Cubs' Addison Russell suspended 40 games for violating MLB's domestic violence policy

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MLB announced Wednesday that Cubs' infielder Addison Russell will be suspended 40 games for violating the league's joint domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse policy:

MLB released this official statement regarding the matter:

Russell has been placed on administrative leave since September 21st after his ex-wife wrote a lengthy blog post detailing allegations of physical and mental abuse. 

Through his lawyer, Russell issued this statement: 

"After gaining a full understanding of the situation I have concluded it's in the best interest of my family to accept MLB's proposed resolution of this matter. I wish my ex-wife well and hope we can live in peace in benefit of our child."

Theo Epstein was asked a number of questions about Russell's suspension at the start of his season-ending press conference on Wednesday.

“Clearly we support Major League Baseball’s finding and Addy’s decision to accept the suspension," Epstein said. "It concludes MLB investigation into this matter as well."

Epstein continued by talking about being a part of the solution when it comes to domestic violence.

“I think we have to understand that with all of our words and actions going forward, whether we know it or not, we’re sending messages to our fans who all have their own unique backgrounds and histories and sensitivities and perspectives and that’s important," he said. "But I honestly, personally think the most important thing going forward is to be part of the solution. To focus on, not to sound really corny about this, but making this a better place and making sure that this doesn’t happen going forward, especially on our watch.”

Epstein said there was no way to know more about the situation with Russell earlier. MLB took over the investigation and took it out of the Cubs' hands.

“The part I do question myself on is, in general as a sports team, what is the absolute best structure that you can have for your players, for their spouses, for their families so that this never happens," Epstein said. "That’s a really high standard, but that is what we should all be shooting for. I know we have a wonderful family program and we have wonderful people working for support. We try to stay as engaged as possible with the families, but clearly because this happened we should all be asking can we do more? I think that should be the goal for everybody, whether you work for a sports club or whatever your line or work. Domestic violence is everybody’s problem so we can all find a way to be a part of the solution. That’s the way I’m personally going to attack it and I think we should all attack it going forward.”

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