Domingo Germán’s apparent retirement seems to have lasted less than 24 hours. On Friday, Germán put out an Instagram post in Spanish that translated as “I left baseball. Thanks to my people” (as per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). But he later deleted that post, and on Saturday, he reversed course. Here’s more on that from ESPN’s Jeff Passan:
Domingo German's retirement lasted approximately 22 hours, according to his Instagram. pic.twitter.com/1CrAqfQr89
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 18, 2020
That’s quite the turnaround. Of course, there are a few different things going on here. The 27-year-old Germán also put out another post Friday that translated as “Some people make history on both sides (?), I think I did my part at Yankee Stadium, if I decide not to come back, I will be very proud of my 11-year professional career. God bless everyone who has supported me” (translation as per ESPN’s Marly Rivera). And he was placed on administrative leave under the joint MLB-MLBPA Domestic Violence Policy last September, and was suspended for 81 games (including 18 games already served, so 63 remaining games) in January, so he wouldn’t be available for the current 60-game season regardless.
But now it’s looking Germán may be back with the Yankees. That could be either in the postseason (the initial suspension announcement in January said he could participate in this postseason thanks to already missing last year’s playoffs; it’s unclear if that’s changed thanks to the shortened regular season) or next year. But either of those outcomes could be quite good for the team.
2019 was Germán’s third season of MLB action, but his first full season in the majors. And it saw him post a 18-4 record with a 4.03 ERA before his suspension in September. He’s clearly a talented pitcher, and having him in the fold will definitely help the team. But there are still a lot of outstanding questions about what’s going on with him after this saga. We’ll see where it goes from here.
