Thursday looks like yet another tough day for the Astros in an offseason packed with them. The club sent a few representatives out to discuss its sign-stealing scandal that many believe has tarnished its laundry list of accomplishments from recent years. The news conference wasn’t well-received, as multiple players and owner Jim Crane only offered perfunctory apologies for the team’s wrongdoing. What’s more, Crane called on manager Dusty Baker to ask for forgiveness on the club’s behalf. The problem? Baker had nothing to do with the Astros’ misdeeds. He only just joined the Astros as their skipper Jan. 29, a couple weeks after the team bid adieu to suspended predecessor A.J. Hinch.
Among their possible crimes, Astros hitters may have worn electronic buzzers under their jerseys last season in order to help identify which pitches were coming. Major League Baseball investigated the matter, but it didn’t find any evidence supporting those accusations. Questions about it have persisted, though. Crane said Thursday, “I truly believe there were no buzzers ever.” Prominent members of the roster agree, for what it’s worth, as Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle relays.
Second baseman Jose Altuve’s walk-off home run against the Yankees in Game 6 of last year’s American League Championship Series sent the Astros to the World Series. Altuve wouldn’t let his teammates rip off his jersey as he approached home plate to celebrate, but he quickly went into the locker room to change his shirt after that. Some may regard that as damning evidence that he was wearing a device at the time, though the former AL MVP vehemently denied those claims Thursday.
“It was a fake Twitter account that started everything,” Altuve said. “It makes me upset that a fake Twitter account had that much credibility. Like I said, I feel bad for 2017 but I can say something that I didn’t do was the buzzer thing. No one on this team wore a buzzer.”
The “fake Twitter account,” now deactivated, belonged to someone claiming to be the niece of former Astro Carlos Beltran – one of the central figures in the team’s 2017 sign-stealing scheme. The Beltran family denied that was the case when the story came out last month, however.
Along with Altuve, shortstop Carlos Correa, outfielders George Springer and Josh Reddick, and ace Justin Verlander all shot down the idea that the team utilized buzzers.
“That’s a lie. Nobody wore buzzers. Nobody wore devices,” insisted Correa, who added the “story should be killed already.”
Both Springer and Reddick said that was “absolutely not” the case, while Reddick offered, “no, not to my knowledge.”
Considering the events of the past few weeks, you’d be within your rights to have a hard time believing what the Astros are saying. But even if the team didn’t wear buzzers, it’s obvious at this point there were other violations in recent years. Hence, the mess the Astros find themselves in now.
I call BS.
Of course they deny it
They have not earned the benefit of the doubt.
If it is ever proven the Astros wore devices, they should definitely have to vacate their 2017 title.
Why not now? The device thing was supposedly more recently than that anyways… why should they even get to keep their WS championship as it is? it needs to be wiped out.
Nick.
You are so right..Those games were tainted. So unfair!
because the yankees and red sox got to keep theirs with all the cheaters they had using steroids. those teams are tainted. why isn’t giambi roger clemens or andy petitte even schilling in the HOF because they’re cheaters.
They should have to vacate their title anyway
I agree.
What if it comes out that using tech to cheat was a problem all over the league? Then is it fair just to walk away from the scandalous years like we have from the steroid years? We know that Beltran was a mastermind and he was advising the Yankees. We know the Red Sox used Apple watches. We know the Astros used at least trash cans.
More players and organizations aren’t vehement because they probably have their own dirty secrets.
Actually, plenty of players and organizations are voicing anger over this particular Astros situation. Reports of organizations warning teams about the Astros during the playoffs are coming out and the A’s submitted a complaint about it to MLB well before Fiers brought the extent of the cheating when he was with the Astros in 2017. to light publicly. MLB just chose to ignore it until they had no choice and had to address it. Both players and organizations across the league seem pretty livid about it. It sounds like you simply haven’t been paying attention. Maybe you just want make excuses for the Astros. Maybe it is both. Regardless, the weak argument that “maybe everyone was doing it” simply has no credibility in this Astros situation.
Mmmmm… that’s good analysis Ejemp…What if others were doing it so we shouldn’t come down hard on the people who were doing it….yes, I like what you’ve done here….
There are also a lot of former players and coaches coming out and saying this has been going on for a long tome with other organizations, and still goes on with other organizations. It sounds like you simply haven’t been paying attention. Or maybe you want to act like your team was clean. Maybe it’s both.
Anyone defending the Astros is ethically bankrupt themselves. It’s an indefensible position.
Is it? I mean every day people come on her and say that it’s okay for teams to STEAL signs as long as they don’t use technology. Are they ethically bankrupt because they support STEALING signs without technology?
Do you feel the same way about this in other sports? As a former coach I know that basketball coaches watch film to determine what offenses and defenses their opponent uses, and then try to figure out what the call or signal for each play/defense is used.
