Britton amid German's return: 'You don't get to control who your teammates are'
Domingo German reported for spring training Thursday after serving an 81-game suspension for violating the league's domestic violence policy, and one teammate is already voicing his displeasure with the pitcher's return.
"That's a tough question," New York Yankees reliever Zack Britton said when asked how he will receive German in the clubhouse, according to Randy Miller of NJ.com. "I don't think he owes anything to me. I think it's off-the-field stuff that he needs to take care of. Sometimes you don't get to control who your teammates are, and that's the situation.
"I don't agree with what he did. I don't think it has any place in the game or off the field at all."
MLB placed German placed on administrative leave on Sept. 19, 2019, while it investigated allegations that he slapped his girlfriend. No criminal charges were filed, and the league suspended German in the offseason.
German was slated to miss 63 games in 2020 because his ban was backdated to the beginning of his administrative leave. The coronavirus pandemic eventually forced the league to shorten the 2020 campaign to 60 games, and German's suspension was altered to include the entire season - including the playoffs - with no carryover into 2021.
The 28-year-old wrote "Everything is over" in Spanish in a since-deleted Instagram post on Wednesday. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he and German "had a conversation" regarding the post.
"I don't feel like I'm in a position to tell somebody how they express themselves or whatever, (but) certainly we're paying attention to that stuff," Boone said. "First and foremost, we want to make sure that Domingo's in a good place. When I first heard about (the post) and saw it - it was brought to my attention - I was taken aback a little bit and immediately concerned.
"But I do feel like maybe it was a little bit out of context and a little bit overblown, and I am comfortable that he's doing fine and doing well and ready to compete."
He added: "It's something that we'll continue to watch as best we can. I'm trying to make sure he's in a good place, but I had the conversation about trying to be as smart and choosy as we can be about some of the things we're expressing publicly."
German is competing with Jordan Montgomery, Luis Cessa, Jonathan Loaisiga, Deivi Garcia, Michael King, and Clarke Schmidt for one of the final spots in the Yankees' rotation. The right-hander owned a 4.03 ERA and 4.72 FIP over 143 innings in 2019.