Decision on Yankees Aroldis Chapman Suspension Coming Soon

According to MLB Insider Ken Rosenthal, Major League Baseball is expected to decide whether or not they are suspending Aroldis Chapman before the start of spring training.

Decisions on discipline for Reyes, Puig, Chapman under domestic-violence policy probable before camps open and likely no later than 3/1.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 8, 2016

The newly acquired Aroldis Chapman is subject for suspension under the leagues new domestic violence policy after allegedly choking his girlfriend and firing eight gun shots in his garage at their home in Miami, Florida back in October 2015.

It’s been reported that Chapman won’t likely face a lengthy suspension because of a lack of evidence in his dispute, but it’s almost certain that he’ll miss a moderate amount of games under commissioner Rob Manfred’s new policy.

If he’s suspended for 45 games or more, the Yankees will get another year of control over Chapman because his free agent status won’t kick in until 2018, which can be looked at as a positive if you’re Brian Cashman and the Yankees front office.

However, while losing Chapman for 45 games or more can be looked at as a strength in terms of team control, it won’t help their on-field product by any means in 2016, especially if the Yankees are looking at their new bullpen power trio of Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman to make up for their weak and inconsistent starting rotation.

With pitchers and catchers set to report to spring training for the Yankees on February 18th, it’ll be interesting to see if the announcement for Chapman comes before than. If not we’ll probably have to wait until all position players report on February 24th.

According to Rosenthal, it’s unclear whether or not suspended players can participate in spring training;

New policy does not explicitly say whether suspended player can participate in spring training. Says only no minimum or maximum penalty.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 8, 2016

Obviously the Yankees knew there was a chance that Chapman would get suspended before trading for him, which is a big reason why they were able to acquire him without surrounding top prospects.

Either way, it’s now up to the MLB to decide Aroldis Chapman’s faith.

What do you think Yankee fans? Will Chapman be suspended for more than 45 games? Let us know in the comments below.

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