When Addison Russell‘s now ex-wife refused to cooperate with Major League Baseball, Russell avoided a domestic violence suspension.  Instead, he got to finish out the season for a Cubs team which lost to the Dodgers in the NLCS.  While Russell avoided suspension last time, you’d be hard pressed to believe he will avoid a suspension this time – certainly not after his ex-wife made all the mental and physical violence she sustained known publicly.

In response to the allegations, the Cubs released a statement saying, “We take allegations of domestic violence seriously and support the League’s decision to place Addison Russell on administrative leave given new details revealed today. We will continue to cooperate with the League’s investigation so the appropriate action can be taken.”

It is difficult to take the Cubs position seriously when they gave up not just Gleyber Torres but also Billy McKinney, Rashad Crawford, and Adam Warren to get Aroldis Chapman.  The Cubs did this in the same season Chapman had his own domestic violence suspension.  They did this because after 108 years of not winning, they were willing to do anything to finally win one.

The Cubs are not alone.  We have seen the Mets do it with Jose Reyes.  With respect to the Mets, they not only keep Reyes around long after he has ceased being a good player, but they have held him out as a face of the franchise.  The Mets have done that despite their fully knowing Reyes threw his wife into a set of glass doors so hard it required her to be taken to the hospital.

The overriding point is Major League Baseball and their teams will talk tough whenever a player puts his hands on a woman.  However, when push comes to shove, Major League Baseball won’t give a long enough suspension to avoid a fight with the Players’ Association, and teams will continue to make trades and signings of players who have beaten women for a chance at winning.

So through everything everyone will say and do with respect to Russell, Reyes, past and future cases, we will hear tough rhetoric, but ultimately, it will continue to be empty rhetoric.