The Roberto Osuna Trade: A Soapbox

Don't expect much of anything new as I weigh in on the Roberto Osuna trade. Just about every good and bad take has already been made by someone, somewhere. I started to write an open letter, but decided to bag it after Jexas posted her moving and heartfelt thoughts about the situation over at Astros County. But I feel that I have to say something lest my readers get the impression that I approve of what has transpired.

I, like others, was shocked when the trade was announced. The Astros that won the World Series last season made Houston feel good about itself. Yeah, yeah, I know. The Astros are in the business of making money, not the business of making the fans happy. Although I will argue that running a sports franchise isn't exactly the same as running a business that makes widgets since generations of fans form a personal connection to a team that transcends a mere preference for this brand of widget over that brand.

As a whole, the 2017 Astros were a team that Houston could be proud of, a team that embraced the community after Harvey and who the community embraced back in a major way. Sure, there were a couple players who likely rubbed people the wrong way when their confidence and cockiness was construed to be arrogance. And Yuli definitely pissed off a lot of people with his racist gesture in the postseason. And, let's face it, Ken Giles just seemed to not really fit in; he never seemed happy with himself or anything else. But aside from that, I am hard-pressed to think of anything really negative about the 2017 team, but I can think of tons of positives. It was a team that fans were happy and proud to support because they seemed like such good guys.

Coming from that mindset, adding a player who has been charged with domestic violence to that mix is disturbing, jarring and upsetting to many of the fans. Making things worse is that the case is still pending and that no one really knows what happened, leaving people to either believe the worst (as will be the case with a lot of women, in particular, since we are more likely to have been victims of domestic violence) or the best (for those who don't wish to feel conflicted about their favorite sports teams).

Trading for Osuna before the case was even settled was, to use a fitting metaphor, a slap in the face to the fans who care about the way women are treated in our society. And announcing the trade by saying that Osuna was "remorseful" for his actions, a statement that was immediately walked back by Osuna's attorney who claims his client to be innocent was ham-handed and amateurish at best. Questions abound. Did he really say that he was remorseful? If he did say that and he's innocent, what is he remorseful for exactly? When the unprecedented due diligence was conducted, did anyone actually talk to the victim or her family or her friends? What happens if the case doesn't settle as expected?

For better or worse, trading for Osuna is also complicated by the current political and societal environment. People are finally realizing the extent of what women have been going through in a supposedly civilized society. Ask the women in your life if they've ever been the victim of domestic violence or sexual assault or childhood sexual abuse. These things are unfortunately commonplace. It feels as though the Astros front office decided to dump gasoline on a what is already a highly-charged situation.

I do not believe that the Astros picked up Osuna because they believe in second chances. They picked him up because he is a very talented, controllable baseball player that could be acquired for far less than he would be worth had he not been considered damaged goods. And they would not have made the trade if they thought they would suffer any lasting repercussions from the fans over it. And they probably will not.

Because, according to my understanding, Canada doesn't release information about domestic violence cases in order to protect the victim, we will never know exactly what happened. We will never see a photograph of a battered face or whatever injuries are out there. The fans will start to think, well, maybe it wasn't so bad after all (particularly if the case settles as expected). That mentality seems to already be growing with a large percentage of the fan base. But that's human nature. We try to find ways to rationalize. The Astros are undoubtedly relying on that.

But, personally, I have a really big problem with that particular rationalization. If Osuna was charged by the authorities, which he was and if MLB handed down a substantial suspension, which they did, I have a hard time believing that there is no fire to go with the smoke. If the Astros had waited until the case was resolved, addressed the concerns of the fans, and donated heavily to organizations that help the victims of domestic violence, I might have cut them a little slack. But they couldn't even do that. I might be more willing to accept the "second chances" perspective if the front office said or did anything to indicate that they actually care about domestic violence victims.

Like I said, I haven't really covered anything new in this post. The new part is figuring out what I'm going to do about it. All of this has been swirling around in my head for the last few days because I have to live with myself over this and I have to live with my own moral convictions. I have to weigh my decades-long fandom and the fact that I have devoted the last seven years of my life becoming immersed in the Astros minor league system with my palpable disdain and disgust for how the Osuna trade was handled and the allegations against him.

Throughout my time covering the Astros minor league system, I have gotten to know hundreds and hundreds of players. I may only have a superficial knowledge of the majority of those players, but I have really gotten to know quite a few players on a more substantive basis. Over the years, I have become less a fan of the Astros than I have become of those individual players. The postseason last year was an exception because it was the culmination of a lifetime of fandom, but overall, I'm happy to see a former Astros player I like succeed even if his success comes at the expense of my hometown team.

So it occurred to me that I don't have to be an Astros fan anymore. I don't have to root, root, root for the home team. And I'm not going to be a fan as long as Osuna is on the club. My fandom is now officially reserved for the individual players that I really like, regardless of team. I'm going to become a free agent. I will support individual players, but I can no longer fully support the team as a whole (meaning not only Osuna, but the front office).

My sister and I have decided not to renew our mini-season tickets for next year and we will be giving the Astros a lot less of our cash. We will still take in an occasional game, but we'll stick to cheap weekday seats on StubHub. I know it's not much, but not going to baseball games at all any more would be punishing me a lot more than it would be the Astros. But at least they'll be getting less of my cash to pay Osuna's contract with. That is, I suppose, my personal rationalization as to how to handle this situation and I know it is imperfect and somewhat hypocritical. But I refuse to let one bad apple destroy my decades-long love of the game.

Then there's the blog. I will definitely be continuing with the blog through the end of the season. The players that I cover in the minors have nothing to do with this front office debacle. I have several interviews coming out and have the contact info on many more players for later interviews. After the season is over, I'll be considering how to move forward since I don't really feel like giving the Astros free publicity any more. I've long been toying with the idea of branching out and talking to players in other systems or starting up a blog about women in baseball. I still plan to write next season, but it may very well not be completely Astros-centric anymore. I need to think on that one a little bit more.

My final thought it this. I really wish that the Astros would at least attempt to work with women's groups, particularly those who help the victims of domestic violence. If you recall, the Astros withdrew their backing of the Astros Wives Organization back in 2013, effectively putting an end to the Wives Gala, an event that benefited the Houston Area Women's Center. A renewed affiliation with HAWC would at least tell fans that the Astros aren't being completely dismissive of their concerns. But I'm not going to hold my breath. If you would like to contribute to the HAWC (as I will be doing once I sort out my post-vacation finances), you can do so here.

Everyone will handle this situation differently and that's OK as long as you take domestic violence seriously. Please do not shrug off any allegations against Osuna or anyone else just because that person is good at sports. The victim of domestic violence should always be the first consideration. And how good a player is and how controllable should be the last.