Bernstein: MLB Gets It Right With Aroldis Chapman
By Dan Bernstein--
CBSChicago.com senior columnist
(CBS) MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has had a decisive start, emerging from his first real disciplinary test with a tightly crafted application of his business's new policy on domestic violence. In suspending Yankees reliever Aroldis Chapman for 30 games and negotiating the forfeiture of any appeal, baseball took a solid stand that won't be whittled down nor dragged through either extended legal challenges and multiple news cycles in the court of public opinion.
Roger Goodell, this was not.
Manfred did more than merely put a finger to the wind or conference-call with owners to see what circumstances might demand he do. He triangulated the outcome to balance the league, the player and the union in a way that set solid precedent for sadly inevitable future decisions in similar cases. Chapman was charged with no crime but admitted wrongdoing pursuant to policy, and he'll pay a steep price. He will lose 30 days of pay — or nearly $1.9 million — for the incident that occurred Oct. 30.
Chapman's girlfriend told police that he choked her and pushed her and that later he fired eight shots from a handgun while locked in his garage. Investigators declined to file charges due to insufficient evidence and conflicting accounts of what happened, but MLB's new policy allows for action to be taken.
Over the course of 10 days, the league met with Chapman and his lawyers. Manfred navigated multiple interests and outcomes, including public sentiment, Chapman's legal rights, the interests of the MLB Players Association and the significance of the first punishment under new rules, especially considering the case of Rockies shortstop Jose Reyes is looming, scheduled to begin court proceedings in April.
First, Manfred got Chapman to state publicly that he deserved this.
"I should have exercised better judgment with respect to certain actions, and for that I am sorry," Chapman said, despite denying that he harmed his girlfriend.
Getting him to forgo the appeals process was another critical step, possibly a trade-off for keeping the suspension under the 46-game threshold that would delay his free agency for a season. It makes the process cleaner to preemptively ward off pushback, and it appears that the union was apprised along the way. Its response didn't evince the usual truculence, instead indicating that at least somebody there knew how it was going down and what was best for all.
The MLBPA is in a tricky spot with such matters, because this isn't one of the usual situations involving steroids or recreational drugs. It's important how the union positions itself relative to domestic violence, and it's clear that all parties understand this. In an unusually docile statement, the group painted itself as standing with its member simply by supporting his decision not to appeal — far from past advocacy directly against league discipline.
In all it was a well-managed turn by Manfred, which is to be expected from one with his experience and pedigree. Where his predecessor came from the car-leasing business and rose to power largely by circumstance, Manfred's a Cornell- and Harvard-educated lawyer who spent years specializing in labor and employment cases. This is what he does.
It will never be perfect, and this wasn't. Victims advocates felt Chapman's statement was too soft, some believed the union should have fought harder in opposition to the league considering the absence of charges and there are those who wanted a longer suspension. But this has to be considered a positive outcome considering the complexity and its significance as the first of its kind for baseball.
We're used to these being untidy affairs that play out in fits and starts of anger and posturing, playing to the latest outcry. It's at least encouraging that one sport seems to have its act together from the outset.
Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score's "Boers and Bernstein Show" in afternoon drive. You can follow him on Twitter @dan_bernstein and read more of his columns here.