Trash Compacting
By Peyton Schultze
How differently would the recent history of baseball look if the Houston Astros did not cheat their way to a championship in the 2017 World Series? (via New Arena).
“I thought Manfred’s punishment was weak, giving them immunity. I mean these guys were cheating for three years. I think what people don’t realize is Altuve stole an MVP from Judge in ‘17. Everyone knows they stole the ring from us.”
Although the controversy surrounding the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal has ramped up over the course of the offseason, the scandal may have reached its boiling point among the league once the reigning 2019 NL MVP spoke out against it last week in Spring Training. Fiery. Angry. Upset. Annoyed. It was clear that Bellinger was an extension of how fans and players around the league have felt for months now, and his words seem to have started a movement among the league that has people searching for answers. With many questions left unanswered and plenty of news surely to leak out over the next few months, it is still a mystery how long the Astros engaged in their cheating plot, and just how extreme of measures the team took to cover it up to the public.
By now, the details of the Astros’ scandal are widely-known. They electronically stole opponents’ pitching signs over the course of the 2017 and 2018 seasons, including the 2017 World Series. They banged trash cans in the dugout to communicate with hitters on what pitch was coming, while a monitor sat down below the dugout in their tunnel. Words and phrases such as “Codebreaker” and “Dark Arts” have come into the forefront in terms of how the team was able to decipher the signs. Big-names such as AJ Hinch, Alex Cora, and Carlos Beltran are now all but disgraced in the league, and likely have no future in the sport ahead of them. And they’ve additionally been accused of wearing buzzers under their jerseys and on their bat tape, as brought into the light after the strange actions of Jose Altuve after last year’s walkoff home run in the ALCS that sent Houston the World Series.
All this and you would think the Astros would be regarded as the modern-day Black Sox. That players such as Justin Verlander and Altuve would now have major hurdles to jump in order to secure a spot in the Hall of Fame. That the Astros would likely have their previous title stripped. Right? Wrong, and it couldn’t be more far off.
Houston has faced a lack of extreme punishments from the league office, and is now on track to enter the 2020 regular season at full strength. A solid staff led by Verlander will get a full run during Spring Training, getting ready to engage in the long 162 game season. All-Star caliber players such as Alex Bregman, George Springer, Carlos Correa, and Altuve will suit up on Opening Day for the Astros, and will look to smoothly defend their title as the reigning American League champions. Nothing will have really changed for the Astros other than the loss of Gerrit Cole heading into 2020, and they will likely be considered one of the favorites in the league to represent the AL in the 2020 World Series. And this team just got caught of cheating in one of the league’s worst scandals in their 100+ year history? What has transpired since last year’s World Series is nothing short of stunning, and it has been a borderline tragedy in terms of how the league has handled one of the ugliest moments in the history of American sports.
Several Astros’ players have made some controversial comments in the past week, some of which fellow players around the league have described as “weak” and “unapologetic” (via SB Nation).
“It’s tough. They cheated. I don’t agree with the punishments, the players not getting anything. It was a player-driven thing. It sucks, too, because guys’ careers have been affected, a lot of people lost jobs. It was tough. Me going up to the plate knowing what was coming — it would be pretty fun up there.”
Last week, owner Jim Crane and several Astros players attempted to apologize in front of the media for their actions in the past. Even with their first public comments since news of the scandal, many expected the figures to express themselves in a regretful fashion. Instead, fans around the league were met with disingenuous responses from the players and with foolish comments from Crane that stated that their actions had no impact on the outcomes of their games in the past. No impact? So knowing all of an opposing teams’ signs is something that should be shrugged off and not taken too seriously? Imagine if Patrick Mahomes faced a San Francisco 49ers’ defense with one player on the field for the defense all game long during the Super Bowl. All that stood between him and a touchdown was a simple throw and catch to a receiver on each play, and there was really nothing that the 49ers could do with such a disadvantage. That is exactly what the Astros have caused for opposing teams in the past, and the fact that they are attempting to push their habits to the side is almost laughable.
Luckily, even though the league has not stepped up and taken much action against the sign-stealing swingers from Houston, the Astros have faced plenty of backlash from people across the world. In fact, even people such as LeBron James have offered comments on the situation, saying that he would be “f****** irate” if he found himself cheated out of a chance at winning a championship. The fact that any Astros’ players have actually tried to defend their actions, such as Carlos Correa’s ridiculous comments on Altuve’s brand-new tattoo and Cody Bellinger’s comments in an interview with Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, is a joke in itself. A walking exhibition of the trash cans that they banged to communicate the stolen signs, the Astros have proven to be an utter disgrace to the sport with their nonexistent remorse and constant excuses for anything but the truth. This team cheated their way to a World Series title in 2017, and have affected thousands of lives in the process. It’s overdue that they at least own up to their mistakes in a professional matter that can help to ease the pain of others around the league, or else the sport can only expect to find more controversy down the line.
The Angels and Astros already have some issues dating back to last season, and there should be plenty of intense encounters on-the-field in their 2020 matchups (via NBC Sports).
“I just don’t think it holds any value with me. You cheated and you didn’t earn it. That’s how I feel is, it wasn’t earned.”
One of the truly surprising aspects of this scandal has not only been the consistent leaks of information to published new outlets and to the media each week, but the outpour of anger from players all around the league. There’s been plenty of major scandals throughout professional American sports over the past few decades; the PED era, Spygate, Tim Donaghy, Reggie Bush, and Pete Rose come across as some of the most significant. But even with all of those scandals, there was not a ton of emotional resentment found throughout the league. You never once saw the Jets or Colts commenting publicly on the Patriots’ somewhat shady actions in the midst of their numerous controversies. This, at least initially, is different.
