Was trading Osuna the right move for the Blue Jays?

By: Adamo Marinelli

August 4th, 2018

    On Monday, July 30th, 2018, the day before the 2018 MLB trade deadline, the Blue Jays closer, Roberto Osuna was traded to the Houston Astros for closer Ken Giles and two pitching prospects in David Paulino and Hector Perez.

    Osuna is eligible to play again starting on Sunday, August 5th, 2018, after his 75 game suspension following the charges of his assault against a Toronto police officer early in May 2018 under the Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy.

    The trade was a swap of a closer with on-field troubles with one who has off-field troubles. In 35 games played, he only had 12 saves. He has 0 wins, two losses and an ERA of 5.12, which is bottom five in the MLB. He pitched only a mere 31.2 innings and collected 34 strikeouts. Osuna in only 15 games this season, has nine saves in 10 chances and had 13 strikeouts after only pitching 15.1 innings. He had 0 wins and 0 losses, but an incredible ERA of 2.93. He was an all-star last year when he went 3-4 with 39 saves and a 3.38 ERA. He was on route to one of the better years of his career in 2018, but ever since his incident with the law in May, he hasn’t seen the field.

    The Astros lead the AL West but were set to begin a series at Seattle having lost a season-high four in a row. They also acquired reliever Ryan Pressly from Minnesota last week who with Osuna will strengthen their closing pitching.

    Osuna hasn’t pitched in the majors since May 6th, 2018, two days before he was placed on administrative leave after he was charged with assault in Toronto. His trial remains pending and it was pushed back to August. Osuna’s lawyer Domenic Basile said he will not plead guilty to the charges and that he feels “remorseful of the circumstances of the situation.”

    “This [whole situation regarding Osuna] has been exceptionally difficult,” Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said on a conference call, in response to a question about how he feels about Osuna’s actions and why he traded him to Houston.

    Osuna lost 89 days’ pay as a result of his 75 game suspension, which comes to $2,536,022 of his $5.3 million yearly salary, and the suspension delayed his eligibility for free agency by one year until after the 2021 season as opposed to after the 2020 season.

    Osuna says he’s remorseful, thanked the Astros for giving him another chance and promised he wouldn’t let the organisation down. If he plays tomorrow, he will be quick to get back on track and return to his elite form. However, Giles seems to be more of a stubborn athlete and a more annoying teammate to be around and play with. He also seems to be a bad influence on other teammates, especially younger ones, at least based on one game on May 1st where he punched himself in the face while heading to the dugout after giving up a three-run, ninth-inning homer to the Yankees’ Gary Sanchez. All players have temper tantrums once in a while, especially after making a big mistake, but either way, it’s unacceptable behaviour. Despite this though, he will have a chance to close for the Blue Jays in the near future.

    The Astros seem to have won this trade, with Osuna being a more talented pitcher and closer than Giles, but a rebuilding team like the Blue Jays don’t need a closer. They are trying to lose games to get a better draft pick, essentially they’re tanking. A closer’s job is to win games. The Blue Jays don’t need to win at this point in the season, as they already look to be out of playoff contention this year. Nevertheless, along with Giles, the Blue Jays received two young pitching prospects who they can use on their roster or trade for draft picks. And that’s a successful deal for a rebuilding team, like themselves.