Yanks on suspension

Britton’s words carry a lot of weight in the Yankee clubhouse and throughout baseball. Boone said he had not realized that German’s return would be as controversial in the clubhouse.

Britton had doubled down on his comments that night on Twitter. When a fan defended German, Britton made it clear the details of the September 2019 incident were known within the clubhouse and not something he could dismiss.

Coincidentally, on Sunday details of the incident leaked in a report.

That included German allegedly slapping his girlfriend at a charity event for former teammate CC

Sabathia where much of the Yankees major-league organization was in attendance. The report alleges the incident continued at the home German shared with his girlfriend until she locked herself in a room and called the wife of one of German’s teammates to come and help her.

According to the report, that couple came to the residence to try to help, but it was another Yankee employee who reported the incident to MLB. No incident was reported to police.

At that point, the Yankees decided to postpone German’s first public comments until after he could address his teammates.

The divide, however, is obviously not insurmountable in the clubhouse and the organization has already proven it’s willing to give second chances.

The Yankees dealt for Aroldis Chapman after a domestic violence incident in 2015 had come to light. He was suspended 30 games, which delayed his Yankees debut. Chapman apologized for the incident during which he fired a gun eight times in his garage, by pointing out he did not hurt anyone.

German is also returning to a team that needs starting pitching. he Yankees come into camp with high hopes for their rotation, but with concerns about injuries and experience. German went 18-4 with a 4.03 ERA in 24 starts and three relief appearances over 143 innings in 2019. He could be an important depth piece in a year when pitching depth will be the key.

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