Top 25 Baseball Stories of 2018 — No. 14: Roberto Osuna shows how flexible baseball ethics can be

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We’re a few short days away from 2019 so it’s a good time to look back at the top 25 baseball stories of 2018. Some of them took place on the field, some of them off the field and some of them were more akin to tabloid drama. No matter where the story broke, however, these were the stories baseball fans were talking about most this past year.

On April 10, 23-year-old Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna became the youngest pitcher in Major League history to record his 100th career save. Less than a month later he was arrested and charged with assaulting his girlfriend in Toronto. Osuna was placed on administrative leave by the Jays on May 8 and, on June 22, he was suspended for 75 games.

While the precise details of Osuna’s assault on his girlfriend have not come to light, they were likely serious, as those 75 games represented the second-longest suspension to be handed down since the advent of the league’s Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy.

Assault charges were, eventually, withdrawn against Osuna, but not because the incident was less serious than thought. Rather, they were withdrawn because his victim would not return to Canada from Mexico to testify against him. As it was, Osuna was subjected to a one-year peace bond, which is akin to a restraining order, combined with probation. That itself is a pretty major sanction given a lack of on-the-record evidence against Osuna. Something pretty bad appears to have gone down.

In between Osuna’s arrest and his sentencing, he was acquired in a trade by the Houston Astros. This is where, for our purposes, things get interesting.

Purely on the baseball merits, Osuna came cheaply to the Astros, costing the team only Ken Giles and two minor league pitchers. This exposed the Astros to criticism that they viewed his domestic violence as some mere market inefficiency, allowing them to get a bargain. The sense was that they did not mind having a bad egg on the team as long as the bad egg didn’t cost too much. No doubt sensitive to such criticisms, Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow offered a statement defending the team for the move. Among his comments included a reference to the Astros’ belief — based on what Luhnow called “unprecedented” due diligence — that Osuna was “remorseful.”

Except there seemed to be no basis for his statements whatsoever. Osuna was still fighting charges in court at the time, denying wrongdoing. Indeed his lawyer specifically said Osuna was not remorseful. Who told Luhnow tha Osuna was remorseful? It certainly wasn’t Osuna’s legal team. Was it Osuna? Doubtful, because lawyers of criminal defendants tend not to let their clients talk to people about the crimes for which they are still being prosecuted, especially in order to say stuff that implies their guilt. Doing that runs the risk of creating new witnesses for the prosecution to call.

Whatever the case, Luhnow’s comments came off like empty platitudes, aimed at giving the impression of Osuna’s redemption in order to cover for the fact that Luhnow acquired a domestic abuser because, hey, domestic abusers come cheaper than other, comparable players. No matter what you think about the “remorseful” talk, Luhnow was already being disingenuous, as he referenced the team’s alleged “zero tolerance” policy toward domestic violence which, by simple virtue of acquiring Osuna, was transformed into a “some tolerance” policy.

The entire episode made it crystal clear that, in Major League Baseball, the ethics of employing or acquiring men who beat or abuse women is purely situational. If the player in question is not valuable on the field — such as Hector Olivera, who was suspended for 82 games after assaulting a woman — his big league career is over. If the player is valuable, like Osuna, the player is treated like anyone else. If the player’s value going forward is not yet crystal clear — say, like Addison Russell‘s — he’ll be given a conditional chance. If he plays well after given that chance, he’ll have been magically “redeemed.” If he doesn’t, he’ll be cast aside.

On a certain level this is defensible. There is nothing in the league’s domestic violence policy that calls for a total ban on offenders from playing. There are set penalties and, once a player serves his suspension, he is eligible to play and a team is free to sign him.

It’s telling, however, that team officials won’t simply come out and say that. It’s telling that, when fans and the media observe that it is troubling to see teams acquire such players and that their doing so may bother people — especially people whose own lives have been affected by domestic violence — that they claim the player has learned their lesson and has turned the other cheek, regardless of whether or not such claims are plausible.

It’s troubling to hear disingenuous claims like Luhnow’s. In some ways it’s worse than if we were to hear someone in his position simply say “he’s probably a bad guy but he’ll help us win games and that’s what we’re all paid to do.” At least that would carry with it the benefit of honesty.

