The Houston Astros made national news yesterday, and not just for their 3-2 loss to the Dodgers last night and George Springer’s thumb injury.
The big news came before the game, when Astros General Manager Jeff Luhnow released a statement about the club’s quote “difficult decision” to add closer Roberto Osuna to its roster last week – even though he was still under a 75-game suspension for violating the league’s domestic violence policy.
Osuna is facing criminal charges in Canada for allegedly assaulting his domestic partner; but the Candadian court system hasn’t fully released details of the charges.
His court date has been reset to early September – yesterday, he joined the Astros’ active roster.
In his statement to the press, Astros GM Luhnow wrote, “We welcome being held accountable for all of our personnel decisions. Time will tell which ones were right and wrong. We believe that Roberto will not let us down.”
According to a column in The Toronto Sun published over the weekend, The Astros had been interested in Osuna for more than a year; last year, The Blue Jays rejected their offer for the star closing pitcher.
This year’s offer from the Houston Astros for the 23-year-old facing criminal charges was for about half of last year’s offer, according to the Toronto Sun.