This has been a whirlwind couple of months for the Chicago Cubs and their shortstop Addison Russell. I guess you can strike that statement and say it has been a turbulent year and a half for Russell. It all started in July of the 2017 season, where soon after Russell and his wife Melisa Reidy separated, one of her friends took to Instagram to tell the world that Russell had long abused Reidy. As that news dissipated, and as Reidy refused to assist in the investigation, the story seemingly went away… until this past September when Reidy finally told her side of the story in her personal blog.
Almost immediately after the blog post hit, the MLB suspended Russell, and we all learned that they had never really closed the investigation on Russell.
Because of all of this, there was a lot of opinions, suggestions, and rumors regarding the future of Russell with the Cubs. Many believed he should be gone, myself included, and some wanted things to remain unchanged because innocent until proven guilty. Some thought that this was the perfect reason to trade an underperforming player.
Up until Friday afternoon, around 2:00 PM, his future was a mystery. That is when the Cubs and Addison Russell gave a joint statement.
The #Cubs today released the following statements: pic.twitter.com/qimnQFbtUC
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) November 30, 2018
Let’s take a moment to reflect on these statements.
The first thing is, and something we can stop pretending, Addison Russell did do some harm to Melisa. Whether it was physical, or emotional, or whatever else. His statement, along with the Cubs reaction and the suspension, backs the fact that he abused her in some way, shape, or form. Let’s not forget that, you may choose to allow him to prove himself better, and I will stand by anyone that will do this, let’s not forget that this happened. There was a victim, and there was legitimate damage done which will take another human a very, very long time to recover from.
This said, and I have seen a lot of apology letters or statements, this “feels” sincere. Russell immediately accepts the blame for his actions, and even went beyond MLB-imposed treatment to help correct his behavior for the future.
I like that he met with Theo Epstein and Tom Ricketts, and they all laid out expectations. Now the hard part is continuing to meet those expectations. He has extra incentive as the Cubs offered Russell a “non-guaranteed” contract.
Most baseball contracts are guaranteed, as soon as a player signs, they get that money (there are some excuses to this rule). If Russell doesn’t follow through on his end of the bargain, slips back into old actions, or there are additional character issues in the next year – the Cubs can cut ties with Russell with no obligation to pay him.
This also comes with the promise that the Cubs will work on the forefront of trying to ensure this doesn’t happen in the future, with any player. They are putting programs and processes in place to help identify, and treat athletes to ensure that they don’t take out frustrations or stresses or whatever else on loved one’s away from the field. Processes to ensure that while the Cubs put their stamp on the guys that walk through the clubhouse are good individuals, that they remain quality people throughout their time in the Cubs organization.
I don’t know where this goes, and it will certainly take a lot for Russell to win me back over (it’s likely he never does), but this is a good step for the franchise and the player. This isn’t a business is business and talent will prevail over character, this is a legitimate attempt at correction, growth, and trying the unbeaten path on an issue which has no previous standard. Kudos to Theo for finding a moral high-ground by potentially paving a new path for sports to follow.
