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So the Astros 2017 title is tainted

Discussion in 'Houston Astros' started by rockets13champs, Nov 12, 2019.

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  1. Rock Block

    Rock Block Sorta here sometimes
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    Yep you're right. He played LL right down the road from me in Chandler, AZ. His dad a former big league player with the Yankees and the Angels. Never seen a rough day in his life.....petulent
     
  2. Rock Block

    Rock Block Sorta here sometimes
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    BINGO!

    Lest not anyone forget that these same ass hole players that are talking all this smack on line and to their friendly home town will have to come to MMP and it then that they shoud be booed relentlessy anytime they come out of the dugout
     
  3. Rock Block

    Rock Block Sorta here sometimes
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    Its just a f*cking game, what a bunch of brainless f*cking idiots, not even fans, idiots
     
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  4. Rock Block

    Rock Block Sorta here sometimes
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    I'd sell my left testicle (or right) to make that happen. Ok maybe a toe would be better.....point being that would be fantasy type shiit coming real.
     
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  5. BigM

    BigM Contributing Member

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    There’s going to be a lot of pressure on these guys to repeat past performance. Any kind of slow start from the hitters and they will get trashed. Bregman hitting 5 home runs in the first week and staring down the camera will help quite a bit.
     
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  6. J.R.

    J.R. Member

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    Full Tyler Bauer comments


    Why is it important to you to speak out?

    Because for two years, three years, they mocked me for bringing up the fact that they could possibly be cheating.

    What I brought up, there’s no denying that they’re doing it, which is the ridiculous part. There’s that part of it, how can you know you’re cheating and then just go and attack someone for saying it?

    If I was cheating and someone called me out on it, I’d be like, ‘Oh ****, I’m not going to say anything, I’m going to try to ignore that.’ They went on the offensive, attacking my character, demeaning me and stuff like this, all the while I know and they know that they were doing exactly what I said. On top of what I said are things that I heard about the organization. I couldn’t come out and say because I didn’t have direct knowledge of it, but we matched up against them in the postseason, we matched up against them in the regular season. They mocked everything about everyone who said they were doing something under the table or illegal or whatever. Cheating is one thing, it’s not OK. But at least if you cheat and you come out and you get caught and you’re like, ‘Look, I did this and it wasn’t right, this is why I did it. I’m not going to do it again, I learned my lesson.’ Whatever, you can be contrite about it, speak honestly about it, but even now, we don’t even have a freakin’ apology that means anything from any of them. Not an acknowledgment that they might have hurt someone else around the league, not an acknowledgment that they probably cost many people multiple millions of dollars.

    You have one of their players out there non-stop talking and bragging about how good he is and this and that and back-and-forth with me and meanwhile, you’re sitting there knowing every pitch that’s coming. How do you? It’s so hypocritical.

    I don’t try… I don’t bother, I don’t go out of my way to bother anybody. I try not to interfere or interject myself into anyone else’s affairs, but if you come at me, I feel like I have every right to defend myself. Now they’ve chosen to make it about me and attack my character, I’m not going to let them forget the fact that they are hypocrites, they are cheaters, they’ve stolen from a lot of other people and the game itself was completely unfair. They’ve negatively affected the fans, they’ve negatively affected players, they’ve negatively affected kids and the future of baseball – which is what I’m most upset about. Now all the things they do really well as an organization are going to get completely washed away and forgotten about so the next generation of kids gets set back five or 10 years on the analytics, training and health and all the different stuff they do really well.

    It pisses me off because all we want to do – everyone comes here to win, but we agree to play by a set of rules and we want to play fairly and compete and see are we better than you or not? So we all assume that’s what’s going on. When it’s not, it’s hold on a second, why is it that I have to abide by the rules? That guy has to abide by the rules. That team has to abide by the rules but you guys think you are better than everyone and you don’t have to abide by the rules? **** you. You know? That’s how I feel about their whole operation, especially, especially when you’re so outspoken against stuff. If you take a stand and you’re so firmly against stuff, you better ****ing make sure that you’re not doing the stuff that you’re talking about.

