Major League Baseball has suspended Colorado Rockies shortstop Jose Reyes without pay through May 31 after he was ordered to stand trial on domestic abuse charges, according to ESPN’s Buster Olney.
Yahoo Sports’ Big League Stew provided the league’s official statement Friday, which confirmed the unpaid suspension is retroactive to Feb. 23:
Reyes also released a statement shortly after MLB‘s announcement, according to Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal:
Commissioner Rob Manfred previously placed Reyes on paid leave after the 32-year-old allegedly assaulted his wife in a Hawaii hotel room, according to Hawaii News Now’s Chelsea Davis, but he’ll officially lose $7.06 million in game checks now that terms of the cumulative 52-game suspension are official, per Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan.
“His wife told responding officers that Reyes grabbed her off the bed and shoved her,” Davis reported. “Sources say she also told police that he grabbed her throat and shoved her into the sliding glass balcony door.”
According to ESPN.com, Reyes posted $1,000 bail and was ordered to stay away from his wife for three days following the incident.
However, charges against the shortstop were dropped after his wife failed to cooperate with prosecutors, according to the Associated Press. Should she change her mind and decide to cooperate within the next two years, charges can be refiled.
In baseball terms, Reyes is becoming an afterthought for the Rockies.
Rookie Trevor Story has been a revelation, batting .266 with 11 home runs and 27 RBI. He’s also clubbed three triples and seven doubles during his rapid rise in the Rockies’ order, earning National League Rookie of the Month honors in April.
Beyond Story’s development into an offensive linchpin for the Rockies, Reyes is staring at a long road back from a polish perspective.
“He has been working out on his own in New York, away from the Rockies’ facilities in Colorado and Arizona, but even if he returned tomorrow, Reyes would still likely need weeks to ready himself for major league games,” the Denver Post‘s Nick Groke wrote. “He missed all of spring training and any live competition since last fall.”
And then there’s the matter of the Rockies’ monetary commitment to Reyes. The veteran shortstop is earning $22 million this season—part of which the team will recoup following the suspension, per Groke—and another $22 million next season before the team can decline his $22 million club option for 2018.
With Story established as the franchise’s future shortstop and Reyes a past-his-prime piece who figures to have a hard time garnering regular playing time, the Rockies could be in a bind when it comes to relieving themselves of a hefty financial burden.
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