TODAY: Astros owner Jim Crane and front office staff member Derek Vigoa have been added to Bolsinger’s suit, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports. Vigoa was one of the members of the Astros’ analytics department who were allegedly behind the development of the “Codebreaker” system, as per the details of the piece by the Wall Street Journal’s Jared Diamond earlier this month exploring more details in the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal. Bolsinger’s “initial complaint named the Astros organization but included so-called Doe defendants, allowing it to be amended to add individuals allegedly involved,” Passan writes, so potentially more names could still be added to Bolsinger’s lawsuit.
FEBRUARY 10: Former big league hurler Mike Bolsinger has filed a lawsuit against the Houston Astros, Nancy Armour of USA Today reports. The action was filed in California state court.
Bolsinger, a 32-year-old righty, has never pitched for the Astros. He hasn’t even played for an affiliated club in the past two seasons; instead, he suited up for Japan’s Chiba Lotte Marines.
It’s that departure from the major-league ranks that forms the factual basis for Bolsinger’s long-shot litigation. His last MLB appearance came in a Blue Jays uniform. It turned out to be a brutal August 4, 2017 outing — the very same game in which the trashcan banging scheme reached its apparent zenith. Bolsinger ended up being dumped by the Jays the day after he was tuned up by the sign-stealing ’Stros.
There is little question that the terrible results sealed Bolsinger’s fate, though that hardly establishes his right to relief (or even to pursue the suit). There are a host of potential roadblocks here. Before things can progress at all, his lawyers will have to show how their alleged facts combine to support one of his proffered theories (per the report, they’ve pled unfair business practices, negligence, and intentional interference with contractual and economic relations). Perhaps the Astros will also argue that this matter ought to be resolved before an MLB arbitrator.
Things could get interesting if Bolsinger is able to get into the discovery phase. Full details of the trashcan scheme would assuredly be relevant to his claim. In theory, there’d be a host of fascinating factual questions relating to the game of baseball and the Astros’ deep knowledge of it, all of which Bolsinger’s counsel could try to explore through requests for documents and depositions of key figures. No doubt they’d want all the evidence the league considered in issuing punishment. Testimony from the Astros players that faced Bolsinger — current Astros regulars Alex Bregman and Yuli Gurriel, since-retired MLB stars Carlos Beltran and Brian McCann, and four others who’ve since moved to other organizations — would assuredly be germane to the case.
Thinking of how a case might be argued to a jury of non-baseball fans is even more interesting. What of Bolsinger’s thin performance history in the majors? Or the fact that he had twice previously been designated that season by the Jays? Service time, spin rate, 40-man rosters, scouting reports, September call-ups, league-minimum salary … it’d all be open for laypeople to assess.
There will be quite a few opportunities for this matter to go away without much of interest taking place. The case seems sure to be removed to federal court; it could involve whole rounds of litigation over whether it can even be heard and if so in what venue. Finding a legal claim to suit the facts isn’t straightforward, so it could get kicked on a motion to dismiss. If Bolsinger’s side can make it past some initial hurdles, the Astros might try to settle it out. There’d surely be some major battles over how much information can be obtained through discovery. Once all the cards are on the table, there’ll be yet more ways for the Houston club to halt the proceedings (summary judgment, further settlement talks).
Baseball surely doesn’t want this matter to see a public trial. It’s not likely that it will. But it’s also hard not to imagine what that might look like.
Bout time. There are so many lives negatively impacted on all levels
But suspend the players now, right?
Suspend the team for a year or at least make the ineligible for the postseason.
Their minor league team can play for them in 2020
that is exactly what the 2013 Astros did and it made them a powerhouse just a few years later.
Are the Astro-haters really sure they want the franchise to down that path again?
Suspending the team is bad for business.
This should be interesting to say the least. I doubt he can win in court….but I doubt mlb or the Astros want it in court. Then all the evidence can become public. They will pay him just to go away.
This is about fraud. The Astros and MLB will push hard to get this dismissed but if that fails, a settlement with a confidentiality agreement is likely. There is no way they will exchange discovery and take depositions if they can help it as such would likely reveal other cheating and lead to more suits.
5 years no team. 10 years no playoffs. We want cheating to stop yeah?
what about all the teams and players defrauded by the steroid era? what about the Boston Red Sox who were the first to implement the scheme the Houston Astros used to steal signs? what about the New York Yankees and the New York Mets both busted doing the same thing as the Houston Astros did before the Houston Astros did it? anybody going to sue them?
probably not and we all know why cuz this is all just a big farce. there’s not a single team in major league baseball it’s innocent of any of this
Peal that onion and find out many players on many teams were using some sort of tech to cheat.
Just like steroids, they cant really single out teams or players because the problem was systemic.
The only way to punish anyone is by denying a few representative players entrance to the hall.
You know the MLB will never let that happen. They want the least bad PR they can get and “peeling back the onion” isn’t going to accomplish that. The only reason they investigated in the first place was Fiers went public with his accusations, which he had been telling the MLB about for years and didn’t do anything because it would make them look bad. Trust me we all want to see the correct punishments brought down and all the teams fully investigated (I don’t think the Astros were even fully investigated by the sounds of current reports coming out) but that simply will never happen because it would mean the MLB loses money.
My guess is this gets settled via a confidentiality agreement. Even if it gets dismissed, appeals could keep this in the spotlight for years, the questions I have is how many more of these type of suits can get filed and whether they will try to get this certified as a class action on behalf of others. I don’t think that’s possible here because everyone’s claims seem unique but sometimes a judge’s decision leaves you scratching your head.
peel. only in my st. of ca.
Ah boo hoo hoo….cry me a river. You got sent to the minors because you couldn’t pitch at the big league level. If it hadn’t happened against Houston, it would have happened the following week.
You’re rude. He’s got a legitimate complaint. I say let every fringe player who pitcher against them in on it and take back some of the millions extra they made on the World Series. $5,000,000 is way too low. There isn’t even any punishment for players unless you’ve since retired and gotten am MLB job. I say let them pay income tax like other businesses.
No, he doesn’t. Which is why he will lose.
Hardly legitimate. He’s a no name scrub pitcher. I doubt the Astros the only team that lit him up. If he was good enough he wouldn’t be in Japan. This is just a no name guy trying to make a name for himself.
Lmao unless he pitched against nobody but the Astros Id see his point but come on look at this scrubs numbers. A joke like I said I doubt it was just the Astros who ruined his career. Try lack of talent instead
One bad outing would not cause a team to send a pitcher down. This guy was terrible before that last outing against the Astros. He was probably on the bubble already before he took the mound that day.
One game doesn’t dictate your career as a pitcher. Tons of hall of famers had bad outings and bounced back. It’s unfortunate what happened to him but it’s not the reason for his lack of success
He’s a borderline MLB pitcher, and his contention is the Astros cheating pushed him on to the wrong side of the border.
he was designated for assignment 3 times by the blue jays
You don’t know that, and there is hard evidence showing that the Astros cheated a lot specifically against this guy.
U don’t know what??? He sucked yeah look at his numbers and he’s 32 years old yeah we do know he stunk like I said if he only pitched against the Astros I’d see yer argument but no.
It’s in the article that he was dfa’d 2 other times EARLIER IN THE SEASON. So, it was simply happenstance that he FINALLY got released after the fiasco against the Astros.
As a side note, I’m a BASEBALL FAN whose favorite teams have ALWAYS BEEN the Braves and the Pirates. Thought I’d throw that out before uninformed mud slingers called me an “Astros apologist”.
no but you got a lot of pologize in to do for those two teams. Long history of cheating and scandals
He indicated that any money received in the case would be donated to organizations that support youth baseball. He is doing this for the principal not the money. He, like other players, don’t think the penalty to the Astros was adequate.
He sucked.
Not the Astros fault
Trash Astros fan. Not surprised.
Wanna be the pot or the kettle ?
So I take it, you ARE surprised that Astros fan is trash. Interesting.
Because the Braves never cheated. I’m…
No idea why the app is posting everything from me twice. Sorry about that.
Braves fans were disgusted by what Coppolella did, and are glad he’s gone. Astros fans are proud and defiant.
the stirrer
Most of the former GM’s and talking heads I heard today said this case has no merit and that he has to sue MLB and not the Astros to even have a case. They didn’t exactly explain why, but all seemed to agree.
His attorney likely chose CA for a reason. First obstacle might be jurisdiction but each state is different, especially with a claim of negligence. The act here was certainly intentional but was it foreseeable that he would lose his job? The MLB v. the Astros as well as the arbitration v, state court are likely driven by the MLBPA agreement and any other standard contract a player has to sign but such could violate CA’s statutes pertaining to an individual’s right to earn a living as well as because of the non negligence claims he’s making.
