MLB is planning to meet this week with the MLBPA to discuss potential CBA amendments regarding a domestic violence policy, in part as a response to the public furor surrounding the ongoing NFL-Ray Rice scandal. The talks may very well produce additional measures on the matter for the ’15 season, but MLB Senior VP/PR Pat Courtney said there is no deadline for the talks and is instead intending to “start conversations and see where it leads.” MLB’s CBA language with regard to domestic violence currently takes two primary forms. MLB Commissioner Bud Selig currently has the power to suspend a player for “just cause for conduct materially detrimental or materially prejudicial to the best interests of baseball including, but not limited to, engaging in conduct in violation of federal, state or local law.” This is the same broad measure also used in the Alex Rodriguez PED suspension covering the entire ’14 season. The CBA also calls for voluntary treatment and counseling when a player is charged with a crime “involving the use of physical force or violence, including, but not limited to … domestic violence.” As a result, such cases in MLB have generally been handled on an individual, specific basis. But the upcoming talks could lead to toughened and more delineated measures (Eric Fisher, Staff Writer). USA TODAY's Bob Nightengale notes the league determined it "must establish a formal discipline for any future domestic abuse cases." Any policy "must be agreed upon by the union." The "only known discipline for a recent domestic abuse charge" was when the Mariners suspended P Julio Mateo for 10 days in '07 when he was arrested for an incident involving his wife. Domestic violence was "never acceptable, but for whatever reason it was overlooked." But those days "are over, and MLB has no choice but to act." It is a "terrific first step, but baseball should go further" (USA TODAY, 9/16).
A STEP FORWARD: FOXSPORTS.com's Ken Rosenthal wrote Selig's comments "represent a step forward." Selig last week said that he was "satisfied with baseball continuing to examine cases individually." MLBPA Exec Dir Tony Clark said that, "for now, he also would prefer to proceed case by case." Rosenthal: "Most of us can agree that baseball should adopt even stronger measures. The question is how." While zero tolerance is "warranted for any player who is proven to have committed domestic violence, that proof often is elusive," and the problems "only start there." The "inevitable measurement of a new policy against baseball’s strict PED policy might create even greater frustration for those who want the sport to administer firm justice." MLB now "issues 80-game suspensions to first-time PED users." Some would "argue that a first-time domestic-violence offender would deserve even greater punishment, forcing baseball into the unenviable position of making a moral judgment in a box" (FOXSPORTS.com, 9/16). ESPN.com's Buster Olney wrote MLB Commissioner-elect Rob Manfred "should be addressing this right now because if an incident does occur, the avalanche of questions will come crashing down on him." There will be "no room for a mulligan for MLB if something happens; national pressure will be applied to Selig or Manfred immediately" (ESPN.com, 9/15).
