As. Twins fan, that would anger me to no end. But again, that doesn't change the fact that the Astros situation is right now.
Only 2 things can kill this ridiculous bullshit. One is if Beltran and Cora fall on the sword and publicly admit that they were primarily responsible from start to finish, AND that they did this type of thing when they were on other teams. They can largely absolve the players by acknowledging their veteran status made it hard for others to go against them, and they can absolve the front office by admitting they alone managed the illegal part of it (transmitting signs during ABs). But really, just them admitting they did it with the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rangers would likely kill the story, or at least shift it. The other thing that could kill the story is a bigger news story in sports and in baseball in particular. If it weren’t for spring training about to start, I think Kobe Bryant’s death could have done it. But hopefully the Red Sox **** comes out soon and is just as bad.
About how Crane handled the press conference. On the one hand, taking a softer approach could have helped to end this sooner or avoided giving the media something to talk about. On the other hand, he clearly thinks this is all horsesh-t and isn't apologizing for beating LA or NY or winning the world series. I'm sure he is pissed that MLB is hanging out the Astros to dry and holding off on the Red Sox findings so that the Astros have to bear this spotlight alone to open spring training. Bottom line for me - I want my team owner to feel how the passionate astros fans feel --- yeah, we broke the rules and we gotta wear this, but the whole league was doing it, NY and Boston sure were, so we're not exactly going to come out groveling and go on some apology tour. He has taken the approach of the Patriots. I love that there was so much talk about bringing another championship BACK to Houston. That is the not subtle way of saying the first one counts and screw you guys because we're never ever going to back away from that because everyone knows that baseball has a rich history of pushing boundaries, bending the rules, etc. So yeah, we gotta wear this but screw you all. And the players must LOVE the fact that Crane has their back and put none of this on them. Brilliant move on his part.
Beltran has a serious decision to make because this can impact his HoF candidacy. I think the clear best strategy is to fall on the sword and admit wrongdoing completely and go for forgiveness. It's the tried and true recipe for rehabilitating image in baseball. He is sufficiently beloved across the league that with the passage of time, he will go the way of Arod and be accepted back. Cora on the other hand doesn't have HoF considerations. I suspect that he will also fall on the sword because he hopes to manage in some way again. It's his only chance. His is a more complicated scenario because he concocted it and then took it to Boston. Hinch is going to get another job, but I don't know that a team can sell Cora being on a coaching staff, even with the passage of time.
Astros are fake af. Obviously Crane is making go on this apology tour but it’s weak. If you are sorry then you should give up your ring and admit you don’t deserve it and be banned from the league for life.
The refusal of Yuli, Bregman and Springer to throw Beltran -- particuarly when Beltran is the most culpable -- is great. By not doing so, they are observing clubhouse rules. And it's smart -- If Beltran is going to hang in the world of public opinion, he will hang without the Astros putting him on the block. If you blame Beltran, that will be construed as lack of accountability.
People are still with this. They should watch the post game celebration in the beginning of last season when they did rip the jersey from Altuve. He was shy and covering his chest.
Not trying to be mean - cheating was wrong and the Astros were punished but did that really hold back the Twins from winning a championship? If I were a Twins fan, I would be more upset that teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers can outspend my team every year. I would be more upset that the system allowed David Ortiz to become a Red Sox legend instead of a Twins legend. The Astros can be dissolved completely but the system that keeps teams like Twins down will still be in place
These guys are obviously ****ing pissed. I guarangoddamntee there isn’t a team in the world who wants to win right now more than this Astros team. If I’m Crane I tell Click he’s got a blank checkbook to win it all THIS YEAR. Houston may well win 110 games this year. I’m jacked.
Carlos Correa has annoyed the crap out of me the last couple of years with the whole broken rib thing, with how much he talks, his general corporate correa person. Today, he was a stud in front of the camera. Maybe because he is so corporate correa, but whatever the reason, Correa was amazing. He was direct, focused, looked sincere as hell, and even managed to emphatically deny the buzzers issue and emphatically state that the team is incredibly talented and won in 2018 and 2019 without cheating. To pull all of that off cleanly is no small feat. Carlos Correa - I salute you.
Holy crap, Correa with another grand slam video clip. He continues to somehow show remorse, say that we're awesome, we didn't cheat in the playoffs because we couldn't, not because we didn't try, so the title isn't tainted, but then circle back to accountability and remorse, then say we're gonna prove we're awesome players. Correa is unstoppable today. He da real MVP.
“That’s a lie. Nobody wore buzzers. Nobody wore devices,” Carlos Correa said. “That story should be killed already. We know for sure, for a fact, 100 percent as a team.” “And I can tell this story keeps coming out and if I’m lying here I lose credibility if something like that comes out and that’s not what I want to do. You guys know me. I want to speak the truth everytime I see you guys. It’s just straight-up false. Nobody wore anything. 2018, nothing. 2019, nothing. 2017, nobody wore devices either, it’s just what you saw on the report.” Most onlookers center on Jose Altuve’s peculiar post-pennant celebration, when he insisted teammates not rip off his jersey amid the hysteria at home plate. Altuve celebrated on the field briefly before immediately going into the clubhouse and changing shirts. “It’s not the first time I’ve done that,” Altuve said. “If we go back and back, I’ve done that multiple times. That doesn’t mean I have a buzzer. MLB did their investigation and they didn’t find anything. They found what they found in 2017, a really good investigation obviously. They did an investigation on the buzzer and didn’t find anything. When you say you don’t believe I had a buzzer, you don’t believe what MLB investigated.” “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.” During his 27-minute news conference Thursday, Astros owner Jim Crane said he spoke to his players regarding the rumors and he “truly believes there were no buzzers, ever.” Players echoed the sentiment. Asked if he or any players wore buzzers, George Springer said “absolutely not.” Josh Reddick fielded the same question and said “no, not to my knowledge.” “Absolutely not. Absolutely not,” said ace pitcher Justin Verlander. “I’m in that locker room. I see these guys after the game, before the game, dressing and undressing. I never saw anything like that.”
