BULLPEN OPENING
With Osuna’s departure, Astros may have to seek newlate-inning arms
After Astros cut ties with Roberto Osuna, ballclub could look to free agents to fill spot.
The end of Roberto Osuna’s Astros career arrived Thursday, closing one sordid chapter of club history and accentuating a pressing need for the future.
Houston placed Osuna, its closer for nearly two years, on outright waivers, a person with knowledge of the decision confirmed to the Chronicle. His departure from the organization comes as no surprise. He was eligible for arbitration a fourth time this winter and was an obvious candidate not to be offered a contract by the Dec. 2 deadline, given his elbow injury earlier this year.
Osuna was scheduled to make $10 million in 2020 before the proration for a 60- game year. Osuna’s 2021 salary in the arbitration process also would have been around $10 million — and it’s unknown whether he’ll even be able to pitch.
The 25-year- old righthander appeared in only four games this season before suffering an elbow injury. In July, KRIV-TV reported that Osuna’s initial diagnosis called for Tommy John surgery, but general manager James Click said in September that Osuna had resumed a throwing program. Osuna previously underwent Tommy John surgery in 2013.
Just the thought of a serious elbow injury — coupled with Osuna’s large salary in a pandemic economy — made the Astros’ decision to cut ties easy. Coupled with Brad Peacock’s entrance into free agency and possibly nontendering a contract to Chris Devenski, Osuna’s departure underscores the club’s need for bullpen help this winter.
Houston is guaranteed to return just three of its late-inning leverage arms from last season — closer Ryan Pressly, hard-throwing righty Enoli Paredes and lefthander Blake Taylor. Veteran sidearmer Joe Smith presumably will return after opting out of the 2020 season. Lefthander Brooks Raley has a $2million club option the Astros must decide by Sunday whether to exercise.
Even if the entire quintet returns, questions exist. Taylor and Paredes pitched brilliantly as rookies, but both were prone to bouts of inconsistency. Taylor required a stint on the injured list with elbow soreness. Though he saved 12 games, Pressly allowed 21 hits in 21 innings and had a
1.333 WHIP. How Smith’s stuff plays after a season away is a mystery.
Such variables illustrate the Astros’ need for more proven depth. The relief market is one of the strongest among the free-agent crop. Closers Liam Hendriks and Alex Colome are available. Dodgers relievers Blake Treinen and Pedro Baez, too, along with Trevor Rosenthal, Kirby Yates and Shane Greene.
Osuna’s departure does not explicitly mean the Astros will sign or acquire a man who has closed before. Hendriks, Colome, Treinen, Yates and Greene have all held the title at one point in their careers, but the Astros’ front office and field staff have never been bound to assigned roles for their relievers.
For the last 14 years, Click worked for a Tampa Bay Rays franchise that, in 2020, had 12 different pitchers record a save. The team had a deep enough bullpen to trust anyone in leverage roles dictated by the best matchup.
Stuff is taken more into account than saves. Take Pressly, for instance. The Astros traded for him in 2018 because of the spin rate on his breaking pitches. By altering his pitch usage, the team thought it could turn him from amiddling reliever to a standout. By 2019, Pressly was an AllStar.
Could the Astros find another promising arm in need of some slight adjustments? Or will they turn to a more proven name? Between the regular season and postseason, Hendriks was filthy for Oakland against Houston for eight innings, giving the club an up-close view of his arsenal.
Colome and Click were together in Tampa Bay from 2013-18. Yates was with the Rays from 2014-15, too, though he needed surgery to remove bone spurs in his elbow this past season. Baez and Treinen have recent playoff pedigrees and success.
Osuna finished his Astros career with a 5.06 ERA in 16 playoff innings. He led the American League with 38 saves in 2019. In one and a half seasons in Houston, he totaled 51 saves and a 2.45 ERA in 93 appearances.
Houston acquired Osuna from the Toronto Blue Jays at the 2018 trade deadline while he was still serving a 75-game suspension for violating the league’s domestic abuse policy. Details of Osuna’s incident were never made public. He served his 75-game suspension without appeal and that September in Canadian court entered into a peace bond that withdrew the assault charge against him.
Osuna’s acquisition invited scorn from around baseball. The Astros’ mismanagement of the messaging afterward did not help. On the day of the trade, former general manager Jeff Luhnow touted the organization’s “zerotolerance policy” for domestic abuse but clarified the stance to include only players who committed their wrongdoing while with the Astros.
During Houston’s American League championship celebration last October, former executive Brandon Taubman berated a group of female reporters while alluding to the trade, yelling that he was “so (expletive) glad we got Osuna.” The outburst led to Taubman’s dismissal by the team.