Cubs’ Addison Russell suspended 40 games for violating domestic violence policy

Earlier this year, it became clear that Addison Russell had found himself in some real trouble.

In September, Russell’s ex-wife came out with detailed allegations of various forms of emotional and physical abuse that she had suffered at the hands of Russell. The league first got wind of these allegations due to an Instagram post in 2017 by a friend of his ex-wife, but she declined to talk much with investigators. However, her allegations were renewed when she came out with her accounts and the league immediately launched an investigation. Russell maintained his innocence when the reports came out and the Cubs released statements indicating that they planned to cooperate fully with MLB’s investigation into the matter.

MLB has completed their investigation and Russell was hit with a 40 game suspension.

It is worth noting that the 40 game suspension given to Russell is less than the punishment handed down to Roberto Osuna for his own violation of MLB’s domestic violence policy. It is unclear what the differences between the two cases are and if the presence of criminal proceedings against Osuna impacted the severity of his punishment.

There is rampant speculation that while Russell is suspended for 40 games, if/when he plays again it will be for another team with multiple reporters hinting that the sense is that Russell will not play another game with the Cubs.