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New yankee sign stealing info?

Discussion in 'Houston Astros' started by Htown Legend, Jun 13, 2020.

  1. lnchan

    lnchan Sugar Land Leonard

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    I miss Richard Justice. He once called me the unabomber.
     
  2. msn

    msn Member

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    I chuckled.
     
  3. J.R.

    J.R. Member

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    Awaiting the incoming scathing response from Passan, Olney, Rosenthal, rest of MLB media...

    'A bigger problem than everybody realized' - "STOP blaming other teams! This is your mess! This is the Astros sign stealing scandal!"

    "Sympathy for Brandon Taubman? Brandon Taubman is a terrible person who should never work again!"

    "Didn't think the Osuna trade would cause so much heat? Deserves a second chance? Jim supports DV."

    "Doesn't think he has (or had) a culture problem?! His head is in the sand!"

    "Didn't tank? Does he think we're dumb?!"

    "Jim Crane just doesn't get it! Just doesn't get it! He should probably sell the team."

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...ner-jim-crane-sign-stealing-sorry/5544673002/

    “People are aggravated the players didn’t get suspended,’’ Crane said, “but I didn’t have anything to do with that. That was (Commissioner) Rob (Manfred’s) call. Listen, it’s always going to be whatever you want to call it. A black mark. An asterisk. It happened. It’s not good for anybody. It’s not good for the game.

    “We broke the rules. We got penalized. We were punished. There’s no doubt it weighs on all of us every single day.

    “But I don’t know what else they want us to do. I mean, you couldn’t do a lot more. We took a big penalty. Rob (Manfred) sent a message. We accepted the message, and went above and beyond.

    “We’re sorry. We apologized. But no matter what happened, it wasn’t going to be enough. People wanted me out of baseball. They wanted players to be suspended. They wanted everything.’’

    The infamous press conference

    It was the Feb. 13 press conference, in front of the Astros’ spring-training complex in Florida, in which Crane uttered that the sign stealing “didn’t alter the game,’’ and Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve unemotionally read brief prepared statements, provoking resentment in every clubhouse in baseball.

    “We didn’t come off like I wanted to,’’ Crane said Wednesday. “If I had to do it over again, I’d do it differently. The press conference didn’t go well at all. I didn’t handle it as well as I should have.

    “I said (the sign stealing) didn’t affect the game. What I should have said is that I can’t impact the decision Rob (Manfred) made not to change history. He was not going to alter the game. He wasn’t going to take away the World Series trophy.

    “I’m not stupid enough to think it couldn’t have altered the game. How it altered the game, no one is ever going to know. Did it have an effect on the game? That’s certainly a reasonable assessment.’’

    Crane paused during lunch, took a bite of the salmon on his plate, and said, “If we had to re-run it, we would have had tried to do a better job of apologizing and tried to be more sincere. But you’re under the gun. You try to answer the same question 18 times. It’s not a spot I ever want to be in again.’’

    'A bigger problem than everybody realized'

    Crane may be villain to most, but he has done some good during the pandemic.The Astros are one of the few teams that didn't layoff or furlough any staff members, and they are paying minor leaguers for a season not played. And the team's foundation has increased giving under Crane, spending more than $50 million over the past nine years around the community.

    But Crane said he is not seeking sympathy.

    Sure, he wishes people would remember that the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees were punished for cheating during the 2017 season. The Red Sox also were penalized in May for sign stealing in 2018, losing a second-round draft pick while video replay operator J.T. Watkins was banned through the postseason. And the Yankees are in a court battle to prevent a letter from Manfred from being unsealed, detailing his findings of the 2017 investigation.

    “I think (MLB) had a bigger problem than everybody realized,’’ Crane says. “Two other teams (the Yankees and Red Sox) were doing things and got caught, but we’re the ones who took the bullet. That’s the way it works. I’m not trying to blame anyone else. It was our problem. We dealt with it."

    The Red Sox fired manager Alex Cora before MLB disclosed its findings, but not for his actions in Boston. He was fired for his role in the Astros’ scandal as Hinch’s bench coach. Carlos Beltran was also dismissed as the New York Mets manager for being one of the architects of the scheme in Houston.

    “It didn’t surprise me one bit," Crane said said. “The other teams had to do the same thing.

    “I don’t know if this whole thing is over. I think after this year it will calm down. But it will always be out there."

    The Astros had the option of retaining Luhnow and Hinch, bringing them back after their one-year suspensions, but Crane said he had no choice but to abruptly fire them on the same day of MLB’s report.

    The Astros and Hinch negotiated a settlement on the remainder of his contract. Luhnow and the Astros never agreed on a buyout, Crane said, leaving the Astros to argue he was fired with “just cause,’’ in a case that could lead to a grievance and decided by the courts.

