Trading Roberto Osuna was the right move for Jays fans and ownership — not so much for the World Series champs. Griffin,

The Houston Astros will likely not repeat as World Series champions this year. They have sold their soul for a closer who could divide the clubhouse.

Osuna will not be allowed to join his new team until Sunday, when his 75-game suspension for alleged domestic assault comes to an end. It is at that point he will address his new Astros teammates, attempting to convince them that he belongs in the same clubhouse, and that he can put this May 8 arrest behind him and become a better human being. It will be a skeptical audience parsing his every word.

And yes, I know one should always be presumed innocent until proven guilty and, yes, MLB pre-empted the legal process with its own sanction, but the bottom line is that after a thorough two-month investigation by the office of the commissioner, their people came to the conclusion under negotiated terms of the collective agreement that a 75-game suspension was fair and warranted – and the players association, one of the most powerful unions in sports, represented Osuna and accepted the ruling without an appeal. It’s not unprecedented. There have been other suspensions using the same guidelines.

Texas is not Canada, so maybe that Astros fan base will be more forgiving and understanding of a star baseball player whose reputation has been forever stained by allegations of assaulting a woman. But just from an unofficial three-month feedback I have felt and heard from Blue Jays fans, about whether they would hold this mess against the Jays organization if Osuna was allowed to pitch again for Toronto, the club did the right thing in trading its closer in a season that’s already a lost cause.

No opinion is unanimous. The demographics of Jays fans have changed dramatically since 2013. There are still those fans who remember the World Series years, but the core fan group for Rogers ownership moving forward is younger, with disposable income to travel well with the team, consumers of all the newfangled devices and services that Rogers ownership has to offer as their main business, and most of these fans are socially sensitive and responsible. We are Canadian.

For the Jays, hanging onto the 23-year-old Osuna and his legal issues and bringing him back on Sunday, no matter how the court case is finally resolved, would have been bad for Rogers’ business.

Make no mistake, the organization’s attitude has changed since the day he was placed on administrative leave. At that time they were 19-16 and GM Ross Atkins was of the belief that if they could just stay in the division or wild-card race until Osuna was reinstated then there was still a chance to be playing in October.

But since May 8, the date Osuna was arrested and Marcus Stroman went down with shoulder woes, with the Josh Donaldson injuries not far behind, the Jays have been in free fall. Clearly, they have since decided 2020 should be a hopeful target for contention. That being said, Osuna and his skill at closing out wins was going to be redundant. Atkins, who still struggles to express himself in non-corporate terms, negotiated the trade behind closed doors while still maintaining a public optimism about Osuna’s future.

The market value for Osuna was admittedly limited by the needs of other organizations and their own conscience. The Astros stepped up with one of the few legitimate offers for the talented right-hander, offering their own troubled ex-closer, Ken Giles, plus two prospects seemingly out of favour: righthanders David Paulino, 24, and Hector Perez, 22, who entered the season ranked No. 10 and No. 7 respectively among the Astros’ top 30 prospects but were not listed in that group at the time of the trade by MLB.com.

The bottom line is that fans should not judge the deal by what the Jays got in return, but whether they believe Osuna needed to be moved.