{"id":642996,"date":"2026-03-25T18:27:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T18:27:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/642996\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T18:27:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T18:27:18","slug":"former-blue-jays-all-star-closer-cut-from-opening-day-roster-in-npb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/642996\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Blue Jays All-Star closer cut from Opening Day roster in NPB"},"content":{"rendered":"

From 2015-18, Roberto Osuna was one of the best closers in the Majors with the Toronto Blue Jays<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He never posted an ERA above 3.38 and earned his lone All-Star appearance in 2017, recording 39 saves with 83 strikeouts in 64 innings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Things took a turn for the worse in 2018 when MLB suspended him 75 games for violating the league’s domestic violence policy. A midseason trade sent him to the Houston Astros<\/a>, ending his tenure in Toronto.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This past summer, former Astros general manager Jeff Lunhow, fired in 2020 for his role in Houston’s sign-stealing scandal, stated that he regretted agreeing to the deal for Osuna<\/a> because of his suspension for domestic violence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Osuna is struggling in Japan\u00a0<\/p>\n

Osuna signed a contract with Nippon Professional Baseball’s Chiba Lotte Marines in 2022 and has spent the past two seasons<\/a> with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, Gajin Baseball on X reports that the 31-year-old closer from Mexico was left off the Hawks’ Opening Day roster for 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Currently one of the highest-paid players in NPB,” the Japanese baseball dedicated account wrote<\/a> on Wednesday. “He has not lived up to his billing since signing the contract, and was removed from the closer role during interleague. There are rumors that he may be cut.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Osuna posted a 4.15 ERA with just 16 strikeouts in 26 innings last year, and is not the same caliber of pitcher he was with the Blue Jays.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It appears he will start the season with the Hawks’ farm club or will be released from the team.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More MLB news:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From 2015-18, Roberto Osuna was one of the best closers in the Majors with the Toronto Blue Jays.\u00a0…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381782,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2302],"tags":[5,2353,2352],"class_list":{"0":"post-642996","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-npb","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-nippon-professional-baseball","10":"tag-npb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116291230235138902","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}