Jose Reyes

Rockies shortstop Jose Reyes is currently scheduled to stand trial in April after pleading not guilty to charges of domestic abuse stemming from an incident in Hawaii on Halloween day last year, Christian Red of the New York Daily News reports. That’s the same date that Colorado is scheduled to open the 2016 season in Arizona.

The local prosecutor, Kerry Glen, said he would not rule out a plea deal between now and the start of the trial, though he gave no indication of the likelihood of such a scenario. “If I find that acceptable, we would enter into that agreement,” said Glen. “There is always potential for additional negotiation between now and then.”

Needless to say, the charges themselves appear appropriately serious given the accusations against Reyes. It certainly seems that he faces a realistic prospect of jail time if convicted, though the precise counts being pursued are not immediately clear from the article.

But there are quite significant additional considerations at play beyond the immediate criminal matter. According to the Daily News, it is not known whether Reyes — a native of the Dominican Republic — ever completed a reported effort to gain U.S. citizenship.

If he is not presently an American citizen, there certainly could be serious immigration repercussions in the event that he pleads guilty or is convicted. There are a wide variety of considerations that would go into just what could occur on the immigration side of things, but that does indeed appear to be a serious matter.

Senior MLBTR readers will no doubt recall that there have been several recent instances where players’ careers and personal lives were heavily impacted by immigration difficulties. Without intending any direct comparisons, the cases of Roberto Hernandez and Juan Carlos Oviedo (both of which involved the use of false identifies) involved contract disruptions and lengthy holds on their playing careers, though both were ultimately able to return. (To get a sense of how things played out in those cases, you can review the old tags for their assumed identities: Fausto Carmona and Leo Nunez.)

To be sure, the least important matters at issue here are the impact on the baseball season that lies ahead and Reyes’s contract status with the Rockies. But there are obviously real implications here from that perspective for both team and player. If nothing else, the trial date presents a self-evident conflict, as would any hypothetical prison time. And recent reports have been somewhat unclear as to the league’s timeline for deciding upon its own disciplinary action (if any), with suggestions that the commissioner will act before the season (if not Spring Training, too) but also that there’s an apparent preference to first allow the legal process to conclude.

TUESDAY, 8:03am: Major League Baseball has issued its own statement, saying that the commissioner’s office “already has begun its investigation into the facts and circumstances” of Reyes’s arrest. The league said that its new policy on domestic violence shows that it “understands the seriousness of the issues surrounding domestic violence,” adding that the policy “explicitly recognizes the harm resulting from such acts.”

12:21am: The Rockies have issued a statement on the arrest, saying: “We were extremely disappointed and concerned to learn of the allegations involving Jose Reyes. We continue to gather information and will address this matter appropriately, in accordance with Major League Baseball’s Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy.”

MONDAY, 9:36pm: Rockies shortstop Jose Reyes was arrested on Halloween night in Hawaii for allegedly assaulting his wife, Chelsea Davis of Hawaii News Now reports. Reyes has been released on bail, according to the report, which does not make clear whether he’ll face charges.

The report is obviously deeply troubling, though as always it is necessary to await facts before issuing judgment. It goes without saying that domestic violence of any kind is unacceptable, and that matter is of far more importance than any baseball-related considerations.

MLB and the Major League Baseball Player’s Association recently agreed to a stringent new protocol for dealing with and (if appropriate) punishing alleged perpetrators of domestic violence. Under that policy, commissioner Rob Manfred will have the authority to issue discipline of whatever type he believes “appropriate in light of the severity of the conduct,” though of course an arbitration panel is available for appeal. There are also provisions dealing with administrative leave pending an investigation, though it’s not clear that they would come into the play during the offseason. Importantly, Reyes could theoretically face a suspension regardless of whether or not he is ultimately charged or convicted of a crime.

Further details of the alleged assault are available in a report from Davis. According to that report, Reyes’s wife accused him of grabbing her by the throat and shoving her into a sliding glass door in their hotel room. While she was taken to a local hospital for treatment of injuries, Reyes was placed under arrest for “abuse of a family or household member.”

It seems likely that Manfred and the league will make every effort at a thorough and timely investigation. The league and player’s associated pushed through agreement on the above-noted policy after watching as the National Football League struggled to deal with several high-profile domestic abuse cases.