Aw boo hoo! Cry me a river. Where were all the lawsuits when McGuire, Bonds and others cheated and knocked marginal pitchers back to the minors? His ass was getting sent down because he couldn’t pitch. Plain and simple. It would have happened the following week anyway.
Astros fan.
I’m don’t understand why you’re pointing that out, Bhambrave. If Puhl is an Astros fan, so what. Who cares. I don’t know if he is or not but what I do know is It’s ok to be an Astros fan. Lol.
The Braves never cheated, though. Um…
Braves fans were disgusted by what Coppolella did, and are glad he’s gone. Astros fans are proud and defiant.
It’s ok to be an Astros fan. Defending the Astros’ cheating isn’t ok.
True statement. The biggest problem when you discuss the Astros cheating is that their fans always comeback with “oh, and your team never cheated” which is an irrelevant and irrational defense to what is occurring now. It’s a non-starter with Astros fans because they cannot simply admit their team did wrong and move on. They had to cheat or they would’ve been beaten and they cannot deal with that.
@puhl what rules did Bonds and co break? Technically, none.
@puhl what rules did Bonds and co break? Technically, none.
@puhl
The League never punished the teams McGwire or Bonds were playing for. They did punish the Astros. Suing a corporation is more lucrative than suing an individual.
Astro’s players arent liking this… This means depositions.. Hopefully some bettors get a class action lawsuit going against players & team.. They deserve every bit of this.
You Trashtro’s fans are sound alot like Trump supporters these days.. Hard to defend, indefensible crap everyday.
Thoughtless comment. No reason to bring politics into a discussion when you are clueless over the way certain supporters are. You can’t identify with said supporters. Therefore you cannot possibly have any idea what they are like.
Astros fans will defend their team. Accept it. If you had any idea about baseball, players and teams cheat. Astros were caught, badly.
Agreed, I come here to ignore politics for a while, not to engage in it. Support who you want, it’s your right, go talk about it in a more appropriate forum please.
I’ll say this then, the obtuse Astro’s fans remind me of flat earthers, denying objective truths for no other reason other than they make their brains hurt.
And what do you think Red Sox fans are saying about their team? Do you think they are not supporting their team? The Yankees also were fined for cheating in 2017. Do you think their fans stopped supporting them? The Astros just happened to be the flavor of the month, and will likely be forgotten when the next scandal rears its ugly head. If anyone thinks the Astros were the only ones cheating, you’re just fooling yourself. The Astros just happened to be outed by a disgruntled pitcher who was omitted from the post season roster in 2017 and non-tendered after the World Series.
@Pooler, You are wrong.
My winter home is near the IMG Academy in Florida. Athletes do try and find any advantage they can because they are extreme competitive personalities in the game. But cheating of this description, compromises all the work they did to play professionally, the efforts their families went through every step of the way, the sacrifices, the challenges, the mental and physical preparation required to reach and perform at the highest level.
You don’t just throw all of these things away unless you are severely mentally or emotionally damaged or otherwise bedeviled.
Re:fans of teams who cheat. There are plenty of embarrassed Astro fans who know and admit their team did them and baseball wrong but still support them. Bonds that tie are real and strong and often have roots in family, hope and love. I’m talking about the obtuse ones, which is why I said ‘obtuse Astro’s fans’. Support who you want, just don’t point fingers and make excuses like ‘others teams cheat so it’s okay that mine did’. Like saying you can’t judge me for murder because that other murder over there went unsolved. Oh yes I can.
Flavour of the month scandal – MLB is trying to change the topic with the news regarding the playoff format, they can’t wait for the next scandal because MLB can’t afford another one this soon.
Disgruntled pitcher – blame the whistle blower? – come on man, you have to be better then that. Please then teach your children to ignore wrong doing when they see it then. I weep for the future.
The Astro’s cheated and are forever tainted because of it. They are the ones that opened themselves up to this scrutiny and they deserve everything they get.
First, I am an Astros fan since the early ’70’s and this cheating scandal has hit me as a fan just as hard as anyone else. I never said it was ok that they cheated, just that anyone who thinks they are the only ones that did have blinders on.
Second, I was not “blaming the whistleblower”. Facts are facts. Fiers was left off the postseason roster and made no secret of his dispeasure with that and never made a secret of his disagreements with AJ Hinch’s use of his “talents” during the season. I agree only the Astros have themselves to blame, and it will take years to get past it, no matter how good or badly they play going forward.
I feel for you man, I do, but…
You defend cheating by trying to mitigate it. That’s also a fact. Others cheat so this cheating is what then? Okay? Or does every p.oed fan have to elucidate every instance of ‘cheating’ either expected or proven because they want to talk about the Astros. Absurd.
Yes, you did and are blaming the whistle blower. In detail. In separate comments. You describe him as disgruntled (and make your case that he was merely salty with AJ) – one might take the same facts and say courageous. If the Astros didn’t beat on garbage cans and do whatever their organization wide scheme evolved into then him claiming they cheated would have no basis in fact and would clearly be a matter of a disgruntled employee trying to do damage for real or imagined slights. Put another way – if he made it up, I’d call him disgruntled. He didn’t, so I think did the right thing. Do you think he should have remained silent, and let this all continue?
Melkro77, I’ve been an Astros fan since 2005. I willingly watched their games during those 100 loss seasons. There are people I don’t know who have supported the team ever since the 80’s and 90’s. I want to be like them and not be like bandwagoners who hopped in 2017 or 2015 at the earliest. With that being said, the Astros cheated. It’s unfortunate that the first time I got to see a team I like win it all (I was born in 1992 so I missed out on Hakeem Olajuwon and Clutch City) is tainted by cheating. You pretty much described my over-all attitude on the whole thing: there’s absolutely nothing I can say or do to change the fact that my team cheated. All I can do is continue to support my team and hope they’ll win another championship, but this time without cheating. I will say this about Fiers: it’s perfectly ok to think his motives aren’t pure. Instead of speaking out after the championship season, he should’ve piped up and gown public during said season. Despite my own personal opinion of Fiers, my team unfortunately still cheated.
goastros123…
Fair enough man. I’d like to say I hope your team wins another for you, but I’d be lying. Their lack of contrition really rubs me against the grain.
But you seem like a decent guy, and I do feel bad for you. Chin up, not your fault, you’ve got nothing to be ashamed of. However, you think you have it bad? Try being an Expo fan.
The Astros’ cheating is really bad. There’s no defending it.
No, and this is the very thing every non-Astros fan is saying. It’s not about the umbrella of cheating, it’s that this cheating was far worse than almost any other scandal in baseball history. To compare the two reflects your inability to have a genuine discussion.
goastros123
Man I feel for ya. Good on ya for taking it with integrity.
Melkor77… In what way haven’t they shown a lack of contrition? What do you want them to do?
Astros are lucky Giardi is not the type of guy to sue because he would have legitimate grounds to claim he lost his job due to their cheating.
No one talks about it but John Farrell too.
I’d like to see a transcript of what he said. Seriously. Anyone seen one?
It’s not like this guy was ever a star player at any point in his mlb career. Probably average at best. I don’t think this will get very far.
Manfredsajoke
Actually there’s an argument to be made that it’s the little guys who were on the bubble who were most at risk due to cheating. One blow out could send them packing. Their last chance could have been blown.
Really? How is your life affected?
This is so great.
He was an average/below average pitcher at the time, no doubt, but he still has a legitimate claim. Maybe he’d of still been designated still a week later, sure, but pitchers of his caliber usually are. But they still tend to bounce up and down between the minors and the majors from team to team unless there’s a catastrophic outing, such as the case in this case. His other outings that year weren’t anything spectacular, but he still pitched other outings with multiple innings usually that were a lot better than 1/3 of an inning with 4 runs surrendered. He still could have had a career as a swingman option who went from team to team instead of losing it to a scandal. At the very least they should have to pay some kind of compensation to those affected by their teams wrong doings. You can’t say that outing didn’t have any ramifications on his career.
