Nationals and Astros are a few of the biggest trade deadline losers

The MLB Trade Deadline has passed so it’s time to evaluate everything that happened. Here are the deadline’s five biggest losers.

The entire world of MLB can take a collective deep breath now. The trade deadline has finally come and gone. Some teams have acquired players designed to help push them to the playoffs while other teams have jettisoned veterans for promising young prospects.

In this piece, we’ll take you through the five teams that really blew it. Largely speaking, each of these franchises had a real opportunity to make bold moves this month and failed to pull the trigger. Inaction can be just as damaging as making a bad trade.

We start out by examining a legitimate World Series contender that managed to set off a media firestorm.

5. Houston Astros

Roberto Osuna may be a talented closer, but his off the field issues make him a public relations nightmare. He is a man who was arrested and charged with domestic assault. Per sources at Yahoo sports, the images of his alleged victim’s battered face are still talked about by the authorities in Toronto.

It’s simply a character risk the Astros shouldn’t have taken. Yes, Ken Giles has his own share of off-the-field issues too. That didn’t require the Houston front office to trade one problem child for another.

If the Astros really wanted to upgrade the back-end of their bullpen they could have gone about it in a number of different ways. Beating the Yankees to acquire Zach Britton could have been an easy way to avoid the need to gamble with Osuna.

Acquiring Osuna is also a massive risk for the harmony inside the Astros’ clubhouse. Both Justin Verlander and Lance McCullers have recently taken to Twitter to blast a former prospect who has been accused of domestic violence. It’s going to be very difficult for them to welcome someone with Osuna’s past into the fold.

Osuna might do a good job closing games for the Astros down the stretch, but bringing him in just isn’t worth the risk. The Astros took the easy way out and that earns them a place on this list.