Chapman police report leads to MLB probe
Major League Baseball will investigate the possible incident of domestic assault involving Reds All-Star closer Aroldis Chapman, CBS Sports MLB Insider Jon Heyman reports.
As Tim Brown and Jeff Passan of Yahoo! reported on Monday, police were called to Chapman’s Florida apartment in October after Chapman allegedly fired a gun multiple times in his garage and assaulted his girlfriend.
Earlier on Monday, the Reds initially agreed to trade Chapman, 27, to the Dodgers in exchange for prospects. However, the deal later fell apart because of, as it turned out, the Chapman police report.
As for Chapman’s future outlook, a trade likely isn’t in the immediate offing, what with MLB’s investigation pending. In August, MLB and the MLBPA announced that commissioner Rob Manfred had been newly empowered to discipline players for incidents of domestic violence (among other offenses) regardless of legal-system outcomes. Such a step by Manfred would certainly seem to be among the range of possibilities for Chapman. As well, discipline may also be pending for Rockies shortstop Jose Reyes for his Halloween incident in Hawaii.
With regard to such disciplinary measures, there’s necessarily a great deal of due diligence involved, so clarity from MLB with regard to Chapman probably isn’t immediately forthcoming. As Jon Morosi of Fox Sports notes, if Chapman winds up being suspended past a certain threshold of time, then he won’t compile enough service time to be eligible for free agency after the 2016 season, which is what he’s presently slated for.
As for other consequences stemming from the incident, sources tell Ken Rosenthal that Chapman may have injured his hand during it.
Here, via Brown and Passan, is the police report in question:
The fallout from the Aroldis Chapman police report may be just beginning. (USATSI)
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