On Thursday, September 20, 2018, Melissa Reidy shared a post on her blog alleging physical abuse and emotional abuse from her ex-husband. That man just happens to be the Cubs star shortstop and World Series champion, Addison Russell. In 2017, Melissa Reidy posted on her blog saying how she was cheated on, disrespected, and lied to. That post was very quickly deleted. A month later, she filed for divorce. Her lawyer at the time mentioned that Melissa did not want to cooperate with MLB investigators stating, “Melisa isn’t interested in legitimizing anything that doesn’t come from her. Ultimately, MLB has one reason for wanting to talk to her, but she doesn’t believe it would be of any benefit for her or her son.” The abuse allegations did not appear in the divorce filings.
Today, a day after the allegations were released by Melissa, Addison Russell has been placed on leave by the MLB and did not travel with the Cubs for their cross-town rivalry matchup with the Chicago White Sox as the investigation begins by the league. Russell was called into the Cubs office early Friday morning and denied the allegations set forth by his ex-wife.
You can read Melissa’s full blog post about Addison Russell here
What it means for the Cubs
Addison Russell was a vital piece in their World Series winning squad with his defense and offensive production. Since then, he has struggled at the plate but continued to impress in the field. The Cubs may miss him at short because of his defense, but he will not be at the plate. The Cubs will now have no choice but to put Daniel Murphy at second base and the 2018 NL MVP Javy “El Mago” Baez at short. If you think this hurts their chances to get to another NLCS then you’re sadly mistaken. This team is coming off 29 games in 29 days where they went 18-11 and have kept their lead in the NL Central. All while Russel was battling injury and struggling behind the plate. What feels like a down year because of injury has actually been one of Joe Madden’s best years as a manager. While this investigation will be a little distraction to the Cubs, they are close and strong enough to work past this and make another deep run in October.
Who would have thought in Chicago that the baby face, star shortstop of the Chicago Cubs, and one of the most loveable layer in the city, is now one of the most hated players and may ever see a baseball field again.
- Austin F
Your BellyUp Source for everything Chicago