In football, coaches use technology to find out what play is coming.
Don’t you think it makes the defense that much better when they know exactly what play is coming? Yet, we don’t think anything about it.
takeitback you’re right. people will just argue that its against the rules though
Yeah, right,
Well, explain the reasoning behind changing your shirt, and then you’d have more credibility, Altuve!
Trust and integrity, once lost, can almost never be regained. At this point in time accusations will stick because Houston has shown, time and again, to be dishonest and tone deaf.
Hope they are ready for these statements to blow up in their faces IF some concrete proof emerges.
We’ll punish them by keeping them out of all star games, and eventually the Hall.
playoff shares in 2017 were about $450k apiece.A great way to show contrition would be to donate those bonuses to charity. Make something good out of it.
Maybe fund shelters for women who are victims of guys like Osuna.
I heard Springer has already agreed to do this. I am not sure if any other players will.
not really before they started cheating he wasn’t . altuve wont donate his ws bonus
If they’re lying for real, MLB should ban them.
They should have banned all 13 Astros hitters who had over 100 AB that year anyway. Can’t do much with Beltran, Aoki, McCann and Gattis (this is why zero teams called him since he hit free agency – everyone knew), but the other 9: Altuve, Correa, Gurriel, Springer, Bregman, Reddick, Marwin, Fisher & Marisnick all premeditatively colluded and cheated, and then not only lied to our faces when repeatedly called out on it, but aggressively talked down to anyone asking, like it was so far fetched and insulting to say that to them. Their lack of penalty is a 1000x worse insult.
Those 9 active guys should go the way of Shoeless Joe, immediately. I hope every team headhunts them all to protest this terrible, weakest-of-the-weak penalty, Manfred should have lost his job 10 times already, what is going on???
I agree, but I think that Manfred isn’t going to ban them because he doesn’t want the whole Astros fan base to collapse.
So just turn them into sociopaths instead?
At least some staggered 20 Gm suspensions, although I would love to see a bunch suspended at once so they have to play the back 15 of the 40 man for a month. Watch a bunch of AA players fill in for Altuve et al.
I’m with you on this one.
How would you go about banning players over something that’s not in the official rules with no official penalty?
Part of the fault here is that there was no stated punishment for using electronics to transmit signs, and though I believe harsh penalties were warranted, a ban from baseball for this infraction is ridiculous if that penalty had never been stated.
It is in the rules that they cant do it. However there is no codified punishment so MLBPA would fight it. If they get caught for lying to MLB during the investigation then the league may have grounds to suspend easier.
Better call Saul!
In 2017 there were no rules in reference to electronic use in the official rule book, and when Manfred issued the memorandum to all 30 clubs that warned them of severe punishment if they continued the use of electronics, that memo was never passed from the Astros GM to the manager.
I do think the commissioner retains the right to punish accordingly, but i don’t think it’s fair to ban a player for something they didn’t know they could be banned for, especially the ten or more players that had enough at bats to have a large impact on the Astros success in 2017.
Wow, I had no idea this gun was loaded.
Tell that to the judge.
Your argument is equally as dumb
“It’s ok to steal signs as long as you don’t use technology” is equal to saying it’s okay to kill someone with your bare hands, or a knife, you just can’t use a gun.
Tell that to the judge.
OLDOAK33 I’d agree except that they NEVER used that in their own defense. They knew they crossed the line, and lied to cover it. How much the cheating affected the games is not relevant. The relevant fact is the players cheated and suffered NO penalty.
It’s an overreaction from anger. Logical fans, like yourself, realize the players shouldn’t and won’t be banned, but the mob mentality has taken over the interwebs.
I agree. The internet “mob mentality” makes me completely understand what happened in Salem in the 1600s. And how something like that WILL happen again.
LOL at stros1fan trying to spin the “It wasn’t that bad” story….. The vast majority of comments here contain anger towards the Astros. Not Because they are a mob, but because the Astros are cheaters and liars and are not being punished for making a mockery of the game.
Enjoy your TAINTED TITLE. The Astros are now like Barry Bonds:Ya, it’s in the books, but nobody respects it
That is ridiculous
Pretty ridiculous for Crane to think Dusty should be the one to ask for forgiveness. How out of touch is that dude?
I hope Bolsinger sues Jim Crane for $500 million
Crane is spineless, like the rest of that organization. Manfred is just as spineless, as well.
rocket, lolol
Typical entitled rich man. Show me one that ain’t.
I thought it was really bad and to claim that he had no idea it was happening. What kind of cultural enviroment are you fostering when there is no accountability or display of remorse?
I think they should issue out that if what they are saying is a lie and are later found to wear buzzers they are fined the same amount the WS bonus is and banned from baseball.
That account didn’t deactivate, they just went private after the report of them not being Beltran’s niece.
It’s a player or FO employee on another team’s burner account
Its Kevin Durants new burner. He got the dirt when he went to BRK.
