For a lot of people, rape and other forms of predatory sexual misconduct is probably a worse crime than murder (especially man on woman crime). Law & Order: SVU begins each episode with the line “sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous”, and they’re right. For a lot of people, the severity of sex crimes, especially on children, is an unforgivable offense.

So please don’t think I’m just brushing aside the feelings of those who are against the idea of Josh Lueke.

However, I need to remind you that all baseball players are human beings. Human beings make mistakes and do things that other human beings find offensive. I know some people honestly believe this, but baseball players are not flawless godlike figures that have to mandate our beliefs and moralities because they’re in the public eye. Russell Branyan is going to get into an argument with his wife and maybe get angry to the point where he smacks her. Tyson Gillies is going to experiment with and get caught having cocaine on his person. Michael Morse and a host of others are going to be tempted to do steroids in order to get ahead. Pete Rose is going to gamble on baseball. They’re all regular guys gifted with the ability to hit or throw a funny little white ball better than the rest of us. Otherwise, they’re human.

Now, I’m not trying to defend Josh Lueke’s actions. But what we have to do is start accepting the legal system of this country. We established that people have the right to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, to be tried by your peers, and to have a speedy due process. We also established that those who are found guilty are punished by the state and that their punishment shall not exceed that which is mandated by the state.

Josh Lueke committed a crime. Josh Lueke was tried. Josh Lueke was punished. As far as society is concerned, that should be it. The man paid his debt to society. Whether you believe he’s paid his debt to that young lady is irrelevant. Society has determined that Josh Lueke’s illegal activity is over and done with. Whether the crime he was found guilty of fits your mold of justice is irrelevant. You’re not the judge. You’re not the prosecution. You’re not even the jury (unless you were). Whether the punishment he was given fits your mold of justice is also irrelevant.

A lawyer (I don’t remember who, bear with me) once said: “If the Court of Public Opinion went to trial, it would lose every time.” That’s because emotional and irrational thinking benefits no one in society. Please start to embrace that concept. I’m not saying you can’t ever be mad with someone for something you find repulsive, just remember that we all agreed to live in this society with society’s rules and you don’t get to disregard them just because you don’t like the outcome, or justice, of a particular case.

Period.

If he has done it outside of a civil trial or a court of law, then it is not public record, so there would be no way to do so unless someone involved leaked it to the press.

“We tried that on Friday night,” Armstrong said. "But then, on Saturday morning, the Rangers said, ‘No, we’ve already notified the players. The deal stands as is.’ "

But Daniels said the Mariners could have sent Lueke back. “We offered several times to reacquire Lueke in a separate transaction — an offer originally made the same night the deal was announced,” he said in an e-mail to The Times. “That offer stands.”

The Lee / Lowe for Smoak, Beavan, Lueke, Lawson trade was a done deal.

Daniels says he was willing to take Lueke back in a SEPARATE transaction. In other words, a completely different deal.

Maybe there was a reason the Mariners didn’t want to do a separate deal. Maybe they wanted to pull out of the original deal entirely and send Lee to New York instead, but Daniels wasn’t having that. He wanted Lee. So instead of nullifying the original deal, Daniels offered a separate deal to take Lueke back.