I don't think sign stealing is that bad for baseball, though I feel it could be curbed a little bit. The amount of toxicity surrounding the Houston Astros may be even worse.
Now the news is that they may have cheated during their 2017 season that ended with them winning the World Series. From an exclusive from The Athletic, former Astro pitcher Mike Fiers discussed about how at Minute Maid Park, a camera would be situated at center field, aimed at the catcher. Monitors in a dugout would be looked at by members of the Astros. If a sign meant a breaking ball, a metal garbage can would bang. In the story, he also talked about explaining it to teams he has been on the last two years about being very careful and changing it up.
In a way, Fiers is looking out for teammates. Some of them have one chance make an impact. If they fail, they are going to be in the minors for longer time or forever. I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking that. There is a video of a game from September 2017 where Chicago White Sox pitcher Danny Farquhar heard bangs and talked to his catcher. They managed to strike out pinch hitter Evan Gattis. Still, it is evidence that Houston is trying to gain an edge. Who knows how many games they cheated in. Who knows if the Yankees keep Joe Girardi as manager or they go to Aaron Boone last year. It impacts a lot of teams and players. Red Sox manager Alex Cora and newly minted Mets manager Carlos Beltran are also in the mix of this controversy.
What's sad is that the Astros have a good batting group. Altuve, Springer, Bregman, Gurriel, Reddick. Some of the young guys like Alvarez. And the pitching is above average compared to most. I don't think the team cheated all the time, but cheating is cheating. The Yankees have a right to be pissed about what happened two years ago. Cleveland and Boston have a right to be pissed about last year. It's a good thing the Astros didn't win a World series last year or this year because it would paint a darker picture. Combined with the Brandon Taubman issue, it is a recipe for what could be a very harsh punishment.
The best MLB can do is take away draft picks and give hefty fines and suspensions to the front office. Maybe suspend AJ Hinch for a month or two if he knew. And the thing with Houston is that prior to the last six years, they were a mediocre franchise, borderline decent. With the exception of 2000, they had winning records from 1993 through 2006 with six playoff appearances. What was great in 2017 and a feel good story for the city is now a disgrace. You would think Rob Manfred will think deep about this because who knows how many stories we will hear and how much it can affect the Astros. This is worse than the tainted New England Patriots dynasty and all their controversies. And there is no doubt that Manfred will have to impose stricter policies or get rid of video and monitors in the dugouts. It's one thing to figure out the signs on your own, but electronically, it hurts the sport a lot more.
I have a feeling we are going to hear more in the future.
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