    “You hate to see what happened to those guys,’’ Crane said, “because they didn’t instigate this thing. It started at the bottom, but they both knew about it. So, I had to do what I thought was best for the franchise. What if I left them in there. How much (stuff) would I get? It was the only choice. We had to move forward."

    “I hope these guys get back in the business, but as this thing plays out, it could be more difficult."
     
    RayRay10 likes this.
  4. J.R.

    J.R. Member

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    Second chances

    Crane said he also sympathizes with Taubman, the former assistant GM who was fired after the Astros won the American League Championship Series. Taubman yelled "Thank God we got Osuna" and expletive towards a group of female reporters in the clubhouse.

    “Brandon Taubman didn’t commit domestic violence,’’ Crane said. “He just made a comment. It’s nothing you can defend. He had a few cocktails. He was happy. There were people constantly coming at him over (Osuna), and he overreacted. Did he do the right thing? No. Everybody makes mistakes. But is he a good, genuine decent person and smart kid? Absolutely.

    “I hated to see him lose his job, but we had no choice."

    The Astros, of course, did have the choice not to trade for Osuna, a deal that was made two years ago Thursday. Osuna was completing his suspension for allegedly hitting the mother of his young son while pitching for the Blue Jays, and the Astros believed he deserved a second chance.

    Besides, they badly needed a closer.

    “We didn’t anticipate the Osuna thing would catch that much heat,’’ said Crane, whose organization donated $200,000 last year to domestic violence education and awareness. “But when it did, the players were concerned. I told the guys on our team, 'Listen, we made the decision. He paid his price. We think he deserves a second chance. If he screws up, he’s out of here. You don’t have to worry about it.'

    “After that, it was fine. That’s with the players. Not so much with the public. It was just a lightning rod of a subject.’’

    Culture problem?

    MLB’s investigative report on the Astros’ cheating scandal specifically mentioned that the organization had an “insular culture’’ problem.

    “No one can dispute that Luhnow’s baseball operations department is an industry leader in its analytics,” Manfred wrote in his report, “(but) it is very clear to me that the culture of the baseball operations department, manifesting itself in the way its employees are treated, its relations with other clubs, and its relations with the media and external stakeholders, has been very problematic.”

    The characterization chafed Crane when the report was released, and six months later, it still does.

    “People say we had a culture problem,’’ he said. “We didn’t have a culture problem. They’re isolated incidents that are unrelated.

    “Even the sign-stealing thing, I just think everybody was paranoid that everybody was doing it. The technology was right in front of you. We already know two others teams were doing it and got caught.

    “But the way we were doing it, that was pretty (stupid). I mean, banging on trash cans? You could have found a better way to do it.’’

    Crane, a two-time All-American pitcher at Missouri Central, said he believes his team didn’t need to cheat to win in 2017. The roster was talented and deep. The Astros won 101 games, and improved on that in each of the next two seasons, including 107 wins in 2019.

    Last year's team lost to the Washington Nationals in the World Series. Can you imagine the outcry if the Astros had won the World Series for the second time in three years?

    “I sure would have liked to have won because it would have kind of cleaned up things for us,’’ Crane said. “People say we were still doing things in ’18 and ’19. We weren’t doing anything in ’19.’’

    Maybe the baseball world will be more accepting if the Astros take the World Series this year, showing they can win fair and square.

    Then again, maybe the hatred is so deep that folks outside Houston never want to see the Astros back in the postseason, which could happen with Verlander’s forearm strain sidelining him indefinitely.

    The Astros hope he can return in a month but also are bracing for the possibility of Verlander needing Tommy John surgery and possibly being out until 2022.

    “We need to get the pitching shored up a little bit. It would sure help to get Verlander back," Crane said. "He’s hopeful, so we’ll see. But you never know with these elbows. It could be a slight tear. It could be a strain. But if he had to have Tommy John, and I don’t think that’s anywhere near clear yet, he wouldn’t be back until 2022.

    “But if anybody can come back and do this, it’s him.’’

    No going back: 'We didn't tank'

    No matter what transpires this year, playoffs or no playoffs, Crane said, there will be no going back.

    There are no plans to rebuild again. Those 111-loss seasons are over. And, as much acclaim as they received for being the smartest team in baseball for taking a dreadful team to the mountaintop, they really had no choice.

    “People say we tanked,’’ Crane said. “We didn’t tank. When I bought the team, the revenue was way down. It was losing a lot of money, and the players we had under contract weren’t any good. So what do you do? You can’t throw more money at it and fix it.

    “We did what we had to do to get to the next stage, and it worked out. I mean, was it genius? I think some of it were smart moves. Some of it was necessitated because finances were so bad. Our TV deal went bankrupt.

    “But as the team started getting better, we started getting people in the ballpark. Our revenues went up, so we could afford to spend more. It just makes sense. You can’t spend more than you're making or you’re going to run into problems. Look at the Mets.’’

