This year has been a crazy one to say the least; The Astros get caught cheating during their 2017 Championship Season, the Cardinals add a former employee to the permanently banned list for hacking the Astros in 2015, the Red Sox used smart watches during their 2018 championship run and video just surfaced of Joe Girardi incriminating himself and the yankees for relaying signs from the booth to the “hitters – uh…second baseman”
To sit here and assign blame to one variable would be lazy and naive like most sports writers today, simply trying to get clicks, so I am going to lay out a few examples of other teams that have done similar things compared to the Astros “Sign Stealing Scandal,” their punishment and some other variables that make the Astros the perfect team to Scapegoat in this situation.
Example #1:
2017 New York Yankees & Boston Red Sox use Replay booth to steal sign sequences
Now watching that video, it sounds a lot like “upstairs” refers to someone with access to the replay room, but lets call it what it is, its access to the CF camera. The difference in the Yankees scheme it seams like, is that they kept a little integrity by relaying the signs to the runner on 2nd base for him to relay to hitter, keeping it “between the lines” as many former and current players would say. Is this as bad as what the Astros did? Maybe, maybe not, but it is still cheating. Below are Aaron Judges 2017 posteason splits:
Not eye popping as he didn’t have the best postseason, but he was useless on the road and at least provided some production at home versus the road. Judge went 2 for 31 on the road, good for a .065 Avg and 7 for 26 at home, good for a .269 Avg. Only had 1 xbh on the road, and was better in every statistical category at home. Theses numbers may not pop like some, but to be better in every category is not coincidental and would be naive to think so.
A quote below from Rob Manfred regarding disciplinary action towards any MLB team for using technology to steal signs after the Yankees and Red Sox were fined for using the replay room to steal sign sequences in 2017 leaves one to think that they did it too, but because the rules weren’t technically in place yet, they just got a slap on the wrist.
“All 30 Clubs have been notified that future violations of this type will be subject to more serious sanctions, including the possible loss of draft picks.”
Comissioner Rob Manfred
And that’s the punishment you saw given to the Astros; bigger fine, multiple 1st and 2nd round picks taken away, signing restrictions. Its a good thing they have some young talent because that’s gonna hurt 5 years from now when that 2020 1st rounder could be knockin at the door, or 2nd round pick like Freddie Freeman did 4 years after being taken in the 2nd round of the 2007 draft.
Example #2:
2018 Boston Red Sox use Smart Watches to relay signs
“It’s cheating,” the person told The Athletic. “Because if you’re using a camera to zoom in on the crotch of the catcher, to break down the sign system, and then take that information and give it out to the runner, then he doesn’t have to steal it.”
SportsNet New York – Scott Thompon
If you want to do some digging yourself on postseason splits, the info and truth are out there. I recomend baseballreference.com to anyone who enjoys looking at stats. Don’t just get lost in batting avg., look at the quality of the at-bats in terms of xbh’s and walks and you’ll see the outlier games. I’ll leave you with one more quote, this one from a player regarding the Red Sox in 2018.
“Everyone knew [the Red Sox] were doing something.”
SportsNet New York – Scott Thompon
So far, we have the Yankees and Red Sox getting caught in 2017 and fined for essentially the same method of stealing signs as one another. The Yankees apparently stopped in 2018, but the Red Sox didn’t. Now without getting into the 51′ Giants, LaRussa’s Cardinals, the Black Sox or any other outdated scandal that has come and gone, I’ll provide you with the “why” I think the Astros are the perfect Scapegoat out of the three formentioned teams.
Scapegoat Reason #1:
The New York Yankees are the most storied franchise in baseball.
Maybe in all of sports depending on what sports fan you ask. 27 World Series Titles, 40 AL Pennants, 19 Division Titles and 7 Wild Card Berths. The Greatest of the greats have worn Yankee Pin Stripes, they’re known for their winning tradition, professional appearance(clean shave rule), and integrity. Babe Ruth, Lou Gherig, Mickey Mantle, Joe Dimagio, Roger Marris, Reggie Jackson, should I even continue on to guys like Mariano Rivera and Jeter. According to Forbes, they’re worth $4.6 billion, good for the 2nd highest value in team sports.
Scapegoat Reason #2
When we talk about the Rushmore of original teams in the MLB, its subjective to a certain team fan, but most all could agree it would consist of at least the Yankees and Red Sox, followed by probably the Cubs, Dodgers, Cardinals, Giants, etc., depending on who you ask.
The Red Sox broke the curse of the bambino. Remember their historic run back in 2004 to win the World Seriers for the 1st time since their infamous trade of Babe Ruth to the Yankees. They’ve captured 3 more since then bringing their World Series total to 9, AL Pennants 14, Division Titles 10, Wild Card Berths 7 and are valued at $3.2 billion. If that’s not enough, Fenway stadium is like America’s Colloseum, The Green Monster, Sweet Caroline, as NFL insider’s would say, c’mon man. No brainer here.
Scapegoat Reason #3
The Houston Astros are the new kids on the block.
Houston wouldn’t join the MLB until 1962 and they were originally a National League team that went by the Colt .45s until a name change in 1965. Before their move to the AL in 2013, the Astros had just the 1 World Series appearance in 2005, only to get swept by the White Sox. They have 1 NL Pennant and 6 Divison Titles and 2 Wild Card Berths from their time in the NL .
Since joining the AL in 2013, the Astros have 1 World Series Trophy, 2 AL Pennants, 3 Divison Titles and 2 Wild Card berths. Not bad considering their rebuild took place during the Rangers back-to-back runs at the Series, not to mention getting knocked off by a tough Royals team in 2015 that won it all.
The Astros current team value sits at $680 million.
Conclusion:
If I’m Rob Manfred and I have the “crystal ball” when it comes to past scandals, meaning he knows what has actually happened in the past versus what the MLB has allowed us and the media to know. I can do this one of two ways; I can set a precedent by really buckling down on all three teams involves in this cheating scandal and watch 2 of our most valued, beloved franchises just get mauled by the media and fans most likely affecting ticket sales, rev, etc., OR I can sweep the Red Sox and Yankees scandal under the rug by coming down on the Astros to the fullest extent that MLB punishment allows us under our rules and the MLBPA rules.
Manfred chose option # 2 to save the Yankees, Red Sox and Baseball any further embarrassment. That’s why you will continue to see the Astros fall on the sword until this is yesterday’s news. Only problems is, the Astros actually won the series while they were cheating so unfortunately this will be talked about forever, the Astros will remain the cemter piece and the cheating scandal that the MLB fined the Yankees and Red Sox for will become background noise more and more.
I’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions below, no holding back here, give it straight 100.