Even with several Astros’ players commenting and somewhat apologizing for their actions, one thing is becoming clearer and clearer: players around the league are very upset. From Bellinger to Braves’ outfielder Nick Markakis, and from Trout to Yankees’ catcher Gary Sanchez, this level of anger found among players has not really been seen from any sports story, at least in recent memory. Whether the teams play each other yearly, typically in the midst of a postseason run, or once every three years, teams from New York City to Los Angeles are clearly angry at the entire scheme and how everything has been handled. Although this has brought the league into major headlines for the first time in quite some time, it is not for the right reasons. Major League Baseball is under a full-blown attack right now, and commissioner Rob Manfred appears to be miserably failing in the first major test of his tenure at the top of the leadership.
The Dodgers and Astros won’t meet up during the regular season, but don’t expect the high-profile controversy to simply die out into the ease of the night (via Sports Illustrated).
“For him to devalue it the way he did yesterday just tells me how out of touch he is with the players in this game. At this point the only thing devaluing that trophy is that it says ‘commissioner’ on it.”
After Manfred’s puzzling comments over the weekend shocked the baseball world, Turner stepped into the spotlight and came down on the most powerful man in the league with two minutes of extremely harsh words. After reiterating that he would not further strip the Astros of their 2017 World Series rings and essentially referred to the Commissioner’s Trophy as a “piece of metal”, Manfred appeared to draw the ire of fans and players alike on how he has decided to handle the entire scandal. Zero potential cheating players have been suspended, only a few executives have taken the heat, and their championship still remains intact. Meanwhile, an indefinite amount of players have been affected by the Astros’ actions over the past several years, and current players are practically demanding further punishment or investigation for the fallout.
One of the more laughable aspects of Manfred’s comments was his warning toward players around the league if they decided to take matters into their own hands against the Astros. Basically threatening some kind of suspension if intentionally throwing at players or causing issues within the middle of a game, Manfred’s comments were taken as some sort of warning in order to protect the Astros’ players from further harm. But what kind of further harm will there possibly be when they have barely taken any kind of harm in the first place? This type of stand-up act from Manfred is exactly why people have criticized baseball in the past few years, especially as the NFL and NBA continue to rise in popularity in the country. This is the same character that has publicly criticized the best player in baseball for not being out in the public eye enough, and the same character that has miscalculated any explanation for the rise in home runs as soon as the league partnered with Rawlings. Manfred is leading baseball down an extremely dark road right now, and he needs to get Major League Baseball’s reputation back on track if it has any intention of remaining a top product in American sports.
And while players such as Carlos Correa and Alex Bregman seem to be playing the pity card to the adoration of Astros’ fans, there remains to be any kind of hard discipline placed upon the players on the team in what was actually referred to as a “player-driven scheme”. So at this point, with spring training just underway, Houston’s overall punishment simply includes a fired manager, a fired general manager, four lost draft picks, and a five million dollar fine. That’s it. Meanwhile, every single team in the league has been somewhat affected by this scandal someway or another, as well as over thousands of players, their families, and executives who have chosen to participate in the sport as their livelihood. The league has yet to distinguish any difference between Astros’ players and the players from every other organization in baseball right now, which sets a poor precedent for the future of the sport.
Things could get ugly very quickly if the league decides to not do anything else to the Astros (via USA Online Sportsbooks).
“No. That’s certainly one of those great unknowns.”
So with the Astros’ players deciding to play the role of victim and with little action being taken by the league office, players around the league are likely going to step up and do exactly what the commissioner warned them not to do. This is not to promote any sort of violence around the league, but one of baseball’s unwritten rules will likely rise into the limelight all season long if Major League Baseball simply allows the Astros to ride off and escape from their grasp of punishment. Las Vegas currently has the Over-Under of Astros’ hit-by-pitches at 83.5, and that should be a scary sight for fans around the league who do not want the safety and health of their own players at risk for the sake of a group of players that were caught cheating all way to a championship over the course of two confirmed years.
And what would stop teams from doing so to begin with? Even if the Astros’ players did end up facing some kind of suspension, there is little doubt that some teams would decide to take action over the course of the season. The Dodgers and Yankees were the direct targets of the Astros cheating in the 2017 postseason, and it’s clear that New York still has major questions about the events of last season’s ALCS. The Rangers, Angels, Athletics, and Mariners face this team every season, and surely have been affected by their scheme numerous times. Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, St. Louis, etc.; they all have a case. Every team in the league has some kind of reason or another to take actions if they decide to throw high and tight to some of Houston’s “All-Star” players, and the MLB must take whatever steps necessary to at least prevent that bloody outcome from happening at all costs.
Major League Baseball probably thinks this is their worst possible situation that could happen for the state of the league. It’s not. Over the course of a long and grueling season, the worst possible situation is a star player like Aaron Judge or Mike Trout breaking a hand and missing major time due to retaliation from the Astros in the middle of a random June game. Or nightly bench-clearing brawls that define the sport as a mess of emotions on the field. Faces of the league could go down and teams in contention could find themselves battered, yet the cheating team could still find themselves winning and holding on to their tarnished World Series trophy. It’s time for the league to step up right now and do the right thing: make something happen before things really get out of hand.