Middle Infield, Addison Russell and the Redemption Song

[backwardsk]

5 minutes ago, atomic said:

I am not sure what they hypocrisy comments come from.  My former boss once told me we couldn't hire a potential employee because the background check determined that the guy had gotten into a fight in Ocean City 20 years ago.  She told the guy and he said he was drunk and he was in college at the time but she told it there was nothing she could do as it was company policy as the arrest was on his criminal report..  Even as current employees they check our credit records periodically and our of course our criminal records to see if anything new comes up.  Even If I just became overly in-debt I would lose my job.  

 

 

 

Yeah, but what if he could play middle infield?

Does your company define overly in-debt?

[LookinUp]

1 minute ago, backwardsk said:

Yeah, but what if he could play middle infield?

Does your company define overly in-debt?

Sounds like a stupid company, tbh.

[atomic]

5 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

If you take a small step back and view this thread re: either Russell or Villar, I think you get a fair representation of what the fan base would think, regardless of whether they're right or wrong.

Most will be mad Villar was dealt for a small return.

A lot would be angry that we brought on Russell.

That is my thought exactly. I am all for Addison Russell getting second chance.  And if we were in a playoff race and our shortstop went down with injury I would be willing to give consideration to bring him aboard to help the team.  But as we are not in any way shape or form going to be a competitive team I don't think there is anything to gain by making people angry about Russell.  What do you gain? What do you lose?  That should be the decision by any personal decision.  

 

[Tony-OH]

19 minutes ago, MurphDogg said:

You have mentioned this several times, do you have evidence that he's remorseful and has taken actions to improve? As far as I have seen, after denying the claims against him he issued a standard apology that was no doubt required by either the team or the league for him to be welcomed back into the fold. If there are concrete steps that he has taken to improve, I am not aware of them and would certainly like to be if he has taken any such steps.

If he wanted to be a leader in curbing domestic violence, he certainly has the platform to do so, I didn't see him mention the issue last season other than complaining that he was still being booed by some Cubs fans. Curious if I missed anything.

“I’m accountable for my past actions. I am not proud of the person I was.”

“Without getting into details or specifics, I just want to own that what I did was wrong and inexcusable,” Addison said at the time. “And I’m sorry. Sorry for the hurt and pain I put Melisa through.”

"The fact that we have decided -- after talking to lots of experts, after talking to Addison multiple times, talking to the league -- that we'd rather support him through the process than just cut him and let him go, that doesn't mean it's in conflict with support for victims of domestic violence," owner Tom Ricketts said on ESPN 1000. "I think that it's not an easy decision and not a decision that anyone takes lightly."

"We knew that it would be unpopular in some ways," general manager Jed Hoyer told ESPN 1000. "People have a visceral reaction to reading about what happened. So did we. The more that we worked and talked to experts and worked through it ... we felt like having a conditional second chance was the right thing to do. It was recommended by experts."

Independent domestic abuse experts interviewed by ESPN also agreed a second chance was warranted if Russell was following through with counseling and therapy. The Cubs also expressed concern for his ex-wife and have stayed in contact with her throughout the process.

"It's something that every team has to decide for themselves, but I do give a lot of credit to Major League Baseball for having good protocols and policies on this," Ricketts stated. "There was a process for him. He's already begun doing some of the things that the league requests, and he's doing things beyond what the league requests. So, we'll see where it goes.

 

Manager Joe Maddon recently spoke with Russell and indicated he's on the right path.

"He seems to be in a good place," Maddon said. "He's really working to get things behind him and make sure he does and says the right things moving forward. It's a maturation process on his part."

 

"We decided to non-tender Addison Russell today simply because the role we expected him to play for the 2020 Cubs was inconsistent with how he would have been treated in the salary arbitration process," Cubs president Theo Epstein said in a statement. "In the year since we decided to tender Addison a contract last November, he has lived up to his promise to put in the important self-improvement work necessary off the field and has shown growth, as a person, as a partner, as a parent and as a citizen. We hope and believe that Addison's work will continue, and we have offered our continued support of him and his family, including [ex-wife] Melisa [Reidy].

"In the last year, the organization has also put in the important work necessary to bolster our domestic violence prevention training for all employees, all major league players, all minor league players and all staff. We also offered healthy relationship workshops for the players' partners and provided intensive, expert domestic violence prevention training for player-facing staff. This heightened training and our increased community involvement on the urgent issue of domestic violence prevention will continue indefinitely. We wish Addison and his family well."

 

[MurphDogg]

13 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Huh? See how easy it is to take someone's post and make it sound like those were his words. Here's his actual words,

“I’m accountable for my past actions. I am not proud of the person I was.”