    I mean, I don’t know anything about the whole (Roberto) Osuna situation, right? But if you’re Justin Verlander and you decide to take a stance against domestic violence and speak out 100 percent against it and then you flip-flop your opinion when someone is now on your team and it’s affecting you, that’s not having character. That’s not taking a moral stand, that’s just pandering to the public. It’s the same thing as cheating. If you’re going to sit there as A.J. Hinch and tell me that I should probably sweep my porch and my accusations are unfounded and you’re going to laugh in the face of the media about the Yankees saying that he may be doing something in the postseason and saying, ‘Oh if I knew it was going to get in their head, then we probably would have done something.’ Like, **** you! How are you going to say that when you know damn well that you’re doing what they’re saying? I don’t know.

    I’m big on honesty and having character and treating people well.

    Whit Merrifield was not an All-Star because José Altuve was. Aaron Judge did not win the MVP because José Altuve did and things like this. So now Whit Merrifield, when he goes to sign his long-term extension, doesn’t have ‘All-Star’ next to his name. ‘All-Star’ probably makes him a lot more valuable in arbitration which perhaps makes him not sign that deal or maybe sign the deal for that many more million dollars. Aaron Judge doesn’t have MVP next to his name. What is he worth in his first year of arbitration? That’s millions of dollars. The trajectory of the career, too. It’s not the first time where it’s a million or two, but then the next year it’s two or three and the next year after that, it’s four or five.

    The whole thing is just like, it’s so frustrating.

    Because man, if you take steroids – back in the steroid era – you take steroids and a lot of people are doing it, you don’t sit there and say, like, ‘It is wrong, it is this, that and the other, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…’ And then you get caught. It’s like, that’s why the whole Ryan Braun thing is so ****ed up. He cost someone his job, wagging your finger in the face of everyone else, then you get caught and you shut up and you don’t say anything about it. Why?

    At least the vast majority of people who got caught doing steroids weren’t attacking the character of other people in the league, blasting them for saying they might be taking steroids when they knew damn well they were. It’s just so… it’s filthy, it’s hypocritical. It’s underhanded. I don’t know.

    I’m probably going to get myself in trouble for saying all of this different stuff, but it’s how I feel. I think it’s important to stand up and say something because I’m not afraid of the backlash. I’ve been out there on my own my entire life, basically. I had very few friends growing up, I really didn’t have a peer group, I’ve been attacked by coaches along the way and fellow teammates for training the way I did. I’m used to this. A lot of other players don’t have the standing in the league, don’t have that sense about themselves or just don’t want to rock the boat or whatever, but we all feel this way. We’re all pissed. If no one ever comes out and says anything then nothing gets done.

    If Mike Fiers doesn’t come out and say something, nothing gets done. Nothing – even though all the players know this **** is going on, it’s the worst kept secret in baseball. If no one says anything, then nothing gets done – no one says anything publicly because reports have been given to the league for multiple years. The Astros had an employee in our camera well filming our dugout in the 2018 postseason. If you’re that brazen, if you’re that out in the open with that? What is it that you actually want to hide? Now we know more about what they actually want to hide.or what they’re actually trying to cover up. To answer your original question before I went on this rant, that’s why I feel like it’s important to speak up because a lot of players around the league feel this way and don’t have a voice or don’t have the standing to where they can say something. At the end of the day, right is right, wrong is wrong. Integrity and moral character, those things all matter. That’s where I try to position myself.

    I have no problem with people stealing signs if you’re on second base and you pick the catcher’s sign or pick what the pitcher’s doing, he’s tipping his pitches or whatever, you know? But when they go to that length to do it in real-time, to take away any possibility of any chance to compete against it, and like I said, the whole mocking of people for saying it, it’s ridiculous.
     
  7. J.R.

    J.R. Member

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    How do you feel about Mike Fiers?

    I’m happy Mike said something. I know a lot of people, or some people had been like, ‘Oh, well he should’ve said something when he was on the team’ or whatever. It’s just so unrealistic because he’d be banned, blackballed from the game. I don’t blame him at all for not saying something then. I’m happy he finally came out and said something.

