Yankees' Domingo German submits to inpatient treatment for alcohol abuse

Domingo German will not pitch again this season for the Yankees after agreeing to “voluntarily submit to inpatient treatment for alcohol abuse,” the club announced late Wednesday afternoon.

German, whose past issues with alcohol have been well-documented – it played a role in the domestic violence incident toward the end of the 2019 season with his then-girlfriend and now wife that caused the pitcher to be suspended for 81 games – was placed on the Restricted List for the time he is away from the team.

“It’s something that he’s had to deal with in the past, the more recent situation emerged yesterday,” general manager Brian Cashman said some 20 minutes before Wednesday night’s game against the Rays.

Cashman declined to provide any specifics of what precipitated Wednesday’s announcement other than saying it was something he became aware of shortly after Tuesday’s 6 p.m. trade deadline.

“I’m not going to go into the details of it,” Cashman said. “Certainly, it’s a very serious issue that [affects] too many people, unfortunately. Hopefully the steps that are being taken today will really benefit him for the remaining part of his life because it’s a very serious problem.”

German, 5-7 with a 4.56 ERA in 20 games (19 starts) this season, pitched the 24th perfect game in Major League Baseball history June 28 in Oakland.

The morning after, in discussing how he celebrated the achievement, German referenced some of those demons when it came to alcohol.

“The hotel was busy last night and I saw some of my teammates in the lobby,” German said through his interpreter that Thursday morning in Oakland. “Probably wanted to stay there and share it with them, but at the same time, for me, it’s important to make right choices and keep making right choices…So I just decided to celebrate [by] calling family and doing some video calls and spent the night like that, just reminiscing about the game itself and sharing that moment with my family.”

German nearly didn’t make that start as he seriously considered going back to his native Dominican Republic earlier in the week after the death of his uncle, Saint Jacques Gean Louis, with whom he was close. It was all part of what has been an emotional year for the 30-year-old German, who recently had a baby boy and whose mother-in-law dealt with cancer.

“I’m just worried right now for the person and the immediate family,” Cashman said. “Domingo German is certainly a member of the Yankee family and he’s dealing with a very serious issue and we all are going to keep him in [our] prayers as he takes very important but necessary steps to try and deal with this problem.”

The righthander was a late scratch from his scheduled start Monday because of discomfort near his right armpit, which did not allow him to throw a flat ground session in Baltimore over the weekend.

“He couldn’t even lift his arm above his head,” Cashman said.

Jhony Brito made the start instead in what would be a 5-1 loss to the Rays. But German, who felt significantly better a day later and was evaluated and cleared by a doctor, would come on in relief that same night and pitch five scoreless innings.

“That’s a completely separate issue,” Cashman said, reiterating several times the announcement of German entering rehab had nothing to do with what took place Monday. “Had nothing to do with what we’re dealing with today.”

Nestor back this weekend

As a result of the German situation, the Yankees chose not to have Nestor Cortes make his third rehab start, which was supposed to be Wednesday night with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and instead will activate the lefthander to pitch Saturday against the Astros.

“As far as health,” Cortes said Wednesday, “I’m ready to go.”

With David Lennon