Do you even think about looking at all of the facts before you speak (type)? Mike Bolsinger was placed on waivers in April, May,& July of 2017. He was placed on waivers BEFORE he even pitched against the Astros
Man, this will never fly. First off he would have to prove they were stealing his signs.2nd he would have to prove he was a pitcher of value. The guy has been mediocre his whole career.
lol, you and him are both losers
Don’t blame him
This should prove a very interesting case that, at least on the surface, appears to offer some merit. Probably an uphill battle as MLB as an institution is not beholden to the normal governing laws (ie antitrust law, etc.). How will that play a role in the lawsuit? And the Astros themselves certainly have the money to bleed Bolsinger dry. Operation: Codebreaker and its practice of the “dark arts” may never go away!
that isn’t the way that civil court works. the burden is on the Astros to prove that they aren’t responsible, and in the end they will likely settle to save the public trial dragging more information out and hurting the reputation further of the club as well as the cost burden that will actually be higher for the Astros
So all fringe players can file lawsuits because they lack talent
Let’s get real here.
This is real life. Not everyone belongs in the majors
Definitely this clown didn’t.
Astros probably didn’t even need to cheat against him.
Astros fans have no credibility in this discussion. They should just shut up and sit in the corner.
Seriously here
This guy was lit up by everyone.
He is just using this as his angle. Can’t blame him.
Why file it in California? He pitched for Toronto against the Astros
Why not file it against everyone?
Since everyone put him out of the league
Frivolous lawsuit. He should go to jail for wasting our time
Filing these lawsuits should result in a criminal charge
Like I said…
This case has zero standing in California
Doesn’t live there
Nor did this happen there
Not frivolous and it will probably prevail on the defendant’s initial petition to dismiss. It will be interesting to see who will be joined as a defendant in the suit – MLB for sure. So many interesting issues here. This suit and others to come will for sure get MLB’s attention. If they follow the NFL’s tactics in responding to the CTE concussion litigation, MLB will attempt to attack and discredit the messengers and whistleblowers, then deny/stonewall and finally find the fall guys to offer up for punishment.
Astros in no way injured him..
It would have been different if they prevented him from making an earning
Wasn’t the first time he was demoted
Use your head
@WarrenSpahn I’m curious about whether the ongoing MLB investigation would slow if this lawsuit comes to light, because they would now have a conflict of interest?
Really the Astros didn’t play in California? At all?
That’s all it takes Einstein
You can’t sue someone on another player’s behalf.
He is suing not because the Astros cheated.
Because supposedly the Astros ended his career
When he played for Toronto in Houston
It is a frivolous lawsuit that only a state like California would even listen to.
Plus he knows the judge and potential jurors might be Dodgers fans.
The case most likely will get thrown out.
Truthfully these frivolous lawsuits are an epidemic in this country
People are sue happy and blame everyone for their problems
Your right! But they did!!
Louisiana, this is $31MM. It takes a firm and a legal team to go for this. Not some guy chasing an ambulance.
Omg not another guy called Einstein.
If the case gets that far, a motion to move to Federal court or another state might have merit if the parties don’t have the needed connection to the state.
Louisiana dude…use your head. Don’t you think juror selection would include question about Dodger fandom to ensure a lack of bias? That would literally be one of the first few questions asked…
Won’t see the day
Ultimately the Astros didn’t prevent this man from making a living
He did.
The decision to denote him happened before and he could have stuck it out in Triple A
Don’t allow your hatred for the Astros to confuse how you think of this
If this had any merit at all I would admit it
It doesn’t. It is a frivolous lawsuit.
Because it was on him.
If it wasn’t the Astros it would have been another team because he wasn’t pitching well.
I think the Toronto Front Office is the key to all this.
They won’t be able to depose anyone who works for Toronto that would say that they believed him to be a capable pitcher in the majors
Well good thing you’re on the inside with all this information!
He’s suing for 31M. He isn’t going to play patty cake and call it a day. Stick to the bayou moron
Who was called up when he was demoted?
Ultimately that is an very important point.
Then why did they steal signs and relay them to the batter if he’s such trash? The difference between elite hall of famer and 4a player isn’t alot.
Does every sentence you write require a new paragraph? Please ask your teacher to talk slower and use crayon so you can understand things. Lol.
The
Astros
are
cheaters.
🙂
Hey look! Another whining loser.
Guy had a good year in ’15 with the Dodgers, so you have no idea what you’re talking about, ace.
He is using the spreadsheet provided that actually shows hard evidence of how many trash can knocks were used against him. There’s a lot specifically against him.
The Astros are the accused. They have to prove nothing. half of you people don’t even understand baseball, now the other half thinks they can pass the California bar. These comments are rich.
You obviously don’t know how civil court works. The burden of proof lies with the plaintiff (Bolsinger, in this case) to prove to the judge or jury that each element of the case has merit and that they are entitled to recovery. . The defendant has no burden of proof for anything.
The game in question was not played in California, it was played in Houston. Bolsinger did not pitch against the Astros in California, ever, in his career. He only ever played 2 games against the Astros, one in Toronto and the other in Houston. He was lit up in Toronto as well by the Astros, when they didn’t cheat. MLB doesn’t have offices in California, nor do the Astros or Blue Jays. It doesn’t appear they have any standing in California courts.
The legal team who filed the document is in California. If MLB has done any business in CA it would qualify. There is 5 CA based teams which is 405 regular season games per year.
That doesn’t matter. This is civil not criminal. The actual injury was the fact that he was released, which happened in California. But he claims it was due to an action that was willfully caused by the Astros organization. Imagine a bullet that is fired across state lines, from State A to State B. The crime is subject to State A. But a civil suit for the damage caused could take place in either A or B.
An Astros fan criticizing others, stating “people blame everyone for their problems” is epic!
You’ve seen too much Perry Mason dude.
@tipsy
Sure, the Astros have more money, but also more motivation to not drag this out, which would let more of the scandal come to the public view.
MLB doesn’t want this to continue.
Standing to bring the case in California State Court?
Yeah that’s not the proper forum. Should have been brought in federal court under diversity jurisdiction. Unless Astro’s are incorporated in CA or something wild like that
The Astros have conducted business in California. The case can be heard there.
could be moved for venue reasons at any time. Discovery will take a long time as MLB is likely to bring considerable resources to block/delay. There will be others and they may be joined. Jurisdiction and venue are the least of MLB’s problems and exposure here.
I hope so many people join this guy… it’ll be tremendous!
Right track but wrong term, and a thoughtful catch. It’s jurisdiction rather than standing. Standing is right to sue as a plaintiff at all, jurisdiction over the defendant gives plaintiff right to sue in that location.
Naw, it’s calculated. CA is incredibly protective of workers rights v. Corporations. The thought is likely that this is the best place to
establish a precedent and than subsequently charge federally.
A lot wrong here. So you can’t file a lawsuit wherever you want, even if it’s calculated. You need to meet the requirements for that state to have jurisdiction over the defendant.
Also, rulings in one jurisdiction don’t set precedent for the rest of the country. Additionally, once you bring a lawsuit in state court, it can either be moved to federal court before the proceedings (if it meets federal jurisdiction requirements) or it stays in state court. You can’t bring an action in federal court if you have one in state court.
A rule in California state court would have no bearing on a federal rule anyway.
The jurisdiction is only in question if MLB doesn’t already have in place mandatory mediation and a specific court of jurisdiction under which all parties will argue suits. More than likely they have something in place specifically for something like this, if it’s not summarily dismissed.
I was responding to the thoughtful comment about standing, just that he confused standing and jurisdiction. The jurisdiction could still be in question for several purposes, such as choice of law, but MLB may have a provision for that in the CBA. Also, if there is a fraud claim, it may that a court agrees to take jurisdiction over even a mandatory arbitration provision. Additionally, there are certain causes of action that are are not covered under the mandatory arbitration provision of the CBA. Whether this one of them, we don’t have the facts. And it’s arbitration, not mediation. Mediation is by definition non-binding. Further, mandatory arbitration provisions are often upheld, but not unilaterally. A court could still get this case. My guess is it will have to be somewhere other than California though, but we don’t have enough information to know that yet.
I think the whole point of this is to get the Astros and MLB into the discovery process thereby shinning volumes of illumination all over this ‘scandal’ and more importantly the ‘investigation’ – I can almost guarantee MLB does not let this happen.
I was waiting for this. There are a lot of guys that lost their livelihood over that trash organization.
Not really. I don’t think you can make a good argument that anybody “lost their livelihood” because of this. Bad pitchers get clobbered by teams, whether it be through cheating or not. Nobody uses one game sample sizes to make up their mind on a player.
“Nobody uses one game sample sizes to make up their mind on a player.”
One game can often be the final straw, as it was here. Saying that that’s insignificant is just being obtuse.
Yea really unfortunate he hit rock bottom getting paid to play baseball in Japan.
I definitely understand the marginal careers hang in the balance every at bat argument, but the guy was probably better off pitching in Japan and making his money over there.
i dont think its as likely as some expect, but Bolsinger still has some case. i don’t know how good it is though; he already wasnt pitching too well prior to that game.