This is great, about the time people get back to talking baseball, the Red Sox report will drop and we will get 6 months of that. This daily outlet of “New Information” is ruining baseball. Move on to 2020. If fans want to boo at games that’s fine, but no other action will be taken and People are sick of hearing about it. It’s really just become an excuse for big market teams to use for losing.
Two of the last three world series winners is why it will not go away anytime soon.
The Yankees team steroid WS winners kept their titles and no one is talking about it now.
Guilty! Have them arrested!
Arrested?? Give me a break. You guys are so soft. They got their punishment already
While I agree arresting them is stupid…. I will point out that they could be. They cheated to win an approximate figure of $450,000 winners share. That’s legally called fraud.
That is such a stretch. You can’t charge an entire 25 man roster with fraud. And it’s not like they’re stealing the money from the government, they had a very good team anyways and arguably would have won the same if they hadn’t cheated.
They should try cheating in a casino and see what happens. It’s hard to swing a bat with 10 broken fingers. Of course it’s not like anybody bets on baseball, right?
Didn’t Chapman get charged with a family violence assault? He should’ve been arrested
Jose Altuve blaming it on a “fake Twitter account,” is very weak!
It was 100% a fake Twitter account. The Beltrán family said they knew of no one that owned the account. No niece of Carlos Beltrán claimed ownership, no member of the family claimed ownership. And who would have “Beltran’s niece” up as a serious twitter handle?
This tweet caused the rumor to start, and Altuve not wanting his jersey ripped off confirmed a tweet from a fake account for everyone here saying that was “proof”. There’s no proof, not at all.
I wish every baseball fan could see your exact comment. I hate how many people are blowing this thing way out of proportion and basically acting like these are facts when it’s all just a baseless conspiracy
But it doesn’t matter. The Astros cheated and lied and opened themselves up to every ridiculous rumor.
Astros already used technology to cheat. Altuve clearly fended off teammates from tugging on his jersey. The guy just hit a walkoff HR to win the ALCS and advance to the WS and the only thing he’s thinking about is not wanting his jersey to be tugged at/ripped off? There’s clearly something there, not simply his aggressive thought that he doesn’t want to expose his chest to the public eye. If you can’t think there’s something there, you’re just as bad as Manfred not launching an investigation into allegations brought to him by the A’s a couple years ago.
Carlos Correa hit a walkoff HR in game 2 of the ALCS, had his shirt ripped off and there were no buzzers. Game 2 was probably a more critical win for the Astros than game 6 yet they didn’t wear a buzzer for that Correa HR, but decided to wear one for the Altuve HR. How does this even make sense?
Shhh……you are using facts and logic. That’s not allowed here. You have to freak out, get emotional, and make outlandish suggestions about what should have happened.
What was altuve doing then? What was on chirinos’ bat? Why did the Astros all of a sudden stop banging trash cans?
Mike Acosta, Authentication Manager for the Astros, has already confirmed what came off Chirinos bat was an authentication sticker as it was the same bat he used to hit a HR earlier in the series. It’s not that hard to do a little research to see this has already been debunked.
2012 Orioles
Either they used buzzers under their jerseys or at the end of the bat. It would never be both.
No one thinks it was really Beltrans niece. It was obviously an ex player or coach calling them out.
And if this is a baseless conspiracy then what was under Altvues shirt or on the end of that guys bat?
You guys are blind if you think they didn’t go beyond cheating.
So Torres wore buzzers too? Because the same twitter account made that accusation as well. Funny how you don’t believe that tweet, but you dove head first into the deep end when Altuve was mentioned.
You believe the cheating astro’s because they say so. LOL
It’s probably Carlos’s burner account tbh.
Shoutout to MLBTR for opening up the comments in an Astros article.
I wish they hadn’t. I find you all insufferable.
I can’t wait to watch Astros games this year. It’s going to be a circus. They might want to wear full catching gear to take their at bats.
I’m already saving up my dead D cell batteries.
Careful. That would be a nice boost to their OBP. They’ll use that, do some more tricks with analytics, and win 115 games this year.
The Astros had time to strategize this moment and they still fell flat. Contrived half – hearted apologies. That Crane is a piece of work… OMG. If these guys were truly contrite they’d offer an action worthy of public forgiveness say donating their world series paychecks to charity. Nope nothing. Bregman stated he learned something from all of this, but failed to say what that was or are we supposed to assume that cheating pays off big time. What a shameful exhibition.
It is a sign of our times and society. They are only sorry that they got caught. And they even act indignant.
Meh… I liked what they said (especially Correa and Springer) 15 minutes later in the player interviews. It just doesn’t make for as click-baitable of a narrative.
Every home team should install a metal detector at the top of the dugout steps when the Astros come to town.
I just want a bunch of trashcan lid giveaways so the fans can bang them through every Astros at bat.
