closer for 30 games, which is the anticipated suspension from Commissioner Manfred. It’s as though Familia sprained an ankle or came down with mono, not that the guy – like his constituents Chapman and Reyes – has serious issues to deal with that are far more important than baseball.
But really, the Mets have already established their policy this regard. Give us your damned, devious and dopey – as long as they fill a void in our lineup at a discount. Hell, if they don’t keep them the Yankees will – and we can’t have that, right?
Right. But it still sticks in my craw.
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