Last week I called for Major League Baseball to talk to the MLBPA and begin the process of implementing a domestic violence/off-the-field behavior policy. Yesterday, Major League Baseball announced that it would do just that.
Last night, Ken Rosenthal of Fox wrote an excellent column outlining the difficulty involved in crafting such a policy, ranging from what triggers discipline -- An arrest? A conviction? What happens if charges are dropped? -- to what sort of punishment is best. Worth noting: sometimes what appears to be the strongest punishment could actually be counterproductive for, you know, discouraging or preventing domestic violence. It’s an excellent column, and if you approach this topic without acknowledging the challenges Rosenthal outlines therein, you’re going to approach it poorly.
But Ken makes a great point in it too: just because it’s hard, doesn’t mean it should not be done. If anything, it means that work should begin on it now so that all of those challenges can be thought about and addressed in a reasonable manner and so Major League Baseball will not be forced or pressured into acting in half-assed ways when the next incident of off-the-field violence occurs. Do the work now so things aren’t so difficult later.
