The Incident That Led To Domingo German Entering Treatment For Alcohol Abuse Reportedly Involved Him Drunkenly Wreaking Havoc In The Yankee Clubhouse On Tuesday

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The Yankees have had enough bad headlines this week alone to satisfy an entire season's worth of incompetence for a professional sports team. The ones surrounding Domingo German are by far the most serious and disturbing. 

On Wednesday afternoon as the Yankees were getting ready for the final game of their series against the Rays, news broke that Domingo German was being placed on the restricted list as he entered treatment for alcohol abuse. 

Today we're finding out the details that led to such a decision via the WSJ

These people said that Germán appeared intoxicated when he arrived at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday and was soon involved in confrontations with teammates and manager Aaron Boone. He flipped over a couch in the clubhouse, smashed at least one television, and was held for a period of time in the facility’s “nap room” while being monitored by team security. 

The team, in an effort to get Germán to contain the situation, briefly sent him into a sauna in an attempt to sweat out the alcohol, according to people who were present. Eventually, Germán was held in the team’s nap room while his teammates prepared for Tuesday night’s game. Team security was stationed outside of the room while Germán recuperated.

This part happened on Monday, an apparent sober incident after he was scratched from his start. 

Germán, according to people who were present, entered the clubhouse playing loud music and making jokes while Marinaccio was packing his bag, which irritated teammates, who confronted him about his lack of decorum in a difficult moment for a teammate. 

What a fucking mess. So to summarize, Domingo entered the clubhouse on Tuesday hammered, got into it with Boone, flipped couches, broke a TV, and the day before all of that he made fun of reliever Ron Marinaccio getting demoted to AAA as he was packing his bags. All of it sucks, but the last part where he was making fun of Ron packing his bags is infuriating. You're just gonna taunt your own teammate like that? Can't happen. 

I'd question why they thought putting a drunk person in a sauna to sweat out his alcohol was a good idea, but when it comes to anything with the human body this organization is the worst of the worst. Just par for the course there with logic. 

Regarding the weirdness surrounding Monday, Domingo was scheduled to start the series opening game against the Rays, but was scratched due to a reported armpit injury. An armpit injury, what? Supposedly he had difficulty playing catch over the weekend and it wasn't much better Monday morning. Jhony Brito was called up to make an emergency start and proceeded to get shelled by Tampa. When the 5th inning came around, however, who but Domingo German appeared on the mound in relief firing scoreless inning after scoreless inning. He was reportedly cleared by a doctor at 5pm, tossed some baseballs at 6pm, but didn't have enough time by then to get ready for the start. But yet, he still managed to throw 5 shutout innings to end the game? The timelines and facts don't make a whole lot of sense. It appears these two incidents are oddly enough separate from each other, but it's hard to not be skeptical if they're hiding anything else. All of it is bizarre. 

From a human level I hope Domingo gets the help he needs and is able to conquer these demons that have plagued him for a long time. German was suspended in 2020 for a domestic violence incident where he slapped his girlfriend at CC Sabathia's charity gala. To the unease of many he was given a second chance with the team, but by most accounts had turned his life around. It seems that was more hope than factual. Get him all the help he needs, but if he has any plans of returning to the game do not let it happen with the Yankees. That should be obvious, but with the way this team operates I wouldn't assume anything. 

German's 2023 season has been nothing short of a rollercoaster. Earlier in the year he was suspended ten games for having a sticky substance on his hand while pitching. He gave up 15 earned runs combined over two starts in mid-June before then throwing the 24th perfect game in baseball history. Now he's off to rehab for alcohol abuse. Crazy. Again, I really hope he's able to get the help he needs and salvage his life here, but the man has some serious issues to overcome.