NEWSLETTER
Last year, Addison Russell and his then-wife Melisa split in a relatively public way, with Melisa discussing infidelity on Instagram. In the comments to that post, a friend of Melisa’s alleged, and then deleted, that there had also been physical abuse in the relationship. Russell denied the allegations. Under its domestic violence policy, MLB investigated the claims, but no disciplined ultimately came. The way the story played out, there was a cloud of uncertainty about not only what had actually happened, but about what Melisa was even saying had actually happened.
There is no more uncertainty.
Overnight, Melisa shared her story here, and linked to it from her Instagram account. I encourage everyone to read it, and to have some empathy for how difficult it must have been for her to do this now, and how unfair it would be to have demanded that she was in a place to do it last year when the relationship dissolved. We don’t truly know what other people are going through.
Although the baseball implications feel so secondary in a moment like this, I understand that will be a natural question. I would be very surprised if Russell is with the team this weekend when they play the White Sox, and I would not be surprised if discipline comes swiftly from the Cubs and/or MLB. There will be a renewed investigation, undoubtedly, and I think even if Melisa chooses not to be involved – which is her right – there will probably be punishment forthcoming.
