Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna was arrested early this morning, per John Lott of The Athletic (subscription link). Osuna has been charged with domestic assault of his girlfriend, according to Hazel Mae of Sportsnet (via Twitter).
Osuna has been placed on administrative leave by the commissioner’s office, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca reports. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by Jake Petricka.
Details are scant at this point, so it’s far too soon to assess the situation. The precise nature of the allegations, possible range of legal ramifications, and potential for league punishment are all completely unknown publicly.
That said, given that this matter reportedly arose in the context of a domestic relationship, it falls within the purview of the MLB-MLBPA Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy. It is worth reviewing some of the most salient aspects of that agreement, which has been deployed several times since it was implemented in August of 2015.
Under that policy, commissioner Rob Manfred has the authority to “place a player accused of” such behavior “on paid Administrative Leave for up to seven days while the allegations are investigated before making a disciplinary decision,” though players also have a mechanism to challenge that treatment “immediately.” That provisional authority was previously exercised in the middle of the 2016 season with regard to Hector Olivera and has again been utilized here. It does not suggest any particular final determination, however.
Manfred also has the power to oversee the full-scale investigatory and punitive regime set forth in the policy. Any ultimate punishment is subject to arbitration, with a “just cause” standard applied to any determinations made by the commissioner’s office. Olivera was ultimately convicted of a crime and suspended for 82 games. Other cases have involved quite different fact patterns and generally resulted in less significant suspensions. Most recently, for example, Steven Wright was suspended for 15 games. Following another recent investigation, it was determined that Miguel Sano would not receive punishment given the evidence compiled. Criminal charges or convictions are not required for Manfred to issue discipline, though surely that’s weighed in the balance.
Wtf Osuna. What an idiot. Hopefully this is one of those misunderstandings but I highly doubt it
While he’s young and we really don’t know much of his off field lifestyle, he doesn’t seem to me like someone who’d go off half cocked like that. Nevertheless, if it’s true…doesn’t look good for the one player with the chance to break Mariano Rivera’s close record.
He’s a barely 23 year old in his fourth MLB season, and he’s been playing professionally since he was 15. It doesn’t surprise me one bit to learn that he has not developed into a mature adult with stable emotions, and we already know he’s been battling anxiety issues. He’s had a lot of responsibility, independence, and exposure to much older influences at such a young age, and that often doesn’t end well in professional sports or other fields like acting.
Sounds like it’s the Blue Jays fault then.
Banish the Blue Jays!
Please elaborate ..
I know, right? I mean he only needs 549 more saves to break Mariano’s record. If not for this incident he was a lock to surpass Mariano.
Kimbrel is the only person right now with any legitimate chance, but remains unlikely
If they sell him on the closer’s role, I’ll drink the Haderade.
However, I’d miss seeing him strike out 8 of 9.
The problem is that we don’t know what any of these guys are really like when the camera isn’t rolling.
Sad to hear. I know it’s innocent until proven guilty, but charges aren’t really a good sign.
So, you mean Osuna has been released by the police, not the Blue Jays.. Not clear at all.
“Osuna has been released and so will theoretically be available to pitch for the Jays”
Pretty clear that he was released via the police station as mentioned he available to pitch for the jays.
Worth clarifying, as I now have done.
I think that’s fairly clear.
Innocent until proven guilty
“Innocent until proven guilty”
That’s the standard in criminal court. Private businesses need not adhere to the same standard.
Private industries have behavioral clauses. Innocent until proven guilty means in a court of law. He has been accused of beating someone domestically. The police have filed charges. That’s enough for a suspension.
He hasn’t been expelled from the league, and he’s not languishing in jail. His career has been put on hold. Totally legit.
I should also add, this arrest apparently took place in Toronto, hence Canadian not US law applies.
As a Canadian I am almost 100% sure we have the same standard. Innocent until proven guilty.
Barely
What? Canada’s nice.
What an idiot. Who’s taking over for closer?
Cubs need a closer and they traded top prospects for Chapman soon after his assault. Anyone else see a match there with osuna?
Cubs need a closer? Brandon Morrow has done just fine.
Too bad they don’t have any top prospects.
