Houston Astros: Former pitcher takes the cheaters to court

The Houston Astros murdered Mike Bolsinger on August 4, 2017. Now he wants them to pay for their subterfuge in court. Does he have a case?

Mike Bolsinger was last seen on a major league mound in Toronto Blue Jays fatigues, facing the Houston Astros on August 4, 2017. At age 29 at the time, Bolsinger clung to the hope that he could remake himself into a useful relief pitcher following four years’ worth of bouncing between the Show and Triple A. The Astro Intelligence Agency banged his final hope to bits.

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Now Bolsinger wants payback. Specifically, in the form of a lawsuit charging unfair business practices and negligence, among other things. A lawsuit he filed quite cleverly in Los Angeles, for whose Dodgers Bolsinger once pitched, for the two seasons before they lost the 2017 World Series to the Astros.

And the former righthander—whom the Dodgers traded to the Jays for Jesse Chavez—wants not just for damages for himself but for $31 million worth of Astro bonus monies from their World Series win to be forfeited and distributed 1) to assorted Los Angeles children’s’ charities; and, 2) to a new fund to be established specifically toward aiding retired baseball players in severe financial straits.

It may or may not have been a matter of time before somebody might think about sending Astrogate to the courts. But if a former player who took an AIA gumshoe in the backside was going to do it, you might be hard-pressed to find a more pronounced victim.