    We’ve been waiting two, two-and-a-half, three years, for someone with knowledge of the situation to be willing to talk. I figured it’d have to be someone once they retired when they had played their career out because that’s just generally how the game works. These things come out 15-20 years afterward and people are just telling stories afterward, like, ‘Oh, yeah, back in the ’80s, this guy was doing this.’ It’s like, ‘Well, that’s cheating. Maybe we should’ve known then.’

    I’m happy Mike came out and said something. I think it’s good for baseball. Good for him and for a lot of other players. It’s a very strong position and leadership role that he took.

    Ultimately, on a wider scale, the players as a whole, we need more strength and leadership at the top. I think that’s the position that he took, which is important.

    Did it anger you more when you saw the press conference yesterday?

    What did you expect from them? The entire time they had been super dismissive and it’s very obvious that they don’t think it affected the game. They feel like they were in the right.

    You can tell a fake apology when you have to give an apology, but you don’t want to apologize because you don’t think you were wrong. You can tell what it is when you see it. That was that. They didn’t give a ****. Of the people I saw speak, not a single one of them actually meant what they were saying.

    Yeah, you have to say the words but honestly, in that situation, I would rather them just come out and say, ‘Yeah, we did it. We’re not sorry about it. Yeah, we cheated. We’ll take the penalty and come beat us.’ At least it would be honest. Just tell us how you actually feel. Don’t lie. You’ve been lying the entire ****ing time. Now you’re lying about your apology.

    ‘We don’t think it affected the game.’ You’re either lying or you’re a ****ing idiot. And you don’t become a billionaire owner of a team by being a ****ing idiot. So, you’re lying.

    I don’t know. How can you not think that affected the game when you know what pitches, that’s just so ridiculous. That take, that quote, then basically the entire thing was like, ‘Oh, I’m sorry we got caught.’ Not like, ‘Hey, we did this.’

    Here’s the thing for you, if any of the Astros players would come out today and say, ‘Hey, I’m holding a press conference. I’m going to have a select group of fans, media, other players, we’re all going to sit down and I’m going to answer all your questions for an hour 100 percent honestly. We’re just going to talk it through.’ That player could say anything about what they did, and all this different stuff and he’d actually be liked. That’s how ridiculous this situation has gotten. If a player came out and told you everything they did, and it was the worst possible cheating scandal in the history of baseball and he revealed it all, that player would be liked because the rest of them have been so disingenuous. Not a single one of them has said an honest damn word the entire time. Just such a ridiculous situation, man.

    Whatever on the field, right? OK, so you ****ing beat me on the field because whatever. But what about people who don’t have jobs? What about the people that lose out on millions of dollars and their whole career trajectory has changed? What about the people who don’t get signed at a certain position because someone who knew what pitches were coming took that position? What if someone gets DFA’d because there is just no more room for them?

    Oh, we’re coming up in four or five days, you’re going to see pitchers throwing live BP with an L-screen in front of them because the hitters know what’s coming. Because it’s ****ing dangerous. You have a hitter that knows what’s coming and smokes a ball off someone’s shin or hits them in the head. Maybe that guy is done. Maybe it hits him just right and he dies. Like these are the realities and however small of a chance it is, it’s a better chance if you know what pitch is coming that that’s going to happen. It’s dangerous.

    Robbed from other people, you take their positions, their livelihood, the dollars, the experience of being an All-Star, the experience of moving on in the postseason, the experience of winning a World Series perhaps. It’s so far-reaching. To see them sit there and be like, ‘I’m sorry that we got caught. I’m sorry for the actions that the team and the organization and myself took. That’s all I’m going to say.’ It’s hollow.

    Coming from someone who is previously super outspoken and all over social and posting **** about (Nate) Eovaldi and homering off him. Right before that playoff series, posting **** about me and back and forth, which is fine. I have no problem with that. It’s all fun and games online, bantering back and forth. But like, ‘OK, where is your talk now?’ When it comes time to face the fire, which you started, you better be man enough to stand up and face it. If you’re not, then just **** you. No credibility. No respect from anyone for anything.

