Francisco Rodriguez To Plead Guilty To Assault; Will Attend Anger Management

It’s not the end to the saga, but it’s a step along the way - Francisco Rodriguez will plead guilty to assault after repeatedly punching the father of his girlfriend.

On August 11, Rodriguez pinned the man - Carlos Pena - against a wall inside Citi Field in front of other players’ families and punched him multiple times, injuring his own thumb in the process. As a penalty, Rodriguez will be ordered to attend anger management, although he will almost certainly not have to serve any time in prison.

Rodriguez contested these efforts with a grievance, and today there’s a settlement. Rodriguez will forfeit the $3.1 million he lost during his time on the disqualified list. However, his 2011 contract remains in place as guaranteed. The only way for the Mets to get out from under that burden now is by pulling off a trade, but it’s difficult to imagine that anyone would find Rodriguez very desirable.

Wednesday morning, Francisco Rodriguez found himself back in the courtroom. What was he doing there?

Rodriguez paid bail and left without comment. A new restraining order, effective through at least next February, was issued to protect Rodriguez’s girlfriend and family from further contact.

Just when you thought you might’ve heard the last of the whole Francisco Rodriguez/girlfriend’s father saga, something new comes up. Rodriguez was in court Tuesday morning for a routine hearing on his assault and harassment charges, and it was in his hearing that prosecutors revealed a new twist:

Rodriguez will be arrested and re-arraigned on this new charge sometime between now and his next scheduled court appearance on October 7th. Though his texts don’t contain any threats or harsh language, they nevertheless violated an order of protection.

Francisco Rodriguez is the Mets closer who is out for the remainder of the 2010 season after undergoing surgery on his thumb Aug. 17 -- a thumb he injured while punching his girlfriend’s father -- and the team is doing everything they can to make sure he is both out of sight and out of mind. During Tuesday’s game, the Mets cleaned out his locker, leaving only his nameplate.

After his fight, New York placed K-Rod on the disqualified list, and are seeking to convert his contract to a non-guaranteed deal. The Players’ Union is challenging that move, and has since filed a grievance over how the Mets have handled the situation.

Sure enough, the players’ union didn’t take it too well when the Mets placed Francisco Rodriguez on the disqualified list:

As is, Rodriguez is set to lose more than $3 million while he stays on the disqualified list. In addition, by converting the rest of his deal to a non-guaranteed contract, the Mets would be able to cut Rodriguez next spring for a small fraction of his $11.5 million 2011 salary.

Well that didn’t take long.

It seems the MLBPA doesn’t take too kindly to one of its members losing out on money without a fight. Even after injuring himself and having season-ending surgery, Francisco Rodriguez at least indirectly remains a distraction.

The following is part of a press release from Mets.com:

While Rodriguez is on the list, he will not be paid. There’s no saying for sure what comes next, but the probability is that Rodriguez will remain on the list through the end of the season.

There has recently been speculation that the Mets would try to move to void the rest of Francisco Rodriguez’s contract, which calls for the reliever to make $11.5 million in 2011 with a $3.5 million 2012 buyout. However, NBC’s Craig Calcaterra hears otherwise:

Given how difficult it would’ve been to fight the union and void Rodriguez’s entire contract, this seems like a much more doable alternative. Which isn’t to say that the union won’t still put up a fight, but Rodriguez did kind of screw the Mets out of money with his off-field act of aggression, so the Mets certainly have a compelling argument.

If nothing else, at least this should keep Francisco Rodriguez from making headlines with his right hand anytime soon:

Rodriguez injured himself while punching his girlfriend’s father. He will miss the rest of the season, and the Mets may look to void at least some part of his eight-figure contract.

Francisco Rodriguez came out and threw a scoreless inning last Saturday in his first appearance since punching his girlfriend’s father. In case you thought that was the first step of his long hike back to normalcy, though, think again:

Rodriguez is set to make $11.5 million next year.

The rehabilitation, personally and publicly, of Mets reliever Francisco Rodriguez begins with the news that he will enter an anger management treatment program before returning to the Mets this Saturday.

Daian Pena, Rodriguez’s common-law wife and mother of his children, and her father Carlos Pena, whom Rodriguez punched, received an order of protection that forbids K-Rod from going to the house they all shared together.

First things first: a bit of a clarification. Francisco Rodriguez did not hit his father-in-law Wednesday night, but rather the father of his girlfriend.

Anyhoo, Rodriguez was arraigned Thursday morning and has since been released, with a charge of third-degree assault and an order of protection on behalf of his girlfriend and her father that will keep him from being able to see his children until family court.

New York Mets closer Francisco “K-Rod” Rodriguez is currently in police custody Wednesday night after an altercation with his father-in-law at Citi Field following the Mets’ 6-2 loss to the Rockies. He’s been charged with third-degree assault and, according to SNY’s Kevin Burkhardt, he’ll be appearing in court first thing in the morning.

Details continue to dribble out regarding New York Mets closer Francisco “K-Rod” Rodriguez altercation Wednesday night with an unidentified family member assumed to be his father-in-law at Citi Field.

The “unidentified family member” is seen here on the Daily News website being taken away in an ambulance. As Amazin Avenue notes, he seems fine and the emergency worker doesn’t seem in much of a rush to take him away.

New York Mets closer Francisco “K-Rod” Rodriguez is in police custody Wednesday night after an altercation with his father-in-law at Citi Field following the Mets’ 6-2 loss to the Rockies.

The Daily News has details on what happened leading up to and after the ruckus.