Buzzer Bobblehead night will be an instant classic.
It would legit F with the stros batters to have eveyone banging. Think Cueto in Pit for the wild card game with CIN.
That is an awesome idea! I think they should actually use the guy with the wand to wave it all over their body before they come to the plate. You know that would get a close-up and tons of commentary on TV. More importantly, it would humiliate them every time they came to the plate. Keep it in the public consciousness.
Next time they should use orange shirt buzzers instead of green
of course reddick didn’t wear a buzzer. just look at his 2019 stats.
“No not to my knowledge”. Reddick sounds like a Mafia Don. LMAO. Guilty!!
Man, Reddick is a tool. Hated him when he was a Dodger and I despite him even worse now. Have some pride, guys. Fully admit your wrongdoings, move along, and try and prove the public wrong that you can win without cheating.
It obviously benefitedt them. But they deny it helped them! Then why did they do it?
Not one player was punished, after all, they were the rats!!
Disgrace.
“Our opinion is this didn’t impact the game,” Crane said when asked about the effect of the team’s illegal sign stealing in 2017. “We had a good team. We won the World Series, and we’ll leave it at that.”
Saw this suggestion elsewhere – if Crane truly believes it didn’t impact the game, perhaps the Astros pitchers should be forced all season to tell the opposing batter if a fastball or breaking ball is coming.
Stealing and winning are not equivalents.
There should be a class action lawsuit against the Astros and their players by every person who lost a bet in Vegas because of Houston cheating.
Social media as community therapy.
So if buzzers are confirmed are we finally going to ban some of these dipshits?
Yes. Lying to MLB investigators would be separate grounds for suspension.
Which further proves that they would have just admitted it during the investigation, since they already admitted cheating during the WS season, and were granted immunity.
Do people really think the Astros came together and said “Let’s admit to cheating during the WS run, but lie about the buzzers and risk being banned later.”
They would gain nothing by lying about the buzzers, and risk losing everything.
They should all be executed by firing squad! Kill them all!
While I’d like to believe no buzzers were used, that video of Chirnos at the plate and something flying off his bat or wrist looks pretty damning to me. The explanation was that it was a hologram sticker from his bat, but stickers do not bounce off a catcher’s face mask and shoot three or four feet away. Also, the urgency Chirnos showed in picking it up, hiding it from the ump and making sure it was safely tucked away in his back pocket was really shady too. Lastly, the close up photo of whatever he picked up looked much different than the stickers that MLB gives out so there was definitely something fishy about the whole thing. Can’t say for sure that it was a buzzer but it’s quite obvious that it was not a sticker like the Astros claim it was.
twitter.com/ZachSchneider57/status/118832564414228…
Read the replies. Mike Acosta, Authentication Manager for the Astros, confirmed what it is.
You have got to be kidding me! An Astros employee says the Astros didn’t cheat? Well that’s it then, game over, none of it is true. Stros1fan has ironclad proof!
the Astros and their players are going to get hit by more pitches than ever seen before and the entire mlb will be cheering!! sucks to lose respect for someone like Altuve and the talent that is on that roster.
There are going to be some HBP records set this year. Let’s see how the 3 batter minimum rule works with that.
So they would never wear buzzers? Sounds alot like their previous claims that they would never steal signs.
Losers can’t even apologize correctly, this will get handled on the field.
Get ready to break the hit by pitch record by June.
move the rays to the minute maid park rent free for 10 years!
Tampa Bay Astros, and the Houston Rays. I love it this would be fitting. They also have to trade TV deals.
Astros should have to have an MLB compliance officer at their stadium, in every meeting, reading every email, for the next three years. And Crane should be removed from any baseball activity for the same amount of time.
he just became a member of the competition committee. that blows!
Should die already lmao? Nope. You don’t get off that easy man. Take your lickings like a man.
Own up to your mistakes. Admit you messed up. Clean your act up.
The buzzer story should die already. Stop conflating this garbage rumor started by a fake twitter account with what we know actually happened.
After all the lies and dishonesty by this team over the last few years…. they have no credibility at all. At this point it’s up to them to prove there innocence on just about any accusation
Umm…..I am pretty sure they were already proven innocent of using buzzers by Manfred.
Absence of proof is not proof of innocence. If the gun that shot your wife doesn’t have your fingerprints on it, it doesn’t mean you didn’t shoot her. It just means you wiped them off afterwards. The jury may be forced to find you innocent, but everyone knows you did it.
@javia except there is no gun.
This is more like there are rumors of a murder, but there is no dead body, no weapon, and no evidence to support a murder, just people saying there was a murder.
There is no way to empirically prove that he was or wasn’t wearing a buzzer unless he had been strip searched right there at that time. Who really even cares if he was wearing a buzzer anyway? He was cheating. Whether by buzzer or trash can, he was told what pitch was coming. THAT has been proven.