    The Mets are up for sale, and one of the bidders have reached out to Crane for advice. Yep, Alex Rodriguez.

    If A-Rod can buy a Major League Baseball team, completing the greatest 180-degree image makeover in sports’ history after being banned the entire 2014 season for using performance-enhancing drugs, perhaps forgiveness can be around the corner for Crane and the Astros, too.

    “We’re sorry,’’ Crane said. “We apologize. I guarantee you it will never happen again.

    “Just give us another chance.’’
     
    joshuaao, RayRay10 and msn like this.
  5. J.R.

    J.R. Member

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  6. jakedasnake

    jakedasnake Member

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    Yikes, I think you are right JR. Don't think Crane did himself any favors with this article especially when he talks about how stupid they were to use a trash can and basically says they should have used something else or been smarter about that? Did I get that right?

    This article was not needed but luckily will be forgotten in a couple of weeks. Still, Crane needs to just keep quiet and hope his players redeem themselves by winning and not going overboard when other players hit them, etc. Take your lumps and just win.
     
    RayRay10 likes this.
  7. donkeypunch

    donkeypunch Contributing Member

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    Law being petty as ever. Between him and passan, I dont know who I hate more. Its passan.
     
  8. desihooper

    desihooper Contributing Member
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    Yeah, not a great look. Great club we have here in Houston between Crane, Fertitta, and McNair, with respect to media/P.R. gaffes.
     
  9. lnchan

    lnchan Sugar Land Leonard

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    I still don't get why Steinbrenner doesn't get heat for getting Chapman back
     
  10. J.R.

    J.R. Member

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    I wish Jim went full FU/NGAF mode.
    Too nice to these clowns.

    He's right. They want him out of baseball. They want Luhnow out of baseball. They want Osuna out of baseball. Hell they probably want to move the team out of Houston.

    "We" cheated, OK. They weren't caught; they were ratted out by a former teammate two years after the fact. We accepted the penalties, even though they were the harshest of any team. We fired a very good GM, a very good manager while other teams blamed the rogue video intern.

    The Red Sox were caught. The Red Sox were repeat offenders. Alex Cora was a repeat offender. And yet you gave them a slap on the wrist and blamed the rogue video intern.

    You keep piling on, we're gonna release the dirt on at least 8 other teams.

    To act like we were the only team doing it and "Astros sign stealing scandal", go **** yourself.

    As for Brandon Taubman, all he said was "Thank God we got Osuna", "I'm so ****ing glad we got Osuna."

    but but but her little precious purple bracelet!

    It was you the trash ass media who twisted that into he supports DV and he said to go out and beat your SO.

    And as for Osuna himself, we don't condone DV or anything he allegedly did but he served a suspension. Why doesn't he get a second chance? You, the trash ass media, don't say **** about the two Yankees who were suspended for DV. (Aroldis Chapman & Domingo German). Or the Dodgers Julio Urias. While now in the KBO, last year Addison Russell was a second chance comeback redemption story.



    So Aroldis, Domingo, Jeurys Familia, Addison Russell & Julio Urias can get a second chance but Roberto must be kicked out of baseball, not allowed to work again and should burned at the stake.

    Keep up the bullshit and we will release the dirt!
     
    #470 J.R., Jul 31, 2020
    Last edited: Jul 31, 2020
  11. dmoneybangbang

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    Boston should change its sports teams name to the "Equipment Mangers"
     
  12. htwnbandit

    htwnbandit Member

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    Crane can redeem himself by handing out blank checks to Springer and whoever else necessary to keep the band together for at least a couple of more years.
     
  13. HTown2017Champs

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    No matter what, Boston will be the capital of cheating pro sports forever to me.
     
  14. Buck Turgidson

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    What more does Crane need to do, outside of what he said he was going to do when he bought the team? 4th highest payroll in MLB this year.

    Lost ALDS to WS Champs
    meh
    Won WS
    Lost ALCS to WS Champs
    Lost WS

    What exactly do you want?
     
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  15. Redfish81

    Redfish81 Member

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    Won WS
    Won WS
    Won WS
    Won WS
     
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  16. Buck Turgidson

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    I demand satisfaction.

     
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  17. htwnbandit

    htwnbandit Member

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    I and I think everyone else here wants at minimum one more WS win with this core, or at least within the next couple of years to validate all those appearances you just mentioned (I think even the last one despite them being cleared for that year; haters don't care) and shut all the baseball hypocrites up.
     
    Buck Turgidson likes this.
  18. J.R.

    J.R. Member

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  19. Nook

    Nook Member

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    [​IMG]
     
  20. Nick

    Nick Contributing Member

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    So basically the only extra stuff in the book will be how Drellich was "treated badly" when he was a beat writer here, which of course stemmed from him continuing to lambast the "process" every step of the way.
     
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