    That’s the thing, like, he’s a great player. They are all great players with or without it. But now, no one in the league respects them for anything they do. Not for how they work. Not for how they prepare. Not for how they play. Not for their skills. Nothing. Nothing. And it’s all of them, regardless of who participated or didn’t.

    Do you think the banging scheme was just the tip of the iceberg?

    I don’t know, man.

    I’ve heard about the algorithms they had for a long time. I’m glad those finally came out about using a machine learning to decode signs and stuff in real-time. I don’t know what else they are doing. I’ve heard stuff. I don’t have first-hand knowledge of it.

    It’s one of those things where you hear from enough people that are independent of each other that there is other stuff going on. It’s like, ‘Oh, man, well this person said it, but it could just be a rumor.’ I heard the same from that other person, but they don’t know each other. I heard the same thing from that other person and none of them know each other. It’s like, well, you start to think something else is going on. I don’t want to spread, perpetuate a rumor with no inside knowledge of it.

    I’ve heard from three separate sources about there is other stuff, but I have no idea if it’s true or not. I really don’t want to wade into that.
     
    #2107 J.R., Feb 14, 2020
    Last edited: Feb 14, 2020
  8. J.R.

    J.R. Member

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    Have you heard from MLB after your tweets and video about Rob Manfred?

    No. What are they going to say? It’s the ****ing truth.

    Oh, you’re going to get mad that I called the commissioner a joke when he lied to my face the first time we met each other. It was like, whatever.

    You want to be mad, just ****ing come talk to me face-to-face. Let’s sit down and have an open, honest conversation. Not a, hey, I want to be open and honest and have a collaborative conversation with the players in the league and then two minutes after you tell that to everybody in the room, you sit there and lie to my face and say the game being 2:59 is better than 3:01 because it’s a fan issue. No, it’s not. It’s a TV issue, which is fine. Everyone makes more money if the TVs are happy. Just tell me. Don’t say that it’s going to be open and honest, and then lie to my face.

    If you want to have an open conversation and you actually want to discuss some stuff, if you actually care about the game and the industry that you’re presiding over and that you’re supposed to be running, and you think I have something valuable or you’re mad at me or something like that, then come talk to me. He can find me. What’s he going to be mad about? The truth?

    I called him a joke. He lied to my face in ’14 in front of all my teammates and stuff like that when I asked him why the length of the game was important. No fan gives a **** if the game is 3:01 or 2:59. You think I’m stupid? I don’t know.

    Not a fan of the guy with how he’s chosen to run the league, some of the constant focus on changing the game itself. The product is great. We have a good product. We have the best group of players the game has ever had, the most talented, the fastest, the most athletic. Just the packaging is terrible.

    It’s so bad. I mean, from listening to a game on TV, if you can even watch a game, first off. Half the people can’t even see the damn games on TV or online or anything like that.

    Then if you watch the game, you have announcers that are supposed to be working on behalf of the league to promote the game and then televise it and stuff like that, just ******** on it non-stop. ‘The product is so bad. The players strike out too much.’ It’s all this negative crap.

    Then on top of that, you don’t allow the players to have any personality at all. That’s systematic. You get taught in the minor leagues, don’t bat flip. Don’t show emotion. If you say one thing in the media, the media director is like, ‘Hey, maybe we shouldn’t. Let me teach you how to say something without saying anything.’ So, you suck all the personality out of what, 40, 50, how many jerseys are in here?

    61

    Sixty-one times 30 organizations, times all the minor leagues, so you suck all the personality out of the most culturally diverse game with the most players that should be the most marketable. You just suck all the personality out from a young age on the field, off the field. All the fans are like, baseball players don’t have personalities. None of them have been in the clubhouse. How much personality do you see in here? How many things would just be absolutely hilarious that you look at and you’re like, ‘Holy ****, that’s frickin’ funny that nobody gets to see.’ There’s that problem and then you want to change the product itself instead of like, let’s just re-package it.