Dude’s career was a dumpster fire. look at it. Meets criteria for a AAAA retread to a “T”.
Something like this (legal case) is nothing more than liberal clap trap at it’s peak and what makes it worse? Suing the organization rather than other players responsible for the nonsense.
Sue the MLBPA union. It was players involved that benefited from that crap.
Well then they’ll just easily argue he sucked and it didn’t matter since it was inevitable. The point still stands.
@johnsilver
Why make this a “liberal” issue? I hate how people just throw that term around. Has nothing to do with political leaning. His case isn’t that strong in my opinion. Hard to say he would’ve hung around after that last game vs the Astros.
So, if one plays professionally at the AAA level, they are the equivalent to burning trash? You may want to reevaluate your use of cliches to express your thoughts in a way that make you seem like less of a bottom feeder..
Because he is an old crab…tired of eating his own icon’s waste at the bottom.
Ur right Southbeach. I should have gone into detail more.
The case will be in a extreme liberal state is why posted that, it won’t be filed in any red state. That’s a guarantee.
How is it “liberal”? Current President has made a career out of frivolous lawsuits and he ain’t no liberal. And those Astro players were a part of the Astro organization. Are you suggesting he sue 25 people individually instead of the company that employed them? Try to think before just letting that reactionary stream of consciousness flow through those stubby little finger tips.
johnsilver Why should he sue each individual player? Those Astros players were employed by the organization. They were representing the organization during those actions. The entire organization benefited from their actions. The players and coaches didn’t act alone, the front office created the whole scheme.
Even if Crane didn’t know, he still let the scheme his own front office and team had going on happen under his watch.
Why is it liberal? Why are you mad at someone trying to seek justice for being cheated out of another chance to right the ship? Why do you feel so entitled?
You think players born and raised in the United States find it easy to uproot their lives to go and live across the Pacific Ocean, away from most of their friends and family, in a country where they are unfamiliar with the culture and language? I’m not going to pretend the dude is in a bad situation, but don’t you think he’d prefer to be playing over here in America?
Yeah, and how about a pitcher, such as Cole, going into FA who gets destroyed in the WS. That most certainly can damage livelihood. That’s precisely why the only people associated in any way with MLB who aren’t mad are the Astros and their fans. It’s amazing how dismissive so many are of this. Yet if the show were on the other foot and LA won while getting caught in a cheating scandal l, they would be screaming from the rooftops.
Please don’t ever bring up politics in any way on this site, Johnsilver. It’s not necessary.
It does kind of play a role in this instance. That’s why he’s filed in CA, they have very liberal-leaning laws and thus court systems.
Try a little harder not to reinforce any mouth-breathing, Trump voting stereotypes, captain
The second the courts get involved…..IT IS A POLITICAL ISSUE. Judges are elected by the people or appointed by politicians. Make no mistake, when you walk into a courtroom IT IS POLITICAL.
“Even if Crane didn’t know, he still let the scheme his own front office and team had going on happen under his watch.”
How can someone “let the scheme go on” if he doesn’t know about it? He canned Luhnow because Luhnow was in charge of baseball operations, and apparently had some knowledge of it, and Luhnow is ultimately the one being held accountable because he was the one that “let the scheme go on”
It’s hard to say whether his performance that day was affected by illegal sign stealing, but certainly the Astros thought so—that’s why they had been doing it all along. If the club were now to make the argument that its sign stealing did not affect its performance against opposition pitchers, one could only wonder why they would do something illegal that they knew produced no competitive result.
Sounds like some of you probably believed Trump colluded with the Russians as well.
Just how Liberals are
They change the truth to benefit themselves.
Bullshit. Countless guys got called up, lit up by Houston, then DFA’d to never play MLB baseball again
That’s the definition of lost livelihood
In fact, fiers claimed that was one of the big reasons for coming forward to begin with…
Yu got 126 million. Say he goes out there and dominates the Astros, or at the very least, is somewhat serviceable. Could he have topped 175? Maybe got an extra year? Those are reasonable arguments. I think dismissing this scandal is very dangerous. They cheated their way to a title. Period.
I call BS on you. He sucks against all teams.
One will not do that.
No, you’re pouting like a child. You’re still wrong
Strike four I see you!
That’s not Strike Four.
If he only performed poorly against the Astros, or if his performance was demonstrably poorer against that one team relative to the rest of the league, he might have a case.
If he sucked equally against everyone, he’s probably wasting his time.
Four runs on four hits and three walks in 1/3 of an inning. He wasn’t setting the world on fire in his other appearances… but an ERA of 108 is “demonstrably worse” than his career era of just below 5.
Screw them. They all knew they were cheating. Even if the lawsuit goes nowhere tying the players up in a lawsuit, spending time in court instead of on the field and splitting their focus is ok by me.
$31 million in bonuses for winning the 2017 World Series? If this lawsuit creates a distraction maybe their performance will suffer enough to lose that in future contract negotiations.
He sucked far worse in that outing than at any other time in his career.
Ridiculous. But funny.
Big boy Mikey B really trying to restart this whole thing.
Comments should probably be closed now before the Astro slamming gets out of hand. /s
I’m so ******* glad we’ve got the comments.
Seriously, it came off as really weak when the site closed comments on that one Astros post. Either they realized their mistake because they were called out for it so relentlessly, or they remembered that these comment sections probably equate to a much higher number of clicks as people willingly seek out or return to the discussion, meaning more money.
Both.
Definite “no” on both theories. The comment section doesn’t make any money, and we’ll close them at will if policing it wastes too much time.
If it doesn’t make you any money, why post ads in the comments?
Thank for the instilling of rationale.
I wasn’t saying the comments made money, but that people who kept clicking on this page to come to the comments and engage in the discussion would lead to more clicks and more ad revenue. And you closed the other comment section before any comments were made iirc, so it doesn’t seem like any policing was attempted before the gate was shut.
@Mo4ever that may be based on your adware issues. I have never seen an ad in between comments.
paddy0875
I don’t see ads in between comments, I see them alongside comments on occasion.
@Mo4ever Isn’t that just part of the site? Whether you’re reading an article or clicking on the comment section, the user sees ads on the side. I’m on my laptop (rare, possibly monthly). I typically do see ads throughout the mobile app., the ads with embedded video are the most problematic for me.
Love you and the site, Tim, but I think you’re way off if you think ‘the comment section doesn’t make any money’. I think you’d see site traffic affected if you got rid of them. Every article you post gets a lot of comments, and some get hundreds. Some stories are little more than headlines and people click on them just to read the comments. People like arguing about sports and people like reading people arguing about sports. ESPN has made an industry of it the last 15 or so years.
Nonsense. The list of sites that tanked after making such a claim and killing comments section are endless. If there was no comment section I would leave immediately, as I have in the past. Many come only for that reason. To take the myopic stand that it makes no money because you aren’t directly paid for it is just laughable
Yeah, that was an awful response
About 80% of the time, reading the comments on this site makes one think less of sports fans and less of their fellow humans. But so goes internet commenters. This site is a site full of thoughtful, well-intentioned comments compared to….YouTube
F the cheaters!
Seems fair to me.
Yeah. It’s the Astros fault
Meanwhile his last two seasons in the league were a combined 1-7 with a SPECTACULAR 6.52 era.
Give me a break.
Certainly didn’t help that the Astros were cheating. That game was the last straw. Don’t carry water for those cheats.
Why would the Astros cheat against this clown.
He sucks.
Everyone must have cheated against him
Because they are low-down classless cheaters, bruh.
According to the box score from this game, TOR ran out 6 pitchers combining for 1K/7BB and 5-out-of-6 gave up a HR.
And there were a season high 54 bangs in that game
@Commonsenseslapsyou
Hahaha – they were clearly discriminating against Canadians, which will be the next law suit…
astros are garbage
Ahahaha yes!
I don’t think he has any chance of winning this, but hopefully this puts pressure on them to actually forfeit their World Series money. It’s nice that something good can come out of this.
Ridiculous.
I would do anything to see him win this case !
Anything you say. Mwuwahahaha!
Sue Boston too for being lousy cheaters. Both organizations =trash
Sorry, HOU caused a shortage on trash cans. BOS will have to come up with their own solution.
Even if nothing comes from this, even if there may not be much of a case for Bolsinger to make, I’m glad someone is doing this. Not only does it open the door for other players the Trashstros may have dragged through the mud to come forward and hold the their feet to the fire, but it creates the possibility of previously unknown or missed information to come to light, and keeps the spotlight firmly on this team so more and more people begin to despise them. This is great for fans of baseball, so Godspeed Mike.