That was proven for 2017 and the beginning of 2018.
It was also proven they they did not use the sign stealing system in 2019. They were just better than the Yankees.
If Altuve wasn’t wearing a “buzzer” it’s only because he’s calling it something else. His actions regarding his jersey were crystal clear.
You don’t have to ignore the OBVIOUS to give the benefit of the doubt to known cheaters.
Yes — the real villains here are the fake twitter accounts.
Open Google.
…
Copy and Paste the following, “robinson chirinos buzzer”.
…
Click Search.
No offense, but I find the premise of this long post ridiculous. I agree that there will be unpunished cheaters in the past, but you have to start somewhere to set a precedent. Punish these players now and everyone in the future. You can’t change the past, but you can fix the present.
The “other people cheated therefore we can never punish any cheaters” argument is especially weak.
Go tell a judge that you weren’t the only car speeding, see how that works out for you.
Half of murders go unsolved. Obviously, it’s not fair to punish the ones we catch since the rest got away with it.
It’s okay to steal signs as long as you don’t use technology is like saying you can kill someone with your hands, but you can’t kill someone using a gun.
When someone is lying, is it true that their pants are actually on fire? Maybe we should put em on the poly.
every fan, every reporter, everybody needs to keep on these cheaters. it made no difference to the eventual WS winners??? wtf kind of comment is that? and we need to move on? GTFO astros. i hope fans throw trash at them and boo so loud the game can’t be played.
You’ve just really gotta feel for these guys.
buzzzzzzzzz!!!!!
I would love to hear Nolan Ryan’s take on this. He was there then and I bet he would tell it like it is.
“It was a fake Twitter account that started everything,” Altuve said.
No, it was your cheating that started everything.
Altuve didn’t cheat. Just go look at the data. His “crime” is he knew others were doing it and he didn’t stop it. Everything else is just a baseless MLBTR comment.
I think you’ve done enough talking for everyone.
They should sell Astros jerseys with attached buzzers…at the Dodgers team store.
Common people. Manfred did a very thorough investigation. They only used it in 2017, had great year, won world series. Beltran and Cora left and they all stopped cheating. All the other teams players and coaches were just paranoid when they were worried about Astros stealing signs in 2018 and 2019. The players for the Astros are just so amazing they can lay off breaking stuff or lock onto it at will. Altuve is just super shy and didn’t want to be shirtless. He was so excited about winning the AL he couldn’t wait to get that jersey off to put on his championship t shirt but not at the expense of having teammates rip his Jersey off. Astros only did it in 2017 and it didn’t have any effect on the games. The owner even said so. Then he said he didn’t say so? Just forget you heard that part. They only did it for fun, didn’t help them win at all. They players didnt need to apologize because it didn’t give them any advantage but they did anyways. They sounded sincere and not shady at all. They were punished extremely harsh, I mean it’s one thing to lose 4 draft picks which one of those could make the majors, but even on top of that 5 million dollars! Jim Crane was going to buy a luxury yacht this month, but thanks to that fine he is going to have to wait till March. I would say the Astros payed dearly for cheating only one year and it didn’t help them win a single game.
I DO NOT believe them. These are guys making millions of dollars a year. Would you risk a multi-million dollar a year job by self-incrimination?
I wouldn’t risk it by cheating.
Because they were granted immunity as part of the MLB investigation. Not sure why the facts are hard for people keep straight, but the rumors and conspiracy thoughts spread like wild fire.
Astros absolutely cheated in 2019. Please, some reporter find a source. When Conseco wrote his book on PED’s, the players all denied it and so did the entire baseball community. We now know it was totally true. Same thing here, they wore buzzers. Altuve was totally wearing one on the slider. MLB looks like the joke that it is.
He wasn’t wearing a buzzer or any wearable electronic device. You look foolish for continuing to buy into it.
bro, stop. find another team to root for already.
Why? I root for one of the best teams in baseball.
Why? I root for one of the best teams in baseball.
You can’t definitively say he wasn’t wearing a buzzer, because he very well might have been. Denying the possibility is homerism.
Well, the MLB investigation proves otherwise. Continuing to believe it is homerism.
You want your smoking gun? …
…
youtube.com/watch?v=zAIqyPIv-q8
…
From the 2019 World Series. Robinson Chirinos has a metal-like object fly off his hand/bat. On video. You can even see the object fly off his bat, hit the catcher in the head, then DURING THE AT BAT, Robinson retrieves it from the grass and tries to hide it in his back pocket. However, it’s stuck to his hand for all to see. Unreal.
…
It slays me how the media is not jumping on this video. It’s way more obvious that the Altuve video. The poster, “Everything Chris Powers” slows down the video so you can see better.
Who goes off the field during a celebration to “change jerseys?” Not sure if he was the only one but seems like it.. Whole thing is suspicious. Of course none of the players would admit if it were true. Remember that liar Beltran blatantly denying any wrong doing a few months ago?
