Yankees pitcher Jimmy Cordero suspended for rest of season for violating MLB's domestic violence policy

Yankees righthanded reliever Jimmy Cordero was suspended for the rest of the 2023 season for violating Major League Baseball’s Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy, commissioner Rob Manfred announced early Wednesday afternoon.

In a statement, MLB said Cordero, who will not be paid during the suspension, had “accepted” the penalty following a league investigation and that the pitcher “will participate in a confidential and comprehensive evaluation and treatment program supervised by the Joint Policy Board.”

According to Aaron Boone, Cordero approached his manager a week or so ago to tell him he was being investigated. The organization, including Boone and a handful of players, became aware of a forthcoming lengthy suspension Tuesday night. 

“I just said, ‘Hey, learn from this,’” said Aaron Judge, the team captain who said he spoke to reliever earlier in the day Wednesday. “I was pretty upset. I know a lot of the guys on the team are upset. This is in the league’s hands, and the league handed down the suspension. Hopefully he learns from this and becomes a better person.”

Boone said recent conversations with Cordero did not shed much light on exactly what happened.

“I don’t want to get into too many details, but it was a little vague and all over,” Boone said before Wednesday night’s game. “Just that an investigation was going on.”

Boone said he did speak with the team on Wednesday, shortly after the news of the suspension came down, but did not go into details. The Yankees, like pretty much every team, have an array of guest speakers who address the club during spring training on a variety of topics, including domestic violence.

“Obviously, when things like this that are about as serious as it gets come up, there’s a heavy price to be paid,” Boone said. “And, certainly, I support that. I know the organization supports that.”

The Yankees, as Boone said, backed the league’s decision.

“The Yankees are fully supportive of Major League Baseball’s investigative process and the disciplinary action applied to Jimmy Cordero," the club said in a statement released shortly after MLB’s announcement. "There is no justification for domestic violence, and we stand with the objectives, standards and enforcement of MLB’s Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy.”

Cordero, 3-2 with a 3.86 ERA in 31 games (one start) this season, signed a minor league deal with the Yankees before the 2022 season and spent that season with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre as he recovered from Tommy John surgery.   

Domingo German, who threw the 24th perfect game in league history last Wednesday night in Oakland, received an 81-game suspension late in 2019 for violating the same domestic violence policy, a suspension he served in 2019 and 2020.