    Let’s open it up. Let’s actually let people post highlights. They’ve done a little bit better job of that in the last couple of years. When you’re banning some of the most influential baseball accounts on social media a couple years back like Pitching Ninja, other ones that have gone through all that stuff, like what are you doing?

    Meanwhile, you have the NBA that is just absolutely crushing everybody, that gives content away like ‘please post our content. Here you go.’ Baseball playoffs are going on and Joel Embiid, in the second game of the NBA season that doesn’t mean anything is trending. There are two basketball players trending nationally above anything baseball-related during Game 7 of one of the best World Series that we’ve seen.

    Don’t change the product. And I’m not fully against changing parts of the product, either. I’m really not. Like, don’t just make changes to make changes.

    Where is the polling that’s like what do the fans want? Why don’t we just take a poll and say, fans, what do you want to see? When you make rule changes, let’s involve the fans, the players, everybody and take a vote. If it doesn’t pass with 70% or whatever percentage, there doesn’t need to be a rule change. At least you bring the fans and the players and the league together where it’s like, this is our game, we’re doing this together. Video games do that all the time. Online games, they have this community-based, they don’t let any new changes to the game or rules or anything like that change unless the community votes on it. Where’s that? Maybe, they’ve done polling and we don’t know about it. I don’t know. It sure seems like it’s trying to solve the problem of, OK, how do we make more money? Which is fine. Again, everyone makes more money if the league makes more money. But like, don’t just make changes to make changes. Have a reason. Yeah. Been a frustrating offseason.
     
  9. JayGoogle

    JayGoogle Member

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    This is why the media will NEVER let this die down and I bet you the MLB desperately...DESPERATELY wants the Stros in the WS against the Dodgers. The ratings for that series would be insane.

    This is the kind of Heel v Face dynamic that Vince McMahon dreams of having headline WM.

    The heel that won his title unfairly and has to defend it against the face that stands for all that is right and good.
     
  10. J.R.

    J.R. Member

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    Seriously, **** that guy.
    You don't have character! You're not taking a moral stand! You're pandering to the public!

    "One of their players." You can't even name the guy you're calling out, Alex Bregman.

    No problem with "natural" sign stealing but otherwise, bad!

    No, **** you mother****er! You don't have character! You're not taking a moral stand! You're pandering to the public!

    Again you want to call him out, he has a name. "Someone" "He" "One of their players".

    It's exactly what you want to do.
    "I heard they were using buzzers."
    "I heard they're doing this."
    "I heard they're doing that."
    "Can't confirm anything"
    "But I'm not looking to stir anything up."


    **** you. Go **** yourself.
     
  11. Chilly_Pete

    Chilly_Pete Contributing Member

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    I mean I knew Bregman had gotten in his head, but damn I didn't realize it was at this level.
     
  12. Nick

    Nick Contributing Member

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    Bauer is already a has been. Most people don’t realize he doesn’t even pitch for Cleveland anymore.
     
  13. BigM

    BigM Contributing Member

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    He’s an attention w**** that is lapping up every minute of this and the media is getting every sound bite it can. This is a perfect storm of marriage between multiple idiots.
     
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  14. Buck Turgidson

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    Whatever else he may be, Bauer is 100% correct on Manfred.
     
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  15. Newlin

    Newlin Member

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    The Astros are going to enjoy home games more than ever this season.
     
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  16. Nook

    Nook Member

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    Somebody is going to get their ass beat. I don’t know if it will be an Astros player or another player... but someone is.

    If I had to guess, the person beating ass will either Gurriel or Verlander.
     
  17. J.R.

    J.R. Member

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    :rolleyes:
     
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  18. Nook

    Nook Member

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    Yes I am sure the Yankees are sleeping well and are happy the Nationals won the World Series.

    Since the Yankees are so devastated by the Astros cheating, I am sure they will be releasing Cole any day now.
     
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  19. donkeypunch

    donkeypunch Contributing Member

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    Thats what happens when b****es get together.
     
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  20. Snake Diggit

    Snake Diggit Member

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    Trevor Bauer is mentally ill and I pity him.
     
    RayRay10 likes this.
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