Wow, never like to hear this. I can’t say that I am surprised. I have been a counsellor for 15 years and when I heard Osuna was struggling with anxiety issues it raises major flags. Anxiety issues rarely just go away. There is a reason for them.
What “Anxiety issues” can translate to is medication, counselling, fits or fear and anger, it goes on and on. It is clear he has mental illness problems. He needs more help that has been already provided.
The fact that he has been already charged is significant. That means the police are confident that a crime has been committed and conviction is attainable.
FYI, “The Blue Jays are currently scheduled to give away 15,000 Osuna T-shirts before Thursday’s game against Seattle as part of a promotion.”
Yeah, and the update really slams home the appearance of this being a slam-dunk case too. This might be a really, really bad incident
And talk about bad timing on the giveaway. The team might want to rethink it even, as some fans might take to shredding/burning them in high-profile ways during/after the game
Have to imagine the giveaway will go on ice. As for the administrative leave, I wouldn’t necessarily read too much into that at this stage. When a player is arrested and charged in the middle of the season, that’s almost always going to be the initial course of action.
Just thinking MLB would almost certainly want to protect themselves in the case of important, high-profile guys like this. That would mean an initial quick investigation to get a sense if this is possibly a false claim or if further investigation will probably lead to punishment.
For them to so quickly decide taking a teams closer away instantly, as they have, just makes it seem this is likely very cut-and-dry.
Maybe not, but in that case MLB may end with a lot of egg on face and encourage more false claims in future for punishing guys/teams so quickly over misunderstandings or false claims
That is why it is structured as paid leave. There’s no punishment, per se. Obviously some tough questions could arise in unusual circumstances, but in this case it’s pretty straightforward to put him on the shelf in the immediate aftermath of the arrest.
Yeah, its those tough questions. At least it is paid in case. But still lose the stats, the team might lose games (esp in case of a closer) and some clubs could run into 40-man issues to cover the absence.
Have to imagine MLB is worried about being responsible for that and fear acting too quickly on a misunderstanding or false claim, least such claims become a sick tactic used against players or even clubs.
Bruce Maxwell plead to a violent crime against a woman Jeff Todd, why hasn’t he been disciplined?
Better question why hasn’t the media put pressure on the commissioner to take action
Because the commissioner’s office and the A’s organization loved Maxwell’s political statement over the national anthem last year. Had he not bent down on one knee he would not have an MLB job.
I’ve called for not assuming anything. I’ve explained how the administrative leave provision works. Nothing I wrote in this post or in these comments implicates the subject of Bruce Maxwell. So I’m not sure how we got here.
That said, Maxwell’s conduct — which I’m certainly not going to defend — was not something that fell within the purview of the domestic violence policy. It just wasn’t.
Now, I would not disagree that consideration ought to be given to authorizing league punishment for certain other off-field behavior. But that would need to be collectively bargained, as the DV policy was. I don’t think there’s any real precedent for issuing league discipline for other criminal actions or bad behavior. Teams have issued their own suspensions at times, I believe, but I can’t say I have a full understanding of that.
I was pointing out how hypocritical MLB is and how its a disgrace Maxwell can plead to a gun crime against a woman and walk free. The story went away like nothing. No media dares ask. Guess the others suspended Familia, Chapman etc shouldve been busted for assaulting strangers too.
What a disgrace
You may be correct, he assaulted a woman with a gun, lied about a wsiter refusing to serve him. Must be nice
@Jeff, has MLB said in a statement saying no discipline will be sought?
Would this not fall under Article XII B
Conduct Detrimental or Prejudicial to Baseball
Players may be disciplined for just cause for conduct that is materially detrimental or materially prejudicial to the best interests of Baseball including, but not limited to, engaging in conduct in violation of federal, state or local law. The Commissioner and a Club shall not discipline a Player for the same act or conduct under this provision. In cases of this type, a Club may only discipline a Player, or take other adverse action against him, when the Commissioner defers the disciplinary decision to the Club.
A counselor AND a scout. You have a busy life.
#psychologistseyes
#Psychologisteyes + #Scoutseyes = gifted life
Jimmertee not only is an all-seeing vigilante baseball scout, he’s also a mental health and legal expert (Canadian law too!).
The gods were wise to bless us with his counsel.
