The Houston Astros have done a really good job of making themselves the New England Patriots of baseball. And by that I mean people don't just hate them because they're good. They're giving people a reason to dislike them, which, when you throw in the fact that they're also good (and likely will be for a while), is a bad combination.
Houston's franchise culture was already in question after their handling of former Assistant GM Brandon Taubman's profane rant directed at female reporters after the Astros' pennant-clinching win. Now there are new allegations of electronic sign stealing being made by former Astros pitcher Mike Fiers, who was with the team during their World Series run in 2017. This isn't the first time they've been accused of sign stealing, which lends a lot of credibility to Fiers' comments.
Sign stealing has always been a part of baseball. No one is disputing that, and no one has a problem with it. That's why pitchers and catchers get so paranoid whenever there's a runner on second base. The runner on second can see the catcher's signs. If he's able to figure out from that what pitch is coming and he's able to relay that message to the batter, so be it. There's nothing wrong with stealing signs the old-fashioned way. It's simply an accepted form of gamesmanship.
However, when teams steal signs by other means, that crosses the line...to the point where it's considered cheating. A few years ago, the Blue Jays were suspected of using a red light in center field that alerted their hitters to certain pitches. And in 2017, the Red Sox were fined after they were found to be using an Apple watch for electronically stealing signs in a game against the Yankees. That's the only time a team has been officially punished.
Among MLB's responses to that were instituting an eight-second delay on the TV feed shown on the dugout monitors (which are almost always from the center field camera), as well as stationing an MLB official in every team's replay room. In fact, they've added it to the rule book. So, teams are officially not permitted to steal signs by electronic means.
That evidently hasn't stopped the Astros, though. According to Fiers' account, they had a second center field camera, which was pointed directly at the catcher, that went to a TV monitor on the side of the dugout. Once they determined what pitch it was, they'd signal the hitter by banging on a garbage can. If a fastball was coming, they wouldn't make any noise. If it was a breaking ball or changeup, though, they'd make a noise loud enough for the hitter to hear.
Fiers' comments appeared in The Athletic, and several other current or former players seem to have corroborated his account. There are even three current managers (A.J. Hinch, Alex Cora and Carlos Beltran) who were with Houston in 2017 who are MLB's list of people to interview as a part of the investigation.
While the accusations are limited to the 2017 season, when the Astros beat the Dodgers in the World Series, the suspicion has persisted. There are many in the game who think the Astros' sign-stealing continued into the 2018 season, and the Yankees were vocal about Houston's whistling from the dugout and potential sign stealing during this year's ALCS. (The Astros were cleared of wrongdoing in that situation.)
Are the Astros the only team guilty here? Probably not. But they're under the most intense scrutiny. And rightfully so. Because this isn't the first time they've been connected with sign-stealing suspicion. And they were at the forefront of the modern use of video for scouting and analytic purposes. Plus, as their reluctance to fire Taubman and mishandling of that entire situation showed, they have a questionable franchise culture. Put all those things together and it's not a stretch to think that they'd be willing to stretch (or outright break) the rules in order to get ahead.
There will be an investigation, which is hopefully more thorough than the Astros' "self-investigation" of Taubman. What the results of that investigation will be are anybody's guess. But you know MLB is gonna have to do something. They have to send a message that electronic sign stealing is completely unacceptable, so the punishment needs to be more than a slap on the wrist.
If the Astros are found to be guilty, it needs to be much more than just a heavy fine. They'd deserve a fine, too, but I'm talking the loss of multiple draft picks. With the value an organization like Houston places on draft picks, you know that would be an even bigger penalty. Maybe the loss of some international bonus money, too. I wouldn't be opposed to suspensions, either. Because it's an organizational problem. And biggest message they can send would be to give some of the organization's higher-ups a time out.
Astros GM Jeff Luhnow is, of course, proclaiming the team's innocence and promising to cooperate with the MLB investigation. This is the same guy who plead ignorance with Taubman, though, so take that for what it's worth. What can't be overlooked, though, is that this is the second major revelation of (suspected) wrongdoing by the Astros organization in a few weeks. So, even if the Astros get off scott-free here, those are two clear black marks against a team that has otherwise been the model franchise of modern baseball.
Either way, these are serious allegations that need to be treated as such. And it's particularly telling that this all came to light because of the comments made by a pitcher who played for the Astros. Sure, you might question Fiers' motivations for speaking out, and you'd be perfectly justified in doing so. But, if it were simply sour grapes, why would he wait two years to say something? And why would other pitchers come out and tell similar stories? That, and the fact that they've been suspected of this before, has me thinking that there's something to all this.
What this means for baseball moving forward is just as important. In this era of advanced technology, where everybody has access to all types of video on everything, this will continue to be an issue. Unless they address it now. And show that they're serious about it. Which is why they need to come down hard on whoever's responsible. Provided the allegations turn out to be true.
No comments:
Post a Comment