Former New York Mets Manager Mickey Callaway was suspended through the end of the 2022 season. At that time, the now deposed Los Angeles Angels pitching coach can apply for reinstatement to Major League Baseball.

In some respects, this is good because it’s a harsher penalty than any steroid user faces for a single offense. It’s also more severe than what the Houston Astros faced.

Going further, it’s a harsher penalty than what Jose Reyes or any domestic abuser has faced. So, yes, to that end, it’s progress.

However, the penalty in and of itself is just a slap on the wrist and falls far short of being reflective of Callaway’s actions. To that, it’s time to revisit the allegations in the article written by Brittany Ghiroli and Katie Strang of The Athletic.

Callaway was accused of sending UNWANTED and UNSOLICITED pornographic pictures of himself to female reporters and requesting they reciprocate. He’d leverage his position inviting these same and other reports out for drinks to provide news or leaks.

This on top of his thrusting himself towards female reporters, and you see this was a monster. This wasn’t just harassing behavior, it was borderline criminal. Keep in mind, that’s just what we know.

Callaway’s response to this was to deny wrongdoing. He did that despite behaving this way for over five years. He did that despite their being text messages between him and his victims.

Either he knew he was screwed and opted to push Major League Baseball to act, or he really had no clue his behavior was disgusting and wrong.

It needs to be reiterated Callaway’s lewd and malicious actions took place for a period over five years. It involved multiple women, and he showed no signs of remorse. He then dragged MLB further through the mud. Of course, he did that to a situation partially of MLB’s making.

The response? A two year suspension?After FIVE PLUS YEARS of harassment, he’s suspended for TWO!

TWO!!!!!

In that suspension, there’s no mandatory counseling and/or a framework for it. There’s no coinciding MLB partnership with organizations to aide in eliminating this behavior.

Sure, MLB put the provision for application for reinstatement, but that’s just kicking the rock down the road. It only has teeth if they want it to have teeth.

As we saw with Alex Cora with the Boston Red Sox and A.J. Hinch with the Detroit Tigers, if a team thinks they can help you win, they won’t care about your transgressions. Now, what Cora and Hinch did doesn’t compare to the heinous acts of Callaway, but the point remains.

After all, Callaway was “the worst kept secret in baseball.” Everyone knew what he was doing, and yet, he wasn’t fired by the Cleveland Indians. Worse yet, he was actually hired by the Mets and Angels.

In sum, we see the problem is bigger than just Callaway. To that end, we get the sense of why over five years of harassment leads to just a two year suspension.