Yankees' Jimmy Cordero suspended for the rest of the season for violating domestic violence policy

Yankees pitcher Jimmy Cordero was suspended for the rest of the season by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred on Wednesday for violating the sport's domestic violence policy.

MLB said the 31-year-old right-hander accepted the suspension and will miss the season's final 76 games and the postseason.

Cordero was 3-2 with a 3.86 ERA in one start and 30 relief appearances and has a $720,000 salary, the major league minimum. 

A career journeyman, Cordero has been in the systems of a number of teams including the Toronto Blue Jays, Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Nationals, Seattle Mariners, and Chicago White Sox.

He missed the 2021 season after Tommy John surgery while with the White Sox organization and spent 2022 with the Yankees' Triple-A team at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Cordero has a career MLB ERA of 4.36.

New York Yankees pitcher Jimmy Cordero has been suspended for the rest of the season

Cordero joins Domingo German (L) and Aroldis Chapman (R) as Yankees suspended under this policy. Across MLB history, 18 players have been suspended for domestic violence

The Yankees said in a statement they supported MLB's discipline and 'there is no justification for domestic violence.'

Cordero is the first Yankee to be suspended under the domestic violence policy since fellow New York pitcher Domingo German was given an 81-game suspension that he served in 2019 and 2020.

An investigation into German began after a number of his teammates saw him slap his girlfriend at a charity gala held by his former teammate CC Sabathia in September of 2019.

League sources said German was intoxicated and became physically violent toward his girlfriend until she locked herself in a room.

She did not call law enforcement, however, one of German's teammates and his wife came to calm the pitcher down while also caring for the girlfriend.

After finishing out his suspension in 2020, he returned to the Yankees - where he experienced a number of setbacks, including injuries and poor performances.

But just last week, German pitched MLB's 24th perfect game.

He's the first to do so since Seattle's Felix Hernandez accomplished the feat in August of 2012 - and the first Yankee to pitch a perfect game since David Cone in 1999. 

In the entire history of major league baseball, 18 players have been suspended for domestic violence.

Cordero is the third member of the New York Yankees to get suspended under this policy, alongside Germán and Aroldis Chapman.

Chapman was suspended 30 games after an alleged domestic violence incident with his then-girlfriend in Florida. 

No criminal charges were filed due to insufficient evidence - however, the league still suspended him.

A trade set to send Chapman from the Cincinnati Reds to the Los Angeles Dodgers was put on hold. He was traded to the Yankees just weeks later. 

Five players have been suspended for domestic violence in this decade alone.

The harshest punishment that has been given to a player in violation of this policy was former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer, who was suspended for 324 games.

An arbiter reduced that suspension down to 194 games, which is still the longest suspension under this policy. 

The longest suspension was given to Trevor Bauer, whose reduced sentence was 194 games

Bauer is currently pitching in Japan, after he was cut from the Dodgers and no MLB team signed him in free agency. 

As for this current situation, in a pure baseball sense, the Yankees are now down a relief pitcher. However, statistically, Cordero was the worst performing of everyone in the Pinstripes' stable.

Cordero has an ERA of 3.86 across 32.2 innings pitched, giving up 14 runs on 25 hits - including two home runs. That 3.86 ERA is the worst among the Yankees' bullpen.

Now, the Yankees will be forced to call someone up from their minor league system. The team has yet to announce who that might be.