It didn't look good when Roberto Osuna threw a pitch, pointed to the dugout and gestured for the trainer to come to the mound during Saturday's game against the Angels.
On Tuesday, Astros manager Dusty Baker said the same thing about Osuna's MRI.
The Astros closer reportedly was recommended to have season-ending Tommy John surgery, a source told Mark Berman, the sports director at Fox 26 KRIV-TV in Houston. Per Berman, Osuna will seek a second opinion before making a decision.
Baker, during a radio interview on 790 AM in Houston, didn't go so far as to reveal the results of the MRI but said the outlook "doesn't look real good, actually."
“He went and had an MRI yesterday," Baker said of Osuna. "He’s in our prayers and in our thoughts. The reality is it’s probably not really good news.”
If Osuna is done -- and, to repeat, that's just an unconfirmed report at this point -- it is both very easy and potentially very difficult to figure out where the Astros turn for saves in 2020.
The one that makes the most sense, almost too much sense, is Ryan Pressly, the 2019 All-Star reliever who was set to save games in Osuna's absence earlier this season. Pressly is in some ways a better version of Osuna, collecting more strikeouts while still offering elite ratios.
The problem, then, is that Pressly is dealing with his own issues, having his 2020 debut delayed due to right elbow issues and then suffering a cut on the thumb of his pitching hand in his season debut Sunday. If Pressly can't stay on the field, the picture gets a lot more cloudy -- does an upstart like Andre Scrubb or Cy Sneed get a crack at the job? Do the Astros move someone like Josh James back to relief to have him close? Do they look outside the organization, and if so, where?
For now, the move is to roster Pressly and hope his health cooperates. The next time the Astros have a save situation, pay attention to who gets the call -- and how they fare in the situation.
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