We came up out of the mud, bruh.
No problem here
You’re still in the mud, bruh.
And that ain’t mud.
Laissez les bon temps rouler brother.
2 things.
1. Waiting for a lawsuit, but was more thinking from the betting man
2. A lot of people say “he had an era over 5 before”. That is true, but it takes many players, even great ones, a good amount of time to find themselves. You look at Mariano Rivera. He had an 5 era in 19 appearances. Had he faced the Astros in his 20th appearance would he have been out of the league? Obviously this may not apply to bolsinger, but it’s just something to consider.
Bolsinger was 29/30 If it doesn’t apply in this case, why is it something to consider?
Dude had a 5.49 ERA/5.77 in 2017 without the outing in Houston, where he managed to throw 13 strikes out of 29 pitches (44% strike rate) and walked three.
He was cheated against, but that outing was as much a result of horrible pitching as it was the sign stealing.
This will be very interesting to follow.
Given that the Trashstros knew exactly what pitches were coming, how can you say for sure that his 44% strike rate in that outing is even remotely his fault? When they know a curveballs or chanegup is coming, likely out of the zone if it’s a decent one, they lay off. Leads to a lot more walks. Look at their strikeout/walk rates while they were cheating.
Or he walked 3 b/c they hit everything he threw in the zone. Lol
Pretty easy to hit fastballs in the zone when you know they’re coming. And if it was so easy to hit his pitches, why even bother cheating in the first place?
Also, why is everyone with “common sense” in their name a drooling simpleton? Compensating for their lack of it, perhaps?
Did you just agree with me then try to insult my handle? Hahahahaha, yeah I’m the simpleton
Enjoy your soup and your padded walls
What a joke. This is ridiculous. The guy sucks, grow up.
astros are more garbage than he sucks. Stop defending scumbags
You first.
Truthfully he should be thanking the Astros for showing him the truth.
But people today show no appreciation.
Kris Medlen should sue the Astros as well
I have heard many arguments today about this, and I am on the side of Bolsinger.
Even though Bolsinger was terrible before the game that got him sent down, if he threw 6 innings of perfect ball against the Astros because he was fooling hitters, he might not have gotten sent down. If he didn’t get sent down, he would have had to keep up his performance, but what if he did? It’s a long shot (I know), but what if he built off of those 6 innings of perfect ball against the astros and ended the year with an era in the 3’s. He goes to free agency, and gets signed to a 3 year 30 million dollar deal like Lance Lynn. Long shot, yes, but it could’ve happened all because of that one game.
Exactly. Who’s to say when a player completely turns a corner from mediocre role player to valuable every day asset or even a superstar? When and where did it click for Justin Turner, or JD Martinez? Was it one game that made the difference? Probably not, but it can’t be completely ruled out. For pitchers, did one game make the difference in Anibal Sanchez’s resurgence? This game has a lot to do with confidence, and if you go out and get shelled then it’s hard to keep up that confidence. It’s even harder when you get DFA’d and have to scrounge for work overseas. It’s tough to make an argument that what the Astros did had a huge effect on his career, but it’s almost impossible to agree that it had no effect whatsoever.
Just as a little side note about Sanchez. He had an ERA of 5.91 in April during the 2019 season. Let’s say for a second that he didn’t have a 2018 resurgence with the Braves and was on a one year deal. Instead of going out and putting up a 1.65 ERA in May as he did last year, what if he goes up against the Astros and gets shelled because they cheated. The Nats assume he’s washed up and they kick him to the curb. He never makes it back to the majors. Yeah it’s a starkly different scenario to what really happened, but how many potential Sanchez type players were given the boot because of the Trashstros’ BS? Can anyone honestly say it’s not important?
Exactly. He actually was pretty good when he got an extended opportunity in 2015. Then, for some reason, he got fewer ML opportunities in 2016 and 2017 and was very fringy. But he wasn’t so terrible that he wouldn’t have gotten more looks off his 2015 performance. Then came that one outing in Houston where it looked like he was pitching batting practice.
You have to show actual damages. A what if isnt really doing that. If you want to be behind him, fine, but it’s not a great argument in a court room
Popcorn’s ready. As am I! This is gonna be interesting.
Hey why not. Class action lawsuit. I hope it costs the astros $$$.
Wanna make a statement. Every player ever hurt by the trashcan scandal receives compensation paid for by those involved.
Every player involved should of been fined if not suspended, banned (depending on severity and involvement). Black eye on the MLB for not doing something to the “player lead scandal” players
What should be mentioned in the article is that he wants them to donate the money to charity. Not for himself
this article is clearly written by a salty Astros fan
That’s right. Why’d they leave that little detail out, so it would make Bolsinger look greedy?
The lawyer should be dis-barred, and have to pay all legal fees.
Man that would be awesome if he won this suit. Further proof that Manfred blew this whole situation big time.
nope, it would stink,
you left out the most important piece of information, Jeff. that is, who is the pitcher’s attorney? if he is represented by a major firm with unlimited resources MLB could be in court for years with this case and the ones that will most assuredly follow it.
Should also mention what he wants any potential money he wins to go to charity so it’s clear to everyone he’s not doing this for financial gain.
If he is as bad as the author of this article claims, why did Astros need to cheat to beat him?
Bingo. They keep saying it didn’t help, yet they kept doing it… Doesn’t add up (to the truth).
Because you step on the necks of the weak when given a chance.
How is it stepping on their necks if it didn’t work?
A better case would be someone suing because they were blocked in the minors by a PED user. This guy getting trashed in one game isn’t a case worth discussion.
Man I didn’t even think of that. This is a very slippery slope, isn’t it? Is there anything that stops any one marginal player from suing a team or player that benefited from PED’s? Genuinely curious.
You would have to make the argument that the player’s promotion to the majors was something more than speculative. And if the player was so good that you could make that argument, then he probably wasn’t stuck in the minors in the first place.
In other news, Astro front office personnel spent Monday night having a shredder party.
Love it
If he can get past a Motion to Dismiss, the Discovery responses and accompanying documents could prove quite embarrassing for MLB.
Exactly. This is just one of the ways this scandal will continue to haunt MLB and show how its weak-kneed response was totally inadequate.
BlueskyLA, from USAT article “According to the lawsuit, filed by Ben Meiselas of Geragos & Geragos in Los Angeles on Monday.”
First of all, congrats! Do you know anything about the caliber of this firm?
From their website:
Ben Meiselas is a partner at Geragos & Geragos and heads the firm’s transactional and civil practice. Mr. Meiselas is responsible for some of the most successful entertainment and branding deals and succeeded in some of the most high stakes litigation in recent times. Mr. Meiselas is also part of the executive team and serves as General Counsel for the Big3 Basketball League. Mr. Meiselas is also a lecturer at University Irvine Law School. In addition to numerous other legal awards, Mr. Meiselas was awarded the 2019 Variety Impact Lawyer of the Year for his legal achievements, business success, and philanthropy.
Mr. Meiselas received his undergraduate degree from George Washington University and his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.
I sent him an email wishing his team all the best!
This will remind the Astros that what they did will never go away. And they need to be reminded every time they come to the plate. High fast ball to the head. Even if they don’t get drilled. It will send a message.
All fans should come to games with recording of trash can banging on their phones and all play at once every time.
How about a trash can bobble head night? We really need Bill Veeck to organize a night to remember!
I disagree, for one, I’ll boo the Astros all day, but headhunting is a relic better left in the past. Second, I say they can make it go away– just take down the banner, give back the trophy, give back all of the rings, and we’ll all move on. And they need to do it of their own volition, not as part of any punishment. We all know it’s fake, what’s the point of leaving a banner up anyway? It’s only an embarrassing reminder at this point.
Absolutely agree. Since there’s no way to ever know how many of the Asstros cheated, a season worth of chin music will show those that did cheat the ‘20 season will be extremely uncomfortable.
Good luck with all that Dusty.
Can you say opening up Pandora’s box? This could just be the start. So many people were effected by this
Of course it was filed in California. A snowflakes paradise.
you are crying harder by posting this
How?
teamoron!
A paradise for sure.
What a hard case to prove. Looks like he was a started but is that where his bad numbers that year came from and then he figured some things out in the pen and was trending up until they cheated him out of the bigs or was he already trending that way leading up to that game? I hope he has a case. A few lights out innings that game even by pure luck and he would’ve likely stayed at least one more game.
All this is to say it would get settled long before discovery could happen. MLB would pay just to make this go away.