The Osuna T-shirt giveaway has already been switched to Solarte T’s.
The anxiety issues were interesting; wasn’t available to pitch on a Friday night, news comes out Saturday and then pitches the Sunday. If the problems were so bad that he couldn’t pitch the Friday with a lead (which the Jays blew that night), why pitch on the Sunday? Did they truly address the problem?
Jimmer I’ve heard through some people close to the organization about Osuna off the field, and it’s seems to be the classic case of a young man who’s life has been about baseball but doesn’t know how to handle the lifestyle. Some players live their entire life through this game but cannot take the lessons learned from the game to their everyday life.
We’ve already seen some very talented young men come and go in this game in recent years. Hate to see Osuna blow his entire life up. Hoping for the best in this situation for all parties.
AMen, Hope Osuna talks to Darryl Strawberry, who had to learn the nhard way but is doing much better now.
The structure of the first paragraph makes it sound like Hazel Mae is his girlfriend. Had to read it twice.
I can see why someone might initially wonder while reading, but the structure makes clear it’s being reported by a Sportsnet journalist who happens to be female. Anyway, I will tweak it.
“who happens to be female” Anyway, I can see why someone might initially wonder while reading, but the structure makes clear it’s being reported by a MLB Trade Rumor “journalist” who happens be sexist.
You are garbage…
If you knew the full story you would realize your comment is misguided. It originally read “Osuna has been charged with domestic assault of his girlfriend, Hazel Mae of Sportsnet tweets.
Unfortunately many readers did not understand the significance of the comma after “girlfriend” and assumed that Jeff meant Hazel Mae was the GF.
No one is garbage, especially Jeff who remained cool, after writing a perfectly coherent sentence.
Perfectly coherent yet he had to go back and “tweak it”…?
My gripe is with what he said, not with how readers interpreted it.
If he wasn’t sexist he would have written it as “a sports net journalist who’s name is Hazel Mae” not “a sports net journalist who happens to be female”
I give up. I long for the days when these comment sections were nice and people didn’t nitpick every little thing and envision their own agendas in each article. There was not a single sexist thing in every little thing.
Before Jeff tweaked it there were several other comments from those who could not understand a simple sentence. He tweaked it making his explanation as plan as possible and even that is not enough. Go rant to some real sexists.
Have a nice day.
Cat Mando is accurately describing what occurred. Thank you.
I really cannot understand how writing “happens to be female” would be deemed sexist in this context. It was referring to the sentence structure, which was only being misunderstood b/c the journalist in question (Hazel Mae) happens to be female. Had the report been from a male journalist, nobody would have misunderstood it.
If you want to explain why you are accusing me of being sexist in a more detailed manner, perhaps I can address that. But please don’t just lob generalized accusations when I have nothing but good intentions.
You don’t understand how that would be deemed sexist? Have you not been frequenting the comment sections on this website? Everything is sexist, racist, or bigoted according to some here.
It is like many of them do not actually know what the words mean, but have heard them bandied about and feel the need to virtue signal.
Big loss for the Jays
WOAH
Someone was saying it’s his t shirt night Thursday?
what a knucklehead…
He’s suspended but Bruce Maxwell gets nothing for his crime for which he plead to. Unreal Maxwell must have some special privilege
What “special privilege” are you referring to, Tink?
The privilege to lie about waiters not serving him, getting away with crimes that we would go do hard time for, gets probation and no suspension.
Ywt he whines about injustice.
Bruce Maxwell plead to a violent crime against a woman Jeff Todd, why hasn’t he been disciplined?
Better question why hasn’t the media put pressure on the commissioner to take action
“why hasn’t the media put pressure on the commissioner to take action”
What do you suggest? Camp out on his doorstep. Maybe a series of sarcastic emails?
MLB has not finished their investigation and decided on what discipline will be handed down, it’s as simple as that. Sorry if it doesn’t fit your timeline.
How about at least have the guts to ask a question. The whole thing is swept under the rug
Maxwell’s case hasn’t been fully adjudicated yet; his crime was similar to Chapman’s except not as severe (Maxwell didn’t fire his gun) and MLB generally waits for a case to be fully adjudicated until suspensions are handed down for off-season incidents. No conspiracy, as much as you’d like there to be one.