Rutschman has five hits in opener, Orioles outlast Red Sox 10-9

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BOSTON – The last time Adley Rutschman recalls feeling this level of emotion on a baseball field was playing in front of intimate, 5,000-seat crowds in college at Oregon State.

He trumped that experience at Fenway Park on Thursday in his first career opening day start.

“This blows that out of the water,” Rutschman said.

Rutschman became the first catcher in major league history with five hits in an opener, and the Baltimore Orioles survived a wild ninth inning to beat the Boston Red Sox 10-9.

“To have that close game in the ninth inning and the crowd get so loud. You kind of sit there and say, ‘This is pretty cool,’” said Rutschman, the top overall pick in the 2019 draft.

Rutschman – who debuted for the Orioles last May and quickly became indispensable to the young, resurgent club – homered in his first at-bat and finished 5-for-5 with a career-best four RBIs and a walk on a chilly day at Fenway Park, with a temperature of 38 degrees at first pitch.

Ramon Urias hit a two-run homer for Baltimore, which finished with 15 hits, nine walks and five stolen bases.

Kyle Gibson (1-0) allowed four runs and six hits over five-plus innings to earn his first opening-day victory since his 2021 All-Star season with Texas. Gibson gave up an RBI groundout in the first inning before retiring nine straight Red Sox hitters.

The Orioles nearly gave the game away in the ninth.

With Baltimore leading 10-7, closer Félix Bautista walked pinch-hitter Raimel Tapia. Alex Verdugo followed with a single and advanced to second on an error by center fielder Cedric Mullins.

Rafael Devers struck out. Justin Turner then reached on an infield single to third when Urias’ throw was wide, scoring Tapia. Masataka Yoshida grounded to shortstop Jorge Mateo, who stepped on second for the force but threw wildly to first, allowing Verdugo to score.

Bautista struck out Adam Duvall on three pitches to end it and earn the save.

The Orioles scored four runs in the fourth and three in the fifth to take an 8-2 lead. Baltimore led 10-4 before Bryan Baker allowed three runs in the eighth to give the Red Sox some hope.

The eighth could have been even better for the Red Sox had Devers, who led off the inning, not become the first player in major league history to strike out on a pitch clock violation. Devers was looking down and kicking debris off his cleats when umpire Lance Barksdale signaled a violation that resulted in strike three.

“There’s no excuse,” said Alex Cora, who dropped to 0-5 in opening-day games as Boston’s manager. “They know the rules.”

Boston offseason addition and two-time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber (0-1) struggled in his Fenway debut, surrendering five runs on six hits and four walks in 3 1/3 innings.

“Less than ideal,” Kluber said. “Didn’t turn out the way I would have hoped for.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Red Sox: Christian Arroyo stayed in the game after taking an inadvertent cleat to the side of his head in the second inning. Arroyo was applying a tag to Rutschman at second base as he attempted to stretch out a single. Rutschman’s leg flipped over as he slid awkwardly. … LHP James Paxton was placed on the 15-day inured list (retroactive to March 27) with a strained right hamstring.

GOOD COMPANY

Rutschman, one of six Baltimore players making his first opening-day appearance, became the youngest Oriole to homer in his first opening-day at-bat since Cal Ripken Jr. in 1984.

BIG BAGS

The Orioles took advantage of MLB’s bigger bases – going from 15- to 18-inch squares – that are being used for the first time this season. Baltimore hadn’t stolen five bases in a game since last June 24 against the White Sox. Mullins and Jorge Mateo swiped two bags apiece, and Adam Frazier got a huge jump on his steal against reliever Ryan Brasier. There was nothing Boston catcher Reese McGuire could do to stop them and on the majority of Baltimore’s steals, he didn’t bother to throw.

FINAL SPOTS

Right-hander Kaleb Ort and Tapia earned Boston’s final two roster spots to open the season. Tapia got the nod over Jarren Duran, who was sent down to Triple-A Worcester. Ort pitched a scoreless sixth with one strikeout Thursday.

UP NEXT

Orioles: RHP Dean Kremer will make is sixth career start against Boston when the three-game series resumes on Saturday. In 11 road starts last season, he went 5-3 with a 3.63 ERA.

Red Sox: LHP Chris Sale, who has pitched in only 11 games over the past three years due to injuries, is set to begin his seventh season in Boston.