Toronto Blue Jays: What now for Roberto Osuna?
By Paul Taylor
MLB has officially suspended Roberto Osuna for 75 games without pay, but what does this mean for the future of the Toronto Blue Jays’ pitcher?
As the saying goes, sometimes you should be careful what you wish for. As we wrote on Friday, the Toronto Blue Jays had asked MLB to speed up their process for making a decision on Roberto Osuna.
At the time, the league office denied the request, advising they wanted to have all the facts before making any decision. Now, a verdict has finally been reached, and it is arguably more severe than the Blue Jays were expecting.
As reported by The Canadian Press via CBC Sports, Osuna has been suspended for 75 games without pay. The suspension is retroactive to May 8 — when he was first placed on administrative leave — and will run through Aug. 5.
The ban reflects the MLB-MLBPA Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy. The league also confirmed Osuna will participate in a confidential and comprehensive evaluation and treatment program, supervised by the league and players association.
This latest turn of events is interesting for a couple of reasons. Despite the 2017 All-Star pleading not guilty to the charges against him, he won’t appeal the suspension by MLB.
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In addition, Jon Heyman of FRS Baseball reports MLB was apparently able to interview the alleged victim of the domestic assault. The person in question is (was?) allegedly Osuna’s girlfriend.
With this information in mind, it is still intriguing that the league office decided to go ahead with the suspension now, even though the trial date is set for July 9. That they would suspend the closer for 75 games is telling, given similar incidents in the past resulted in bans ranging between 15 and 51 games.
So what does this mean for Osuna moving forward? For a start, he will lose around $2.5 million (US) of his salary for 2018.
Second, the 23-year-old’s free agency will be delayed by a year, due to his suspension lasting more than 15 days. As such, he will now become a free agent after the conclusion of the 2021 season.
As for the Blue Jays themselves, we do not know if they would have attempted to move him before the non-waiver trade deadline. Regardless, this will now not be possible, given his ban through Aug. 8 and the reality that he will need to get back into game shape when he returns.
Really though, the picture is still not entirely clear, despite these latest developments. In truth, the matter will not be clarified until the conclusion of Osuna’s trial.
At that point, the Blue Jays will be in a better position to decide what to do long-term, with the Mexican native. Suffice to say, there is still a lot at stake for Osuna, both professionally and personally.
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Where would you go from here, with Osuna? If you’re in the Toronto Blue Jays’ position, what would you do with the closer? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.