Whoever hits the Astros the most this season, check their visits to Vegas. Whichever team hits the Stros the most this season, check the roster debits in casinos. Soooooo many baseball players in a roster someone will get paid for the over and under HBP. Ban hammer coming.
"But, Brett, don't you know that media members have to make a living, too? I mean, it's the dead part of the season and we have the New York and Los Angeles media markets drooling for every new piece...we can all become rich and famous right now by continuing to ask you questions hoping that you'll pull a Markakis so that we can write a full article on it and send out app notifications to people's phones every time someone complains. Hell, we'll go to the dugout managers and the bat boys to get those quotes if we need to. Don't you know; we make the news?" But, seriously, good on Brett. Wish everyone would take a similar tact. Unfortunately, there's a bunch of guys trying to make a name for themselves and currying favor with media folks.
Its about time I heard it said the way it is. But instead of this having any positive effect on the situation in terms of bringing people to their senses, its more likely those outspoken types turn on Skip and call him out as well. Another point to make is this is an indictment of the power of social media. Fake news outlets and folks with internet prowess with an agenda can control or at least steer the narrative to their own personal ends. Watch out, cause it may not be far off before nobody knows the truth about anything.
Don't know a thing about Brett Gardner, but between this and his comments after the ALCS he seems like a real one. Seriously, whining about it doesn't do anything. If this team is a bunch of frauds the results will show it. All the Yankees should be concerned with is being the best team in baseball, which they very well may be. Beat us and win a WS, then they can talk all the s**t they want.
It does make you think about if there is really a difference between that runner on second stealing signs, and using some other kind of camera/relay system?? I mean, inherently, yes there's a difference... but also just barely. And its not like tech can't be used for the sport. It's obviously ok to use video to do all kinds of analysis on whatever. Hypothetical. A team uses video analysis during a game to pick up on a tell. Eg. they go back and look at video the last inning or two, find a pitchers tell, relay it to the batters. Is that different? That seems ok to me. It seems less like cheating. But I can't pinpoint why exactly... especially if you consider it would provide an even bigger advantage - eg. batter would absolutely know what's coming and not have to think about trash can symbols. So it's a tough one. That said, Skip's bigger point is of course accurate. This is baseball. Stealing signs is part and parcel to the game. The Dodgers were most likely using video to steal signs themselves in 2018. https://www.dodgersnation.com/dodge...stealing-in-2018-per-the-athletic/2020/01/08/ On the whole, I don't care for it. I think it is "cheating" especially given the ultimatum the league had handed down to stop that crap. But I also agree with Skip that on the whole that there are probably hundreds of ways organizations are systematically trying to gain an advantage - see my example above - and its best for the sport to go to the earpiece/mic approach at this point.
WS is supposed to represent who the best team in baseball is. The only way you find out is by playing each other on an even terms. During the steroid era, I felt like every team had a bunch of juicers so it all evened out. I have not seen evidence of other teams having a sophisticated in game sign stealing operation like the Astros therefore my conclusion is the Astros had a definite advantage over them. Now if we find out other teams were banging trash cans or similar I’ll change my stance.
You will always find some justification one way of the other. First, while many players used steroids and HGH; not all players did and that certainly altered the playing field a great deal. Further, organizations knew about their players using PED's and did nothing about it. We know the Red Sox used a sophisticated sign stealing scheme with an apple watch. I am not sure I would call banging on trash cans very sophisticated honestly......... we also have seen the Dodgers, Yankees and Brewers accused of fairly sophisticated schemes. At the end of the day, it is what it is and every person will reach their own conclusion...... 20 years ago steroid users were viewed as the scum of the earth in baseball, but now people are viewing them differently........ same with Pete Rose and even the 1919 White Sox. There is zero evidence of the Houston Astros cheating in 2019 and they won 107 games and were 3 innings from winning the World Series. There is no credible evidence that the Astros cheated in the 2018 playoffs and they lost to a team everyone knew was cheating (the Red Sox)....... that is the game, it has always been the game. There have always been cheaters and it has always been rampant.
No it isn't. Most of the time the best team in baseball doesn't win the World Series historically. If we wanted it to be for the best team in baseball, we would play 162 games and whoever has the best record wins....... because of sample size.
How much value is a title If you are able to win because you outspend other teams for players like Cole?
Hey buddy. How is that right shoulder holding up? I'm worried about you.... you have missed over 100 games the last couple years. You and Gerrit Cole good? Did he let you see his ring? Did you tell him it doesn't mean anything? Make sure when you see Andy Pettite that you let him know that his World Championships don't mean anything because he was cheating with the Yankees. Maybe go slither down to your managers office and ask him why he did steroids and if he would have given up his ring in 2003 had the Yankees managed to beat the Marlins.
Commissioner Rob Manfred warned Grapefruit League managers Sunday night against acts of vigilante justice -- pitchers targeting the Houston Astros with beanballs because of their illicit sign-stealing -- and Manfred was expected to impart the same message to Cactus League managers Tuesday night. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id...-protect-astros-beanballs?device=featurephone
Cool, Aaron...remember when your team got punsihed THE SAME YEAR for doing the same thing. If you guys had won, would it have meant anything then?
Yea very thuggy, childish, immature, he just comes off sounding like an idiot when he threw that in. When you say things like that you're no better then a cheater. Again, between cheaters (us) and physical threats (this moron and others) this is EXACTLY why these professional athletes should never be held up as role models
I share your sentiment but technically buying the best players isn’t illegal even though it blows and I don’t agree with the practice.
