New York Yankees' Aaron Boone discussed deleted Instagram post with Domingo German

TAMPA, Fla. -- New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he had a conversation with Domingo German about his cryptic Instagram post on the day he returned to the team following a domestic violence suspension.

"Everything is over," German wrote in Spanish on Wednesday.

German deleted his posts, then wrote: "I'm ready" in Spanish.

"Certainly, we're paying attention to that stuff," Boone said Thursday. "When I first heard about it last night and saw it and it was brought to my attention, I was taken aback a little bit and immediately concerned, but do feel like maybe a little bit out of context, a little bit overblown.

"And I am comfortable that he's doing fine and doing well and ready to compete. But it is something that we'll continue to watch and as best we can try and make sure that he's in a good place. But I had the conversation about trying to be as smart and choosy as we can being about some of the things we're expressing publicly."

German was 18-4 with a 4.03 ERA in 2019 when he was put on administrative leave that Sept. 19 while Major League Baseball investigated an alleged domestic violence incident involving his girlfriend, with whom he has at least one child. He missed the final nine games of the 2019 regular season and all nine of New York's postseason games.

He was suspended for 81 games on Jan. 2 last year, a ban that had 63 games left. He missed the entire 2020 season and playoffs.

Yankees reliever Zack Britton would not say whether German needed to speak with teammates about what happened.

"That's a tough question. I don't think he owes anything to me," Britton said. "I think it's off-the-field stuff that he needs to take care of. I think sometimes you don't get to control who your teammates are. I mean, that's the situation. I don't agree with what he did. I don't think it has any place in the game or off the field, at all. ... I think that's something that he's going to have to deal with on his own and make better choices going forward."