Osuna talks to new Astros teammates on second chance
Roberto Osuna LOS ANGELES — is getting a second chance with the Houston Astros. They also made it clear they won’t give him another one.
The All-Star closer met his new Astros teammates Sunday and addressed the club for 10 minutes in a closed-door meeting after completing a 75-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy.
The defending World Series champions acquired Osuna the previous Monday in a trade with the Toronto Blue Jays while he was still serving his penalty. The reliever was arrested and charged with assaulting his girlfriend May 8 in Toronto. Few details have been made public and the next court date in the case is scheduled for Sept. 5.
“We believe that Roberto will not let us down,” the Astros said in a statement. “If there is any type of issue in the future, we will take immediate and decisive action — it will not be tolerated.”
Speaking with reporters in the dugout, Osuna revealed little about the morning meeting in the Astros’ clubhouse at Dodger Stadium and did not discuss the case pending against him. He was reinstated from the restricted list and added to the active roster before Sunday’s game against Los Angeles. Osuna did not pitch in a 3-2 loss to the Dodgers.
“I was very happy to meet them and very happy to be a part of this team,” Osuna said through a translator. “I will do my best to win another World Series this year.” Asked if he could shed some light on why he was suspended, Osuna replied: “Not right now.”
MLB handed Osuna the second-longest penalty since its domestic violence policy was enacted three years ago. The pitcher did not appeal.
“Because of the ongoing legal proceedings, very little can be
said about the incident itself or the case involving Roberto,” the Astros said. “Our decision to acquire Roberto was based on the entirety of information that we gathered during our extensive evaluation. That included as much information as we could gather about the specific incident and the charges that were filed but it also included as much information as we could gather about his actions before and after the incident, as well as his personal reputation among his former teammates and coaches. The information regarding this specific incident weighed heavily on our decision but when eval- uating the entirety of the information, we felt that Roberto deserved a second chance.
“We are now focused on ensuring that Roberto makes a positive impact off the field while he is a member of the Houston Astros,” the team added. “We welcome being held accountable for all of our personnel decisions. Time will tell which ones were right and wrong.”
Looking for late-inning relief
‘I think the conversation is incredibly important and valuable.’ Jeff Luhnow Astros general manager
help, the Astros acquired Osuna from the Blue Jays before last Tuesday’s trade deadline. The move raised eyebrows in the clubhouse and all around baseball after Houston had previously stated its no-tolerance policy regarding domestic violence.
The team released minor leaguer Danry Vasquez last spring after surveillance video surfaced showing him assaulting a woman. Astros starting pitchers Lance McCullers Jr. and Justin Verlander were outspoken about their disgust on Twitter at that time.
Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow sat with Osuna as he addressed the media Sunday and said the decision to add him to the team was essentially his own. Luhnow said his hope is that Osuna’s presence with the Astros can ultimately turn into a “positive thing.” Luhnow also made a point to address female Astros fans who are struggling with the team’s decision to add a player accused of domestic violence.
“I think the conversation is incredibly important and valuable,” Luhnow said. “We do need to have it, and it’s a sticky conversation, the topic of any sort of alleged abuse, the topic of domestic violence. There’s also some related topics of condemning someone with no information. I see a lot of that out there. There’s not a lot of people that have real information about what happened or who the person is, and yet they’re pretty quick to judge and condemn.”