Maybe the league investigation couldnt find enough evidence to conclude the use of buzzers when they did in fact exist.
Altuve was the only player to immediately run off the field during the celebration
Or maybe they just didn’t exist.
Exactly. When Astros fans suggest that other teams cheat its gtfoh.
When former players and coaches admit that using technology to steal signs had been going on since the 80’s, its ignored.
When the same twitter account says Torres wore a buzzer, it’s ignored.
When the MLB investigation proves they didn’t wear buzzers, or use technology to steal signs in 2019, it’s ignored.
But, when a fake account says the Astros used a buzzer, it’s without a doubt true.
And these guys think Astros fans are delusional. Haha
I bet you stay up past midnight every year on Christmas Eve still hoping to catch Santa don’t you?
Still believe your wife was a virgin when she met you?
Still believe that prostitute in the back alley when she told you that you were the best she ever had?
Still believe the Astros didn’t cheat?
Actually, I know they cheated. I just dgaf. There is just as much evidence out there suggesting that other teams cheated, but no one wants to discuss that.
If anyone is believing in fantasies, it’s fans like you that think this is isolated to the Astros.
It’s like you caught your wife cheating with me and are naive enough to think I am the only one. When the reality is half the guys in the office have hit it.
Then when some random guy showed you questionable evidence of her giving me a bj you got so angry that it was me again, that you ignored his picture of your brother get a bj by your wife.
That’s the world you live in. I’m fine cheating with your wife. You can’t take those memories from me. You can be mad all you want, but I’m fine. She was worth it.
If you choose to ignore the other guys cheating with her, go ahead. But when it’s proven your brother was banging her too, remember this conversation.
Did you seriously just copy my exact argument takeitback? I thought that “I know you are but what am I!” crap stopped when we passed elementary school. Are you perhaps still in elementary school?
No, I used your analogy and made it more accurate.
You’re the one that feels cheated. Your the one angry and emotional. I’m the one that’s content with how things played out, even though what was done is viewed as unethical.
But I’m fine with it because I know other teams were doing the same thing. So until the MLB decides to look into all the teams that have been identified as participating in a similar scheme, I’m going to be indifferent.
If the league does a thorough investigation into those other teams and finds nothing there, then I will change my tune. But that’s not happening because MLB can’t have 25-40% of their teams involved in a scandal. It’s bad for business.
If they let this team keep the commissioner’s trophy, Pete Rose 100% deserves the HOF. It’s ridiculous how he’s treated, and yet all of these players can hide behind the ‘team’ name with no blemish.
How is Pete Rose lifetime ban even comparable to the Astros stealing signs? Let’s not forget Pete Rose agreed to a lifetime ban and, from some reports, it appears he was concerned it was going to be revealed he bet against the Reds. Also, there is the morality issue of him sleeping with underage girls during his playing days.
Don’t bring morality into any HOF discussion. There are lots of morally bankrupt players in the hall. Rose deserves to be in as a player.
I honestly didn’t know that about the underage girls.
Yeah, the Pete Rose comparison is not a good look for people. I just assume most people don’t know or forgot about the other accusations against him. Thanks for your honesty. It’s a refreshing comment on MLBTR.
Whether or not MLB ever formally strips the banner from the Astros, the fact will forever remain that NOBODY won the 2017 World Series.
Well, except the Astros. That actually happened. Like in real life.
Well, except they didn’t.
Yeah, there is actual video proof and everything. Actually more proof that they won the WS than there is in this buzzer conspiracy.
Ground ball hit to Altuve who threw to first for the final out. Game in LA. Astros celebration on the mound. Then champagne in the locker room. WS banners and rings. Yep. It’s all still there.
I saw that too! It was amazing!
Who can trust these guys? Remember Arod saying “I used PEDs back then, not now?” How did that turn out? Altuve walk-off video says it all. He had something. Buzzer, not a buzzer, whatever.
These clowns don’t deserve the benefit of the doubt.
The championship, and all their wins are tarnished.
The Yankees will exact revenge this year.
So Torres didn’t wear a buzzer but the Astros did? Wasn’t that the same account that made both accusations?
WHO CARES what they say it’s all lies any way
I feel bad so I need to confess, I cheated on a few college exams. I just needed to get that off my chest
Oh I failed anyway btw
Pete rose is paying a hefty price for his mistake why not drop the same hammer on all 25 players from that postseason year.
The Astros should trade everyone and start over. I really do wonder how wide this goes with various reports saying it was fairly common. Baseball doesn’t need this. Though.
Well let’s see,guys that will knowingly cheat would never lie ,would they?
None of these guys have any credibility do why should we believe them? I always thought the Altuve shirt thing was strange and now we know why.
im willing to bet this is the case. this specific allegation has always been tenuous in it’s base at best, and seems just too crazy to have actually happened. as bad as what the Stros did was, buzzers is a new level of crazy.
