Rockies infielder Jose Reyes was supposed to go on trial next week for domestic violence in Hawaii. Now that isn’t going to happen. The prosecutor in charge of the case said today that she’s dropping the case because Reyes’ wife, the victim in the case, isn’t cooperating.
Reyes is on paid leave from the Rockies right now under an agreement reached between him, the team and Major League Baseball. The league has not made any comments about the possible sanctions Reyes could receive under MLB’s domestic violence policy because, in all likelihood, it was waiting for his criminal case to be resolved. Now that that is fizzling, it puts Rob Manfred in the position he was with Aroldis Chapman: havingto impose discipline without there being a criminal prosecution. He managed that with well enough with Chapman. Unlike Chapman, however, there was at least enough evidence to charge Reyes.
In either event, MLB’s policy was undertaken with the implicit knowledge that many domestic violence cases don’t end up in successful prosecutions for a lot of reasons which aren’t directly related to “did the guy do it.” Often there is lack of cooperation from victims for one reason or another. Other times evidence and victim testimony is disregarded for a lot of reasons which don’t touch on their probity. This reality puts the responsibility of judging directly on Manfred’s shoulders once again.