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As long as Addison Russell remains with the Cubs his teammates are going to be asked questions about him and more often than not the answers aren’t going to come across all that great. That’s what we have with this story on 670 The Score about Kyle Hendricks and his support of Russell.
The Cubs have decided to stick by Russell’s side after he was suspended 40 games by MLB following the league’s investigation of domestic violence allegations against him. Since then, Russell’s ex-wife Melisa Reidy shared disturbing details of the abuse she suffered while she was married to Russell.
On Friday, the Cubs avoided arbitration with Russell, settling on a $3.4 million salary for 2019, including roster bonuses that could make the deal worth $4 million. As it stands a month away from the first workout in Mesa for spring training, Russell is a member of the Cubs which means his teammates will be asked about him.
Kyle Hendricks was the focus of Bruce Levine’s story on Monday and although we can all assume Hendricks had good intentions, his quote about supporting Russell was kind of unfortunate.
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Via 670 The Score.
“We’re all on the same page with it,” Hendricks said on Inside the Clubhouse on Saturday. “We’re all on board. We love Addison. We love Melisa too. Everything that happened is unfortunate. We’re just behind him. He’s our teammate, and we’re backing him. We want him to be the best person he can be, whatever that process is going to take. We’re focused on on the field and what we have to take care of business-wise, but obviously just who he is as a person and the developments that he’s going to make, we’re here for him. Anything he needs, anything really anyone needs in this situation, we’re just trying to be as supportive as we can.”
“We want him to be the best person he can be, whatever that process is going to be.” That’s probably what Hendricks should have started and ended with.
It’s a tough spot if you’re a teammate and as easy as it is coming from an outsiders perspective, I don’t think Hendricks or any other guy on the Cubs is going to say, “fuck Addison Russell, he’s a scumbag,” even though maybe saying how the things he’s alleged of doing are awful would be more than fair.
Every other part of that quote by Hendricks is bad. Yes, the best outcome is for Russell to be a better person and not be a domestic abuser. Yet, when Hendricks says the situation was unfortunate he’s definitely downplaying the significance of what happened. Or how about not putting Russell and Reidy on the same level. One was abused, choked in front of her child, the other did the choking.
And fine, they want to support Russell so that he hopefully does become better as a person, but every time we get these responses it’s just more bad press for the Cubs.
You force guys to stick up for Russell, who’s been accused of tripping his pregnant wife for shits and giggles, choking his wife and tackling her on the street.