Amazing – TEAM MIKE BOLSIGNER!!!
Ladies and Gentleman of the jury…let me present Exhibit A…
*brings out trash can*
Exhibit B is the smashed up TV monitor, Exhibit C is Altuve’s buzzer.
Here come the Federales.
The Courts can decide who wins the games and not the players. LOL
Because why have rules? Right?
if Bolsinger is suing, how much will/would the Dodgers organization be able to sue for?!
Hopefully the legal system shows more backbone than Major League Baseball.
This is a waste of time. Good luck establishing causation or actual damages, since his career was in a downward spiral well prior to this game.
The final result is probably not significant but what comes from the filing may be interesting. A “victory” might be damaging and incriminating evidence against specific players and the league.
Sure, if you want to treat this as potentially interesting in terms of what might turn up I will give you that, and if Bolsinger is just pissed and wants to make the Astros look bad, good way to do it. But I don’t buy this as a winning case, not one bit. Maybe he could say he was cheated out of a few days/weeks of major league minimum, whatever time elapsed between this game and when he was probably getting demoted again anyway, and depending on his contract. Otherwise, anyone want to argue Bolsinger would still be in the majors but for that one game?
I never knew there were so many lawyers who posted on this site.
While I appreciate the case, I don’t think CA is the proper venue unless he lives in CA. If he does then Houston has established minimum contacts with CA to subject them to this jurisdiction. If not, this thing will get punted like that new XFL football. Forum shopping at its finest!
according the houston fan’s research into banging his game had the most banging of all the games.
And he had the most bangs according to the guy that detailed it all.
The MLB should suspend those players too
Jeff must be so excited to put his law degree to use in MLBTR hahaha
Former big league wash out cries to an Attorney.
Waaa waaa waa
@lowtalker1: You must be an Astros fan. I’m still amazed that some Astros fans try to defend this team.
He pitched in Arizona 1 year. There was plenty of banging by the bats of the other team. Dude I get it but you weren’t a legit Major League Player. Give and it up. You SUCKED.
That’s like saying my car is a piece of crap so it’s ok for someone to key it.
Rofl
Gorgeous
“Well you see Mr. Principal sir, I actually studied really hard for the test so it wasn’t even going to be that difficult. I only cheated because I didn’t want to think too much.”
Hopefully others pile on this and we get real answers + evidence to see ourself
Baseball has a way of handling all of this inside of the lines. If I were Astros player I would be investing in some additional padding for my batting helmet.
but he is out of baseball.according to a yahoo article others are thinking of joining the suit.
Some other important things that have come to mind that I feel are worth noting.
1) Bolsinger is not someone who had absolutely no success in the majors. His 2015 season is proof of this. To say that he never would have been able to maintain success in the majors is willfully ignorant.
2) The amount of money a player earns, even at the prorated league minimum rate, while in the majors isn’t completely insignificant. Even if you want to argue that Bolsinger isn’t a good player who would never have sustained major league success, he could have hung around the big leagues with even below average numbers and gotten players union benefits and a decent paycheck if he hadn’t been given the boot after the Astros outing. Look no further than players like Wily Peralta or Tommy Milone. Mediocre role players who continue to get opportunities and make major league money despite their lack of accomplishments or general improvement. It’s not glamorous, but I guarantee those guys prefer playing stateside than over in Japan.
Yeah, cool, can you show it’s a direct cause of the Astro’s actions? Good luck with that, he was DFA’d before.
I understand people are mad at the Astros, but courts don’t (shouldn’t) work based on emotion. Nothing you’ve said would really help his case.
I don’t think he has any chance of winning and very little chance of making it past a motion to dismiss, but should he, it’ll be interesting to see what gets revealed.
I’m not a lawyer, nor am I trying to provide evidence that would be used in a court room. If you had a lick of common sense maybe you’d have realized that. I’m trying to give a logical counter argument to delusional Astros homers who have nothing to say to this but, “Hurr durr he was bad already so it doesn’t matter if we cheated.”
Fuzzy posted a video on YouTube discussing the website signstealingscandal.com. It breaks down what games the banging was used and the frequency. He even mentions Bolsinger as someone who suffered the most because of it. Something like 12 bangs on 29 pitches.
From cited USA TODAY article:
“Yes, Bolsinger is seeking unspecified damages, but they’re not all for himself. He wants the Astros to forfeit the roughly $31 million in bonuses from their ill-gotten World Series title, and for the money to go to charities in Los Angeles focused on bettering kids’ lives, as well as to create a fund for retired baseball players who need financial assistance.”
This seems somewhat relevant to include in the article.
Agreed. Not a good job by the author here.
@antone You have to click on the sources. New York, get on this!
Every Astros player involved should be fined the maximum $5 million.
There is no limit to money lost by players. A-rod lost 25+M when he was suspended for the entire year for his roid use. Last year Cano lost 10+M for his suspension. 5M is the max a club/owner can be fined by MLB. That is something that needs to be adjusted.
We would all feel better if the Astros would freely donate their world series earnings to this or any other charitable organization. And said sorry. It would make it easy for everyone to move on
Doubtful. Nothing will make y’all happy.
Two bangs if guilty.
I like it. Maybe doesn’t have the legs for him personally but it casts an even deeper shadow of the awful situation surrounding the Astros. I see more of these popping up over time.
I’m curious if this actually does go to court if the mlb investigation results have to go fully public at some point and more dirt is released than the mlb wanted the public to know about.
Likely to be resolved behind closed doors before MLB lets the investigation go public. If its decided Bolsinger has enough to follow thru with the case, MLB will step in and get Hou to resolve it privately and kick them back most of the agreed upon amount. Unless Bolsinger wants to follow thru with it and just embarrass MLB.
It can’t be resolved privately if the plaintiff doesn’t agree. Supposedly the plaintiff is going to donate any winnings to charity. If so, you think he would agree to hush this up? Not likely.
Astros should be embarrassed, not just because they cheated, but because they cheated and still almost lost to the Yankees, while knowing the Yankees signs! Great job, Astros! Way to cheat and still almost lose… imagine if they played fairly? Wow, Yankees would’ve swept them and gone to the WS again.
The Yankees scored a total of three runs in their four losses against Houston in the 2017 ALCS. It isn’t wrong to assume it would’ve been different, but in this case it’s a pretty big stretch.
Exactly. People over look the fact that Yankees offense was shut down in Houston. The way Verlander and co. was pitching at MMP, if Houston got 2-3 runs, their pitching probably could’ve held on to win.
Two of those games were won by 1 run, and one was won in the bottom of the night off one of the best closers in baseball. Yeah, sometimes, even a a single hit really matters. Where’s the stretch?
Apparently it was pretty well known back then so I doubt they were able to steal signs in the post season, no matter how hard they tried.
If I was a pitcher in the NL Central during the McGwire and Sosa run is it logical to sue them for ruining my career because of their steroid abuse? In this particular game this guy gave up three walks in 1/3 of an inning. He was clearly erratic. Regardless of the trash can he wasn’t going to make it.
Everyone should listen to David P. Samson’s podcast its very informative on the business of baseball.
Guy was a finesse pitcher, not a power pitcher. He made his living pitching on the edges and getting swing and misses there. If the ‘stros knew what was coming and held off on pitches he usually threw out of the zone it gives them an advanced edge to walk multiple times. And if a soft tosser is about to throw a soft fb, it can easily be hit.
I feel for this guy. They should buck up!
Throw the book at the Trashtros. Unfortunately, this will likely be 12(b)(6)ed out of court
I hope he wins
Can’t they just view the games and listen to the audio? I find it hard to believe that on field mics wouldn’t pick up the banging.
An Astro fan did the grunt work and found over 1100 bangs of a trash can. So yeah, anyone can do the research
https://www.google.com/amp/s/sports.yahoo.com/amphtml/inside-one-astros-fan-quest-to-do-the-unthinkable-prove-his-team-cheated-sign-stealing-155724616.html
Oh, from that article
“”
By the end of June, the scheme was in full swing: 40 bangs on June 29, 44 on June 30. It peaked at 54 bangs on Aug. 4, a game the Astros won 16-7 against the Toronto Blue Jays. “”
Guess what game was Bolsinger’s last? August 4th
This is nonsense! But I bet every pitcher, like Darvish n others would think bout this.
Darvish probably lost 50M+ because of these cheaters…
I can definitely see others joining this suite. No doubt the cheating cost some jobs (earlier at the least). Also cost others dollars on future contracts.
The fact that management knew about it and didnt stop it is what makes the case even stronger.
