St. Louis Cardinals: Chapman has me chapped!

Aroldis Chapman, sworn enemy of the St. Louis Cardinals thanks to his time with Cincinnati, is real piece of work.

That stated, Major League Baseball slapped a 30-game suspension on Tuesday in accordance with the domestic violence policy.

Yesterday while I was driving the long state of Tennessee, I listened to MLB Radio on XM and heard the report and subsequent discussion of the Chapman suspension.  I, like Jim Duquette, became immediately incensed.

Before I go any further, let me disclose that I did not like Chapman before this thanks to his closing abilities against the St. Louis Cardinals, but this whole incident has me disgusted.

Here’s the scoop if you don’t already know.  Aroldis Chapman, now with the Yankees, and his 22-year-old girlfriend (with whom he shares a child who was in the residence as this whole thing occurred) got into an argument over text messages that ended in Chapman allegedly choking the girlfriend.

She was so afraid that she left the residence and hid in the bushes.  His anger was too much to bear so he chose to flee to the detached garage and discharge a firearm eight times– EIGHT TIMES!

A reminder: the child these two created was in the residence and could have been shot by this wild firing.  And, I’m sorry to say it, but how could you as a mother flee the residence and leave your child in the house while this man was clearly manic enough to choke you (allegedly)?  Wouldn’t you grab your child and run?  I’m sorry but running yourself is just plain selfish.

Here again I feel the need to provide some basis for my view.  I am a father of six adopted children.  My wife and I have had arguments just the same as anyone else and, yes, I have been quite mad at her at times but I have never- NEVER- even entertained the thought of putting my hands on her to hurt her.

Add to this, I (nor my wife) would ever choose to flee a place and abandon our children.  So, yes, I’m having a hard time understanding this line of thinking.

Moving to the suspension, I genuinely question the validity of a policy that when enacted is seemingly subjective.  Allow me to clarify.  It is my understanding (could be wrong) that Chapman was awarded only a 30-game suspension due to (1) the lack of concrete evidence of the choking, and (2) because Chapman agreed to not appeal.  NOT APPEAL?  This is reason for loosening the potential punishments??

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A policy, by the way, is something that is written to maintain objectivity and solid, unquestioning punishment that is agreed upon at the onset of the policy.  I haven’t read the entire policy- actually just print a copy so I can read it in its entirety- but I find it frustrating that it might contain a clause of leniency.  Was this the work of the players’ association or is the shortcoming of new commissioner, Rob Manfred?

As a way of wrapping-up this rant, let me suggest that I would have been much more comfortable with a 60+ game suspension.  Heck, I probably would have liked to have seen MLB draw a solid line in the sand here and slap a half-season ban.

If the idea of the policy is to prevent occurrences like this from recurring then shouldn’t the paper tiger grow some teeth?  Yes, 30 games impacts Chapman’s wallet to the tune of $1.8 million but out of the $11.325 million he is set to make in 2016, does this really hurt?

We should all keep our eyes and ears close to the track to see what this- weak in my opinion- suspension does for the likes of Jose Reyes and his impending court case, etc.  Will this suspension make the likelihood of a suspension for Reyes weaker or perhaps even unnecessary?  Will this suspension prevent others from taking similar actions?  That, to me, is the strongest question.

One final point that frustrates me on this issue is the fact that Alex Reyes, Cardinals rising pitcher (ignorant to continue to use marijuana after getting caught even once), was slapped with a 50-game suspension but choking your girlfriend and manically (allegedly) firing a weapon only begets a 30-game suspension.  Really?!  I agree with doping suspensions holding strong punishments but shouldn’t harm to others carry an equal punishment?

Next: St. Louis Cardinals: Where's the Televised Spring Games?

Come on, MLB, let’s get things together.  Follow me on Twitter and feel free to tell me how foolish I am for ranting so long on this issue.  I guess I’ll have to learn to move on from it.