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| Addison Russell and his ex-wife Melisa Reidy-Russell |
After their divorce was finalized Aug. 30, Russell's former wife Melisa Reidy-Russell, who is a Filipina American, wrote that she suffered physical and emotional abuse throughout their two-year marriage and that the mistreatment severely affected her prompting MLB to act.
"With the new details revealed ... by Ms. Russell, Mr. Russell has been placed on Administrative Leave in accordance with the Joint MLB-MLBPA Domestic Violence Policy," MLB said in a statement Friday. "We are hopeful that this new information will allow us to complete the investigation as promptly as possible."
Last year, allegations of abuse arose from a friend of Reidy-Russell triggered an MLB investigation that remains open.
"The first time I was physically mistreated by my spouse, I was in shock," Reidy-Russell wrote. "I couldn't wrap my head around what just happened ... Why did he get so angry? What did I do for him to want to put his hands on me? Of course I forgave him & assumed it would never happen again. I just thought he had let his emotions get the best of him, he loves me and he's sorry. I was deeply hurt that he could even be capable of this behavior towards me, I couldn't understand how the man I was so in love with, the FATHER of my child, the man I married just a few months ago could show such aggression towards me."
Reidy-Russell wrote that emotional and verbal abuse became an "everyday thing" in their relationship.
RELATED: Addison Russell, Filipino American ballplayer"Being blamed for just about anything that went wrong, name calling, intimidating me with personal force, manipulating me to think I was the problem, destroying my personal things, threatening me to 'send' me & our son home to my parents as if I was privileged to be living in our home," she wrote. "Basically, I felt like I was nothing, a nobody & I was nothing without him, & I couldn't do anything without him."
“We take allegations of domestic violence seriously and support the League’s decision to place Addison Russell on administrative leave given new details revealed today,” the Cubs said in a statement Friday. “We will continue to cooperate with the League’s investigation so the appropriate action can be taken.”
Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told The Associated Press that the department has not launched a criminal investigation "at this point," but detectives will look at the allegations "further and have already reached out to the Cubs."
"Obviously, we take it very, very seriously," Cubs owner Tom Ricketts said to ESPN. "The place it's at right now, it's in the league's court to do the investigation."
Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said he again asked Russell on Friday if the allegations were true.
"We questioned him on it," Epstein said. "He reaffirmed his stance that he did not do what he is accused of having done."
"... It would have sent the wrong message to have Addison wearing a Chicago Cubs uniform this morning, so we fully support him being placed on administrative leave."
“But, as I expected our visit was a nightmare, I swore to myself it would be the last time he’d lay his hands on me & it would be that last time I’d let my son be a witness to it,” she wrote.
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