Nothing may ever come from this but sure would be nice to get ALL the details and have the stros pay an even deeper price.
With anything you are always going to have cheaters. Don’t get caught.
I feel bad for this guy and genuinely hope the best for his lawsuit, but it seems like his case is going to take some true legal gymnastics to even be considered to be heard by the court. If it isn’t dismissed outright, there’s a decent chance everyone settles with him just to make this go away. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’ll even get that far.
cool. trashstros are trash, Manfred a moron.
What do you call 100 lawyers on the bottom of the ocean…
“though that hardly establishes his right to relief (or even to pursue the suit)”
He has every right to pursue the suit.
Frivolous suits are a thing…
1. This doesn’t hurt the Astros. That damage has been. It hurts MLB. In discovery, every team would be examined. That’s a can of worms Manfred can’t allow.
2. This dude wants money. He can probably get 5-10M to get MLB to avoid discovery.
3. Flags Fly Forever.
He plans on donating majority of the claim to charities for children in LA. This isnt for his personal gain.
Trash Astro fan. Trashtro
1. This doesn’t hurt the Astros. That damage has been. It hurts MLB. In discovery, every team would be examined. That’s a can of worms Manfred can’t allow.
2. This dude wants money. He can probably get 5-10M to get MLB to avoid discovery.
3. Flags Fly Forever.
3. No one recognizes that title as legit.
Keep flying that kite.
MLB does. Good enough for me. It’s actually oddly fitting that fans don’t recognize it because many people think the Rockets titles should have asterisks by them.
Did the Rockets cheat, too?
This is absurd. Absolutely no case. There is no quantifiable way to say that one game against the Astros cost this guy his job. He was never good, had a recent history of sub-par performances, and was more likely than not already ticketed for the minors before the game. Let’s face it, the Blue Jay’s weren’t trying to win games, they were more concerned with eating innings and scapegoating guys that didn’t perform during an obvious rebuild that Toronto refused to acknowledge was happing. Baseball is a long term sport, nobody makes decisions off one game. This is provable.
Even if you could somehow prove the outing was the straw that broke the camel’s back, it would be irrelevant, as that poor level of play would of had to of been sustained long enough to merit the demotion in the first place.
Let’s not hatred of a team cloud our judgement. Regardless of what happens to any potential money from this lawsuit, this pitcher is attempting to blame a third party for his own actions, and excuse his failures in the process. This mentality is probably why the pitcher is such a garbage player.
This lawsuit will be tossed by a real judge, or picked up by a bitter LA circuit judge who doesn’t care about the rule of law and just wants to punish the Astros for their unimaginable crime of “stealing” from the city of professional liars and the global propaganda capital. The choice of court should tell you how serious this case is…
I thought it read as mike boddicker at first… lol
Not only are these guys the worst cheaters they are posting laughing gifs on social media sites. Honestly these Houston players are the worst they are probably all laughing about it in private none of them are sorry at all
Bolsinger has no case. Prior to that final appearance he was getting bashed around by other teams. If his only poor results were against Houston he’d have a case.
If Bolsinger wins, the pitchers who’ve gone down due to arm injuries might as well sue too.
When you do illegal things, you open yourself up to liability for things that might not be your fault.
Also, if a casino stacked a deck of cards against a gambler, the casino could (probably rightly) argue that that gambler had always lost before and would likely have lost again even if they hadn’t stacked that deck…but, what would a court say to that?
The steroid nonsense trials etc is what helped send fans elsewhere.
i doubt he wins this given its hard to say one game is what does it in baseball, even if it was a bad one and your last. im sure the Jays org is like “why did you have to get us involved in this dude”
This article does a poor job of laying out the details of the suit and makes it sound like he’s just sour about losing his MLB career and seeking compensation for it. The fact that he’s asking for the Astros to “forfeit the roughly $31 million in bonuses from their ill-gotten World Series title, and for the money to go to charities in Los Angeles focused on bettering kids’ lives, as well as to create a fund for retired baseball players who need financial assistance” suggests that this is more about proving a point and making something good out of the whole situation than it is about his personal well-being.
Well said mkwhitty
File in california cause of its favorable state class action requirements. Get ready for more players to join this party.
It’s pathetic really. This guy just wasn’t very good and wants to point the finger at someone besides himself. I’m not condoning what the Astros did but they didn’t derail his career, his skills, or lack thereof, derailed it.
It’s gonna be hilarious if this case ends up going no where or gets thrown out.
Pull the title
Count me on the side of: Those cheating bastards deserve it, whether it’s true or not, they deserve to be put through the ringer!
Boo hoo. What a puss.
Nice job failing to understand what’s happening here.
I stopped reading after the second paragraph. This dude is friggin ridiculous. While I can see why an attorney would take this case for notoriety, Bolsinger stands zero chance of getting a judgment in his favor.
You should have kept reading – the point is to get the Astro’s, the players, and the MLB into the discovery process – force them under oath to fess up to all the details of this ‘scandal’ and coverup I mean ‘investigation’.
I think his case will also be undercut by this last DFA was his third DFA of the season by the Blue Jays, suggesting that he was only DFA’d because of one outing, you’d have to ask what about the other DFA’s that season?
When Astros fan say something like “but team XX cheated as well” that comment makes me laugh. Sure, over the years LOTS of PLAYERS has cheated. Bonds, Sosa, McGwire w/ the PED’s … pitchers using foreign materials on the ball … George Brett with the pine tar fiasco … LOTS of examples. The difference is that those were PLAYERS. One person on a roster. If you suspected Bonds of cheating, no problem, walk him. It’s a different story altogether when it’s THE WHOLE TEAM. Not just a few, but all. Everyone from the front office to the guy banging on the trash can were involved. What the Astros did as a organization is NOT the same as anything that the above players did.
Agreed. I’m honestly shocked ASTRO corporate sponsors haven’t dropped out the minute the MLB investigation made its first discovery report. Look how quickly they repealed their checks from Tiger Woods?
Stop buying Minute Maid products!
Yes yes yes.
If 40 independent Volkswagen dealerships across North America tell customers that the new diesel engine technology produces clean emissions, that would be a scandal.
A much much much worse scandal is when Volkswagen tells all their North American dealerships AND every consumer with a TV, internet or radio that they have clean diesel technology when they don’t, and they know they don’t.
I don’t think that’s the argument. It’s that there’s a lot of sign stealing going on. They’re the ones who were caught though.
Don’t tell me that’s not the argument. It IS the argument. Sign stealing has always taken place usually by a runner on second, which is again, ONE person. This is a organizational effort. To sit there and say ” I don’t think that’s the argument ” is asinine.
Astros are liable for the torts of its players committed within the scope of employment. The Astros will file a 12b motion to dismiss. It will come down to whether one bad outing is the cause of his damage. I don’t think one outing can make a career but it sure can break one. It would be a better case if he was a prospect constantly on the verge of pushing through, but Bolsinger has a track record of below average pitching.
Career 4.92 ERA, 4.59 FIP, 1.5 WHIP and a -1.2 WAR.
Yeah, it’s the Astros fault
If I’m in a meeting and someone let’s me know my fly is down, I just stand up, zip it and get back to business.
Since a wealth of public investigative work has led to more revealed evidence than MLB has released, it’s the right time to file a suit. It’s not my problem if the Astros or their supporters enter some shame cycle or otherwise blow the meeting when told their fly is down.
Good for him. Screw the Astros & the guys that did that to him.
Good I hope more players do aswell, this whole thing is upsetting I don’t know what to do,and this year going to be hard to get into baseball.
He has Michael Avanati on retainer.
Is he suing Atlanta and Baltimore for putting up 5 and 4 ERs on him? Next the umpires will be added to the suit for not calling enough strikes.
If he hired Alan Dershowitz or Ron Shapiro,he already won.
How much pine tar was he using when he pitched? No I don’t have any evidence he doctored the ball (wouldn’t want him to sue me if he read this post), but pitchers always have a little stick em or some to grip. Tired of the holier than thou attitude players are using in the media. Yes the Astros went too far. But how many players would actually turn down using a similar system if their team had one?
Prickly reply.
Really hoping this gets to the discovery phase so that all the wrong-doers get exposed.
exactly. that will finally quiet a lot of the holier-than-thou BS so many have been spouting.
If you want to see scary, check out the Astros Facebook page and the denial and excuses made by their supporters. Really makes you wonder how some people can function.
I don’t do the Facebook or twitter things, but I’ve met many Astros fans and they are usually quite sane and level-headed. Some are even very high-IQ and articulate. They appear to be functioning quite well.
Denial is a very powerful tool.
