Well, this MLB offseason has gotten off to quite the hot start, but not for the reasons we would have thought. If you are reading this post, you know the story. The Houston Astros have allegedly been stealing the opposing teams signs from their catchers through the use of cameras and are relaying that information to the Houston batters. The Yankees first questioned this back in 2017 against Houston in the ALCS when they believed the Astros were stealing signs and relaying it to each other via whistling. Astros officials, including manager AJ Hinch, immediately denied these claims and the MLB sort of let it go without penalty. Now, more and more information has come out, through both known and anonymous sources. The big bomb drop was by former Astros and current A’s pitcher Mike Fiers. Fiers was a part of the 2017 championship Astros team, however he did not appear in postseason play for the team. In an interview with The Athletic, Fiers stated that the Astros did and continue to cheat through electronic means.
Now, as fans, we may brush this kind of accusation off initially. Here, we have a former pitcher of the team who wasn’t given the opportunity to play in any playoff games for a championship team just blowing this smoke to get attention. But then, another pitcher comes forward backing these claims up. Danny Farquhar, who was with the White Sox in 2017, tells The Athletic that in games he pitched against the Astros at Minute Maid Park, he recalls hearing some sort of banging coming from the dugout when his catcher called for an offspeed pitch like a changeup. After catching this, Farquhar and his catcher mixed up their pitch calling sequences, much like one would with a man on second. Once they did, the banging reportedly stopped.
Again, this can be construed as “he said, she said.” Then, we get the video evidence thanks to Jomboy Media (if you’re on Twitter, be sure to follow him at @Jomboy_). In the numerous videos Jomboy has posted since this story broke, he breaks down various Astros at-bats in which you can hear banging when the opposing teams catcher calls for a breaking ball. Some instances, a certain number of bangs means a specific pitch. No bangs at all meant a straight fastball. As more of these videos and sources come forward showing this, Major League Baseball has started to investigate further. Now, Red Sox manager, Alex Cora, and newly named Mets manager, Carlos Beltran,have been linked as prominent figures in the sign stealing scandal as a bench coach and player respectively. The two, as well as Hinch and others, will be meeting with MLB officials to get to the bottom of this.
Listen, sign stealing is a part of the game of baseball and has been since as far back as we can go. Teams will do whatever they can on the field to pick up a pitcher’s signs in order to gain the upper hand in the batter’s box. The key words there are “on the field;” not through the use of cameras planted in the outfield aiming down at a catcher’s crotch as he tries to give signs. Once you bring technology into it, then you got yourself an open-and-shut case of cheating. If this all turns out to be true, which according to these videos it is, the Astros organization is fucked. At least, that’s what many expect. As far as the excuse “every team does this or a form of it”, that doesn’t make it right. I have no doubt every team tries sign stealing, but through the use of cameras is completely different. If other teams are using cameras, let’s find the proof. But for now, it’s just the Astros getting caught and that’s still not good.
Over the years, the MLB has had its fair share of scandals. None more prominent than the 1919 Black Sox Scandal or the Steroid Era that lasted from what seemed to be the mid 90’s (post 1994 strike) to the mid 2000s. If more proof comes out and it’s clear cut what the Astros and other teams have done or are doing, Manfred really needs to give a substantial punishment. Back in 2017, he stated that a punishment can be something along the lines of suspensions to a loss of draft picks. Personally, I don’t know what would necessarily be a fair punishment, but lucky for me that’s not my call to make. What do you guys think? Let’s discuss. It seems like this one ain’t going away for a while.
