As ready as the Chicago Cubs fanbase is to turn the page on this trying offseason, there are likely few people more eager to focus on baseball than infielder Addison Russell. In each of the last two years, he faced domestic abuse allegations and last summer, Major League Baseball suspended him 40 games for violating the league’s domestic abuse policy.
There were several gates throughout the winter where the Cubs could have moved on from the former first-rounder. But, instead, they tendered him a deal, made several public statements regarding the stipulations and conditions of Russell’s continued employment and vowed to ‘be part of the solution’ instead.