“Without getting into details or specifics, I just want to own that what I did was wrong and inexcusable,” Addison said at the time. “And I’m sorry. Sorry for the hurt and pain I put Melisa through.”

A team required statement is not enough for some people to forgive a guy for alleged years of abuse. He could have done more this past season both on and off the field to improve his standing with the Cubs and their fans. He chose not to do so. Hopefully he does so in the future, but I don't really want the Orioles to be the team that gives him another chance. One press conference and then total silence (followed by complaining about being booed) isn't enough for me.

[Enjoy Terror]

The Orioles certainly wouldn’t lose any fans by signing Russell.

All of the old season ticket holders tore up their tickets over the Villar thing last week already. They all posted on this forum about it too.

[Tony-OH]

Just now, MurphDogg said:

A team required statement is not enough for some people to forgive a guy for alleged years of abuse. He could have done more this past season both on and off the field to improve his standing with the Cubs and their fans. He chose not to do so. Hopefully he does so in the future, but I don't really want the Orioles to be the team that gives him another chance.

Nothing is going to satisfy your hunger and lust for his demise so there really is nothing more to discuss. I've given you the quotes from him and the people in his management about him. You can choose to continue to vilify him all you want.

I will choose to look at him a flawwed human like the rest of us who made a mistake and is making the corrective actions to become a better person. I will root for his success on his journey and if that journey takes him to the Orioles, I too shall root for him here.

[atomic]

5 minutes ago, backwardsk said:

Yeah, but what if he could play middle infield?

Does your company define overly in-debt?

That is a good question.  They don't define it.  I would think if you start missing payments because of your debt situation that would be a reason for dismissal. I think if you had a couple of late payments and you didn't have much debt you would be Ok.   They don't want people who will be tempted to embezzle.  

[atomic]

4 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Nothing is going to satisfy your hunger and lust for his demise so there really is nothing more to discuss. I've given you the quotes from him and the people in his management about him. You can choose to continue to vilify him all you want.

I will choose to look at him a flawwed human like the rest of us who made a mistake and is making the corrective actions to become a better person. I will root for his success on his journey and if that journey takes him to the Orioles, I too shall root for him here.

If Lamar Jackson was injured and the team was thinking of picking up Kaepernick to fill the void in the QB situation how would you feel about it?

[Tony-OH]

23 minutes ago, 7Mo said:

I hope I'm not one of "those folks" but I also hope it's ok to voice an opinion that others may disagree with.

I hope Russell gets another opportunity and does well. I don't know what he did or didn't do. But given that we can't sign/claim everyone, he wouldn't be my choice. 

Sure, just because I don't agree with someone does not mean they can't voice their opinions on the matter. I understand the sensitivity of the subject with some folks, but I also believe in due process, rehabilitation, and redemption.

[Enjoy Terror]

Just now, atomic said:

If Lamar Jackson was injured and the team was thinking of picking up Kaepernick to fill the void in the QB situation how would you feel about it?

How is that relevant? Kaepernick didn’t make a mistake and isn’t apologizing for anything. 

[Tony-OH]

1 minute ago, atomic said:

If Lamar Jackson was injured and the team was thinking of picking up Kaepernick to fill the void in the QB situation how would you feel about it?

I'm not going to get into this here with you on this because we are getting into politics an that's a no-no here.

[Tony-OH]

Just now, Enjoy Terror said:

How is that relevant? Kaepernick didn’t make a mistake and isn’t apologizing for anything. 

Let's not get into this conversation. Our no politics rule is water tight!

[MurphDogg]

8 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Nothing is going to satisfy your hunger and lust for his demise so there really is nothing more to discuss. I've given you the quotes from him and the people in his management about him. You can choose to continue to vilify him all you want.

I will choose to look at him a flawwed human like the rest of us who made a mistake and is making the corrective actions to become a better person. I will root for his success on his journey and if that journey takes him to the Orioles, I too shall root for him here.

Agree to disagree. He could continue to talk about domestic violence, he could donate time and money to efforts dedicated to eradicating it. There are real concrete steps he could take to seek redemption.

But it is true I don't give him credit for sitting in an uncomfortable press conference one (1) time before the start of Spring Training and the requisite flowery quotes issued by the people who are financially and professionally dependent on him seeming remorseful and having grown.

A person who spends years as an abuser (while paying another woman child support in coins) doesn't get the benefit of the doubt from most people after a single press conference. It is great that you are so forgiving and believe that he has changed. Other people want more evidence.

[atomic]

Deleted by me.