Of course they wore buzzers.At least Altuve did.They’re gonna deny everything until you have proof.They would have even denied the trashcan banging as a way to steal signs if it wasn’t for the proof on video
Lol of course they’re denying it, they denied everything in the past that we now know to also be true about their disgraceful practices.
They seem trustworthy. Guess I’ll believe them.
If this would have happened on Obama’s watch then he would have fined the Astors himself for desecrating an American institution.
@LetThereBeLux:
TF?
We live in a post truth world. There is no accountability. When people lie to serve own purposes and when they are later caught there is no repercussion.
I feel sorry for Astros fans. If this was my team I think I would quit watching baseball. How embarrassing for the fans. The Astros need the so called death penalty. All players involved suspended for a year. Strpped of thier WS title. Along with the loss of draft picks. Sucks to be an Astro fan.
Don’t be. They’re just as morally bankrupt as the team they support. “Flags fly forever!” “Everyone was doing it a little bit, so it’s fine that we did it so egregiously!” “It’s a conspiracy by the commissioner’s office to take us down a peg!” They’re morons, and the majority of them aren’t any more sorry for what happened than the players with those fake-a** apologies.
The Astros better hope that none of the players they said goodbye to during the offseason decide to take a page from Mike Fiers’ book. Every single player that was on their roster last year, especially during the playoffs, is a ticking time bomb of damaging information at this point. Hoping at least one of them has the integrity to come forward like Fiers did.
Just for curiosity’s sake, what would happen if it came out that the Astros were in fact cheating in 2019, contradicting the commissioner’s report? Would MLB just punish them again? Would it be harsher than this last punishment? Would that finally incentivize MLB to strip their title? Interesting questions, and I’m hoping another former Astro comes forward and spills the beans on what they were doing in 2019, because nobody other than delusional Astros fans believes that they stopped cheating in 2018 immediately after winning a World Series.
Another clueless defiant billionaire!!?? Shocking!
NOT…..
This is not a buzzer. This is a highly sophisticated and discrete vibrational signaling device.
Manfred: Oh, nevermind then.
Now let’s have MLB investigations into how the Red Sox and Yankees cheated.
And let’s have an investigation into how or why other teams “knew” but wouldn’t change their signs. In fact, let’s have investigations into the investigations on why the investigations didn’t investigate…..
Lol, the red Sox were using apple watches in their dugout. The Yankees used a Yes camera to try and catch them cheating. They both got fines.
To try and compare this to the known cheating Astros is a complete joke.
The Yankees broke an mlb rule trying to get proff of another team cheating as they had previously complained and nothing happen.
They were the ones that blew the whistle on Houston multiple times you idiot. Take your bias elsewhere you make no sense.
LOLOL, what flavor is today’s Yankee Koolaid boy?
You want to investigate what teams did not change their signs? What is your point!
Anyone who believes any of the players on that team is a fool. Lifelong Detroit resident here, and i’m the first to say Verlander should be banned from the HOF along with the rest of that roster for those 3 years.
Agree I will never vote for any of those players for an all star game either. Altuve had a good chance at HOF but not now.
Beltran won’t get in, but they are not going to ban the pitchers. Not like it affected his stats.
I mean would you be for banning guys who played with steroids cheats and said nothing?
The only reason Verlander is getting Heat is because how much he always ran his mouth about the integrity of the game when other guys got in trouble for things, so the anger at him is reasonable. But it won’t cost him the HOF.
Similarly that loud mouth Bregman who has been arrogant the whole time, mocking people for calling them cheaters better get ready to lead the league in hit by pitches.
He may break Don baylors career record just this year.
It will be sweet to watch too.
If the Astros just gave free advertising to Stomp and the Blue Man Group, they would have been able to justify the banging of garbage cans and avoided this mess.
astro fans u know the truth. u cheated. evidence shows it.
And guess what? Your team STILL ISN’T GETTING THAT 2017 RING.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
When someone (Reddick) says “to the best of my knowledge” it sounds like guilt to me.
It’s a weak denial to try and clear him from the guilty players, but there is the post game celebration picture of him in the dressing room shirtless but with a suspicious piece of tape on his left shoulder.
Without a doubt Altuve is guilty of something that his the jersey needed to hide. Imagine….you just hit a game ending walk off Homer to send your team to the world series and your running around the bases worried about a jersey coming off because you claim your shy. I know I would be completely ecstatic to the point that the last thing on my mind is my teammates and whatever they may do. Altuve is a piece of chit!!
That was a pretty standard muted response from Altuve. Most who follow him would probably agree. He has always had a measured, almost timid personality. The data shows he didn’t cheat in 2017. He just didn’t speak up and stop it. Why would he start cheating in 2019?
