The Astros have released prospect Danry Vasquez this evening, with the team’s announcement coming right on the heels of a league announcement that he has been suspended indefinitely. Vasquez was arrested after allegedly striking his girlfriend at the stadium of the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks.
Vasquez, 22, signed with the Tigers as an international free agent, and ended up being dealt to Houston in the 2013 Jose Veras trade. The outfielder had been seen as a legitimate prospect, though he was left unprotected and went unclaimed in last December’s Rule 5 draft and was struggling in his first action in the upper minors this year.
The league was able to move much more quickly with regard to Vasquez than it has several major league players. Because he was not on the 40-man roster, Vasquez is not represented by the MLB Player’s Association and lacks many of the protections available to the other players suspended recently — all of whom agreed to accept punishment after at least some negotiation with the commissioner’s office.
I’m guessing the Angels could look at him
no thanks. we may be desperate for prospects, but not this desperate
Lolzzzz Okay. You must be one of the clowns that try and run the Angels.
My first thought:
They must have soured on him as a prospect. Otherwise, they would “stand behind him during this difficult period of his life.”
I know nothing about Astros’ prospects. That’s just my gut reaction.
Hahahahaha very very true well said
Or it may be because the organization doesn’t tolerate that type of athlete. Making a decision based on character and morals in something like this situation should always trump the potential prospects impact on the big league clubs win column. When Brett Oberholtzer purposely through at ARod in retaliation early last year the team demoted his ass and he never got called up again. I respect the organization for having (and enforcing) high standards for its players conduct on and off the field.
Angels! Attention Angels organization….. Is anyone in this organization home?
Another foreign baseball player committing DV? Deport him back to Venezuela and ban him for life from baseball.
DV is a problem is this country too. I think you are focused on entirely the wrong issue.
*in
Yes, because foreign-born is the real crime here.
Another inbred with a STUPID comment.
If I was a GM, regardless of the team, I would be taking a chance on him. Let him ride out the suspension (likely about 50 games) and let him play. He’s 22 and has at least a 45 scouting ranking–
Say you give him an additional season in AA, allow him to develop his hit tool a bit more, he could be a solid left fielder (or at least a solid platoon bat)
“video footage from the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks’ stadium shows Vasquez striking his girlfriend on three separate occasions during an argument. A Hooks employee also claims to have been threatened by Vasquez on the day in question, and video does show a “heated conversation” between the two,”
Yea, he’s the kind of stable player I would want around /s
No way. He made more contact in this situation than he ever needs to make in professional baseball in the US again.
Well, you are sick in the head then. Congrats on revealing yourself to be a POS buddy.
I’m kinda surprised people actually think he’s worth a spot after this, struck his girlfriend 2 times in the face, knocked her down a few stairs and threatened a worker who tried to intervene and then hit her again when she gathered herself and the worker left and this is all supposedly on film seems pretty cut and dry to me if that’s the case. I’m sorry if a hockey player got deported back to Russia for a similar incident this guy should be gone too, no need for filth like this in the game.
Harold Reynolds made a comment regarding the cardinals # 1 prospect taken in this years amateur draft (after he had been caught using P.E.D’s that has stuck with me. He implied that it sets a bad example to the young kids and all of baseball to reward someone who cheats the game or does something horribly wrong (using domestic violence for this article) and show everyone that this behavior will not get you consequences.
I am a cards fan and find Harold to be obnoxious at times but he is dead on right on this subject.
Mlb (whether he’s part of the Union or not) should enforce mandatory counseling for these abuses and mandatory community service if the person would like to be reinstated to baseball. 50 games suspensions are a joke. Especially when you are a top prospect pitcher at high level triple A on a contending mlb playoff team. Nothing like 50 days rest to get you ready for that stretch run?
Vasquez, if what was alleged is true, could be in a mlb uniform tomorrow if he was ready? Something is not right here.
How would your life be if you were suspended from work and as a result lost about 1/3 of your pay for the year?
If you beat up your girlfriend on camera and threatened someone else in the process, you would be “suspended” from your place of employment, and you would serve that suspension in county jail.
As an Astros fan I 100% stand behind the Houston front office in this decision. Regardless of his talents his days of playing should be over. It sickens me to hear other fans scrambling to pick him up. Does no one recognize that what he has done (and will absolutely do again) has no place in our game. He is a pathetic representative of the type of player we should be allowing into sports to act as examples for the rest of the world. Hitting his girlfriend and attacking an employee is only worth 50 days? Says something about how we value the life of that young lady. It’s repulsive…
Really glad MLB is being serious in ending players careers due to thinking they are above the law. This is real, actual lawbreaking, different to taking PEDs, which people in normal jobs take regularly without punishment and an entirely fake and dumb thing to care about. Beating women under ANY circumstance should always equal a lifetime ban. That said, I hope MLB’s zero tolerance law prevents that convicted horrifying rapist Josh Lueke from ever playing MLB again, and honestly, he should be banned worldwide too. What he did was so awful and terrible, he should have gotten 25 years in prison for that. Vasquez deserves 10 years for this too.
Playing MLB is an extreme privilege, not a right.
Sure if the perpetrator is a fringe prospect.. Aroldis Chapman brought back a top prospect.
I respect the Astros decision. No man should lay hands on a woman.
What’s with the commenting here? It’s a crapshoot whether a comment will show up or not.
Yeah. I dunno. There were 0 comments, I signed in to say something and BOOM. They all showed up at once.
What the crap is going on the last 2 years with this crap? Is there just a rash of players doing this or does it happen this often and for some reason only recently gets reported?
It happens way more frequently than we want to imagine. Not just with baseball players or athletes, but just in general. We all have cameras now so it gets out more easily these days. Just like police shootings.
I’m going to go with it’s brought to light a lot more now. I doubt it’s this new phenomenon that’s happening, it’s just we now have instant access to everything. I also think it’s a domino effect of women realizing they can stand up for themselves and say something. DV, rape, etc scares women and embarrasses them honestly. When they see it’s being reported and organizations/employers are doing something about it, it makes it easier for them to tell their story.
Hopefully this crap goes away and they start issuing life time bans, counseling, HUGE fines, whatever to end this.
I’m also one that wants to know the whole story from both sides. Not disbelieving the women in these stories but the same way that women could realize they can speak if it does/did happen, there can also be women who want attention/money who lie too. Again not saying this is the case or ever is the case, but weirder shit has happened.
It happens often. Domestic violence is one of the most chronically under-reported an under-prosecuted crimes. We’re hearing more about it now because MLB and (some of) its teams are taking it more seriously. Which means that a) they’ll do more when they see evidence of domestic abuse, and b) victims are more likely to come forward and report it when it happens to them, because they feel like their claims will be taken seriously.
Yankees did well the last time they signed a guy with that type of baggage!
There is more here than just the win column. He is a POS that needs to get his ass beat the same way he mistreats other people.
I am by no means defending this man’s actions. They are despicable.
But, why is it that he should be punished in his workplace for something off of the field?
A person working in an office would not be suspended without pay for 50 days from coming into the office.
No, they’d be in jail.
If I was video taped hitting a woman (or man for that matter) in my workplace, you are correct. I would not be suspended for 50 days I would be fired immediately and THEN charges would be filed.
It wasn’t off the field. He hit her at the stadium.
Deport the scum