Blue Jays’ Roberto Osuna suspended for 75 games, eligible to return Aug 4th

Major League Baseball finally made a decision on Roberto Osuna’s situation, suspending him for 75 games retroactive to May 8th.

The Blue Jays finally got some news on the future of their 23 year old closer, despite the fact that his court case remains unresolved.

Commissioner Robert Manfred and his office made the announcement earlier today that Osuna would receive a 75 game suspension that would be retroactive to May 8th, when he was first placed on the administrative leave list. Osuna had remained inactive while on that list until today’s announcement.

Now that his suspension is in place, Osuna will no longer be paid, as he was while on administrative leave. The commissioner’s office suspended him under their Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, and Child Abuse Policy, in much the same way they’ve suspended other players who hadn’t been legally convicted. Given that Osuna is making 5.3 million this season, being suspended for just under half of that time will cost him roughly two and a half million dollars.

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Osuna’s future in this court case remains unsettled, and there are a variety of ways that could work out for the Mexican born pitcher. His case is particularly complicated because the Blue Jays play in Canada, and the frequent trips across the border could certainly cause issues with his work visa if he’s convicted. For what it’s worth, Osuna’s lawyer said that he plans to plead not guilty to the charges he’s faced with, and hopes to return to baseball as soon as possible.

Now that we know he’ll be suspended until August 4th, it’s actually possible that Osuna could miss the remainder of this season, depending on how the Blue Jays decide to play this. As part of his suspension, he’s not allowed to be anywhere near team activities, which means he’ll need at least 3-4 weeks in order to get himself ready to pitch in the big leagues again. We’re looking at early September in a best case scenario for the young man, and there’s not a whole lot of season left at that point, especially considering where the team sits in the standings at the moment.

That’s also assuming the Blue Jays decide to bring him back at all, something that’s guaranteed by any means. We don’t know how this court case is going to work out, and we can’t necessarily write Osuna off without letting the legal process play out. It doesn’t look good for him though, and as an organization the Blue Jays have shown a low tolerance to issues like this. While different scenarios, Gregg Zaun was let go this offseason for alleged inappropriate workplace behaviour, and Kelly Gruber was also un-invited from Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame celebrations after his incident at a Pitch Talks event. Again, we’re talking about two former players vs. an active All-Star, but the organization takes these things very seriously.

At this stage there is still a lot we don’t know about the investigation, and Osuna’s future with the Blue Jays, and baseball in general. However, we finally learned something on Friday, which at the very least is helpful for the Jays. Knowing that he can’t be around the team until at least August 4th gives them an idea of how to plan for a future, with or without the youngest closer in MLB history to reach 100 saves.

Next: Wait, is Kendrys Morales still good at baseball?

The whole situation really is a shame.