But Tim says the comments don’t make the site any money….
Can we really believe the words of cheaters? I suspect it was probably way way worse than what we already know.
So you honestly think any of them care what you believe boy?
Let me get this straight…the organization that denied cheating until it was irrefutable, and then half-heartedly apologized for said cheating, is now claiming that they didn’t cheat further, even though there is evidence (albeit circumstantial) that they did, and wants me to believe their claim that they DIDN’T cheat further? I’ll believe it since I was not only born at night, but specifically last night. Completely credible claim from a completely credible organization.
Why the surprise? This is an organisation that denied the instance of an asst GM shouting at three reporters with words to the effect of “Thank God we got effing Osuna” – denied it happened, called the professional integrity of one of the reporters into question, and three days later canned the clown, apologising profusely… This debacle is the gift that keeps on giving…
I must say though that the reincarnation of Mother Theresa as Dusty Baker if the best magic trick I’ve ever seen.
Got to go – my buzzer is going off….
For all the whining and crying and drama I see here from self righteous nimrods who are just piling on because they are so filled with hate?
Guess what? Your team STILL ISN’T GETTING THAT 2017 RING.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Guess what? You’re still a moron who thinks that people are filled with hate when in fact they’re calling out the cheaters and the losers and frauds.
Now, you’re more than welcome to consider cheaters, losers, and frauds, as the real champions. Trump will forever be a POTUS, after all, albeit he’s impeached for life, and will forever go down in history as acquitted by a trial which called no witnesses and presented no evidence.
The Astros are champs only because they knew every pitch that was coming.
The joke, as they say, is most definitely you.
Hey marijuasher, you realize you just wrote a hate filled post lambasting someone about hate a hate filled post!
This is about the cheating scumbag Asstros, leave the TDS behind.
You can laugh pathetically to yourself in the corner for all eternity, but there will forever be a massive asterisk tattooed on the faces of your cheating loser heroes. Their “championship” was a total fraud and everyone knows it.
Don’t want the 2017 ring…. that pos is TAINTED
““It makes me upset that a fake Twitter account had that much credibility.”
I feel your disappointment, Jose. It’s like watching a baseball team celebrate a championship in which they knew every pitch that was coming to them. You guys never were champions to begin with, and yet you got the ticker tape parade and big shiny rings.
Was it worth it? Promise to tell us in five years.
Altuve wasn’t cheating in 2017. Go look at the data. Reddick and McCann didn’t either btw. Everyone else… have at them! Altuve’s problem is he should have stopped it and he didn’t.
Can I get my money back for Astroball?
This idea that there is not evidence for the Astros using buzzers is completely false. There is a mountain of evidence, from the video of Altuve to the accounts of other major league players, etc. The only problem with proving it without a doubt is that all of the evidence is circumstantial evidence right now.
With the way players are starting to open up about it, I fully believe that it’s only a matter of time before someone finally breaks this part of it wide open too.
For a long time they denied they were stealing signs but I’m supposed to believe that they are telling the truth now?????
Fool me once…….
Truly a pathetic spectacle, watching these proven liars and cheaters try to bloviate, triangulate and make this go away. It’s not happening, why should believe a word coming out of the corrupt Astros organization, who engaged in a multi-year conspiracy to defile the game of baseball?
To my knowledge there was only 1 player wearing a buzzer……but he was behind the grassy knoll
Everyone is sleeping on the Astros this year. What’s lost in all the rage is this is still a VERY good team.
As much as the haters here want to believe the reason for the Astros success has been the cheating, deep down they know (and the numbers agree) that it didn’t change much in the win/loss column.
Hate them. That’s fine. They did this to themselves. I wish they didn’t, but they did. But also don’t be surprised when they can still hit.
What evidence do you have to support your narrative that “the numbers” agree that is did not “change much in the win/loss column”
Are your related to Crane?
Tell us all what the number of wins and losses were effected? How many?
1. Google “most important bangs of the Astros Schemes” and also look at Tony Adams’ and Rob Arthur’s research. That should get you started.
2. Yes. I am Jim Crane.
3. Probably less than 3 (some say none). But it’s not me. I’m just another lowly messenger. It’s everyone else. But you have to read above to see why.
This mess is what happens when baseball hires Wall Street guys like Lunhow who think they can write an algorithm for everything.
Was Luhnow a Wall Street guy? I get your point. I just never thought of them as Wall Street guys. More like numbers geeks using analytics to engineer a winning formula. The human factor was just another data point.
“I mean, we’re cheaters, but Buzzers?”
MLB sucks
Astros suck
Manford sucks
College baseball starts today!
NBA
I am out , no MLB for me
Altuve knew what was coming down the pipe from Chapman, a curve ball that he hit out of the park.
I don’t see how anyone can absolve the players involved in this, they’re as guilty & responsible for this cheating as Hinch.