Final Thoughts on Osuna
I’ve been silent on the Osuna situation, a little bit because details were scarce but mostly because it made me sad. Not sad in a “that poor boy” way but sad for the entire situation. It's so ugly. And I've come to see that the Blue Jays basically had no choice in moving him. He had to go.
I tweeted a few things I was thinking about when Osuna got traded.
I also tweeted about the Jeff Passan’s Osuna piece for Yahoo Sports yesterday, mostly because I started to see tweets from people implying that there was some sort of massive conspiracy among Toronto baseball media about keeping the details of this case silent. A massive conspiracy or incompetence. Or deference to the Blue Jays. Or a combination.
I tweeted some stuff, got lectured and then deleted some tweets because I got tired.
Jeff Passan did something that most journalists are trained not to do- he told but didn’t show. He published rumours and unconfirmed reports. I find it interesting that he slipped this stuff in an opinion piece, not a news story, which may be why Passan was ok with publishing unconfirmed reports (but again, I don’t know, I’m not Jeff Passan or his editor.) And maybe Passan got Toronto Police to talk to him and found out things other local reporters didn't. Or maybe he ran with whatever vivid whisperings he’s heard to drum up furor because he wants to make a point. I'm inclined to think it's a combination.
If Passan (or anyone else) gets those things confirmed? MLB, two MLB teams and the local media downplaying widely known (Passan says “everyone”) details of an athlete’s assault on his girlfriend that is so terrible, big city cops are still talking about it several months later? That’s a news story. That’s a crime story. And perhaps you believe that's the job of Toronto sports media and that that community dropped the ball. That's your prerogative.
All I know is what I asked from the handful of local Toronto journalists. The general consensus was that they don’t feel comfortable using unconfirmed stuff and/or they had never heard some of the stuff Passan said.
Osuna is now Houston’s problem.
We now have a dude that punched himself in the face.