BobbyDynamie
That’s because you’re a blind Astros fan. You really can’t judge a fellow blind Astros fan’s level of functioning objectively.
D’ Nile is a river in Egypt.
Sueing Jim Crane? Interesting.
he has the most money!
Maybe he shouldn’t have said he’s not punishable?
This is an absolutely comical lawsuit. He was absolutely shelled by the rest of baseball too did every team cheat? This one is going to be laughed out of court.
No it won’t. It will die due to politics and MLB’s desire not to keep this issue going and to avoid further embarrassment. The man has a perfect right to sue whether he’s an ace pitcher or a journeyman, and frankly if the lawsuit goes anywhere it serves to pick up where Manfred stopped.
Sadly, I think you’re right that the lawsuit will quickly be withdrawn while they settle out of court. It’s not just MLB and the other 29 owners that don’t want this precedent to be set, it’s the NBA and NFL too.
Imagine if an NBA player could sue because a referee failed to penalize his opponent for traveling. Or an NFL ref failed to call pass interference. Pro sports could no longer function if losing players can sue alleging the league failed to enforce its own rules.
No he doesn’t. This is a joke of a lawsuit. California is a joke and he took the joke there. People there will try to sue anyone for anything.
You must be an Astros fan. Stupid comments like “CA is a joke” that’s the best you can do? Call your mom and ask her why she didn’t teach you to develop better thinking skills. Hopefully, you’ve not spawned.
I hope he wins, F*** Houston
It ain’t crazy if it works
Honestly I think his suit is silly, but I hope he wins. The more punishment for the Astros, the better.
Good. Now can I sue them for the money and time I wasted taking my son to see them play? How about the hats shirts and jerseys that I bought for him? F that team and the horse they rode in on.
This take is on the money
He will lose. He should have quit while he was behind.
Hopefully, Bolsinger’s’ attorneys can subpoena MLB’s interviews with the Astros players and use whatever they admitted to against them. Even though Manfred gave them immunity, that won’t protect them in a court of law.
He can’t prove damage to his career after having a 6.83 ERA in 2016 and a 5.49 ERA in 2017. His career didn’t end after being that bad either. He went overseas and made more than $1 million per season.
This will not even get into discovery. It will be thrown out summarily.
His MLB career did end. Going overseas was due to the fact his MLB career ended.
It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out
Bolsinger is a bum who was never a major league caliber pitcher.
I seriously fail to see how his case has merit. He sucked before during and after. One game does not dictate a career. He is using it as an excuse for money.
Discovery can be granted by a court to determine the merits. There is probably a lot of details on codebreaker and who was involved and when that could be brought further into public discussion. If that is the case then the astros would move to settle or get discovery quahshed by other means. There is potential here for bolsinger to get a nice bonus paycheck with little actual money spent on the lawsuit.
Wow. Just posted my thoughts and the discovery aspect didn’t dawn on me. Yeah I could see “here’s 2 mil now go away”
They should offer him a contract. Lol
Its not even money. He won’t get money from this. It’s a stunt. It can’t be that he was on the wrong side of 30, a non prospect and non major leaguer who threw 89. It was all those trash cans the Astros were injecting themselves with.
Well he is not asking for money so that shows what you know. He wants the Astros like $31 million or whatever they made on the series forfeited to charity
Commissioner Manfred ban the Houston Astros from 2020 post season play. That will hit the cheaters where it really hurts.
Laypeople… Now rather than be non biased, you just made a word that sounds like it means sexable people. Nice.
Well, the bangs are back. This time it’s the fans. #stgonebad
I don’t care if championship is stripped, players suspended or team sold but lawsuits? I think this is a sideshow. The dodgers have the real claim not this guy.
Is it a sideshow, or is it a onetime player as upset about this as the Dodgers and other active players who is maybe even getting some financial or legal support from third parties to sue the Astros?
I suspect that Bolsinger and his legal team are gambling on the possibility of getting to discovery, where as Jeff suggests things could get interesting.
He gonna sue every team or just the flavor of the month? Has a better chance of winning the megamillions the poor fellah
He gonna sue every team or just the flavor of the month? Has a better chance of winning the megamillions the poor fellah
He gonna sue every team or just the flavor of the month? Has a better chance of winning the megamillions the poor fellah
He gonna sue every team or just the flavor of the month? Has a better chance of winning the megamillions the poor fellah
Yes, the Astros cheated and yes it’s horrible for the game. But let’s face it, Bolsinger just isn’t good at all. One start wasn’t the cause of his career ending. This is just a pathetic and sad case of a guy that thinks the world owes him something that is now chasing dollar signs.
Yeah he was a bad pitcher and this is a frivolous lawsuit.
Boo freaking hoo! Don’t want to get your brains beat in? Locate your pitches better! Think they’re stealing sign? Change it up. This is going to get dismissed quicker than this bum’s big league career.
Usually not a fan of this and there are certainly far bigger problems in the world….
But it is time for Congress to launch an investigation. This has gotten way out of hand and the scandal only seems to be gaining steam.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA Don’t you think Congress has more important cheaters to keep an eye on? Like the one in the White House?
A Congressional investigation over this? Get real. They have way more important things they could look at than some trivial trash can banging.
So much outrage….phony or otherwise..
So much anger…….phony or otherwise…
So much name calling……
Over a GAME played by millionaire mercenaries…….
Some folks really need to get a life….
That is indeed the issue. They have no life, except rooting for their favorite teams that have gotten their teeth kicked in by the Astros.
An Open Letter to Commissioner Manfred from a sincere 71 year old baseball fan.
No more beating around the bush. You probably have very little time left to save your job. No one carries personal enmity against you. However, the fact of the matter is that heretofore you have done an abysmal job of handling the Astros Cheating Scandal. Clearly you don’t understand your customers. Every day it is getting sadder and if you don’t act quickly you do not deserve to stay in your job on opening day.
Here’s how you might be able to ward off your dismissal and attempt to begin to calm the swelling uproar against the disgraceful cheating Astros:
1.) Immediately release full transcripts and/or recordings of the player interviews that were conducted during the course of the lackluster investigation.
2.) Admit you have handled the situation very poorly. Acknowledge that you accept part of the blame while asking the fans to forgive you personally for letting them down. Also ask the fans to forgive any players who admit their personal cheating and who apologize to all baseball fans and to all of the players and to all of the teams that they have cheated.
3.) Reverse course and admit that the overwhelming response by your customers (Baseball Fans) has caused you to rethink your earlier decision. Announce that therefore the 2017 World Championship of the Houston Astros is hereby rescinded and that there will be no championship team recognized for that season. All other sanctions also remain in place.
4.) Appoint an outside independent investigator to further probe the Astros Cheating Scandal with a deadline of reporting to the public by the All Star Break and require all teams to cooperate.
5.) Appoint and fund an ongoing commission of independent baseball fans, called the Baseball Fan Review Board consisting of 20 fans serving as BFRB Board members for 4 year terms with half of the members being replaced every two years thereafter. The BFRB should be empowered to poll the fan base on any number of issues that come their way and make non-binding – but publically disclosed – recommendations on any number of topics that can be sent their way by the players, the owners, the Commissioner’s Office and the fan base. It is important that this group reflect the diversity of the MLB fan base and independence from other potential conflicts of interest including employment by teams, players, player agents, sports media outlets, and the commissioner’s office itself.
Failure to take these actions or very similar actions will demonstrate to your customers that you care very little about their opinions and wellbeing. The remedy for the failure of any chief executive to act resolutely in a crisis should be a rapid and decisive dismissal. If the owners don’t dismiss you then the fans should orchestrate a boycott of opening day in every park around the country.
Jim Lynch
Baseball Fan
PS: To all other fans, please share with likeminded fans. I take no pride of ownership – just want the Commissioner to do the right thing. We all know what that is. (See #3 Above)
Dude, you have so little time left. You need to move on with your life. This is very well written. But total bull cookies. And I got news for you pal, you don’t have the juice to effect the “rapid and decisive dismissal” of anybody.
Now put down that gallon of self righteousness you’re guzzling and move on.
Right on, Valkyrie. These people need to get over it now.
Sue the garbage can manufacturer.
Bruce Springsteen is back in the studio.
Where is Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis when you need him.
I have no feeling one way or the other about the Houston team
I don’t like that they cheated playing a GAME………the key word there is GAME……but that does not alter the fact it is a GAME…..
It’s meaningless entertainment.
I have sympathy for those who think it’s something more. Their lives must be very lonely and empty.
I hope this doesn’t turn into a situation where these people are made to go away to save the face of our past time