I completely understand the frustration. Many people inside the game are running their mouths without getting the facts right. Personally, I’m done worrying about what others think about the Astros, especially current or former Los Angeles Dodgers or New York Yankees’ players or coaches. It’s time for the Astros to shut them up by beating them on the diamond.
Spoiler MESA, Ariz. — Mike Fiers says he knows how it is to be hated; he says he knows what it is to feel physical and emotional pain. You don’t have to just take him at his word, either. In 2014, when he was pitching for Milwaukee, Fiers hit Giancarlo Stanton in the face with a pitch, giving Stanton a laceration and fractures that required stitches; Fiers was reviled in some corners for that. When Fiers drifted off of the Florida turnpike in 2008, launching through the dashboard of his car, he felt physical pain; when his mother passed away in 2013 of lupus, he felt emotional pain. Which is why, the A’s veteran starting pitcher says, he’s not concerned with his safety — inside or outside of the ballpark. “I don’t know how they would,” Fiers told The Athletic on Wednesday in the A’s clubhouse when asked whether MLB had contacted him about receiving extra protection throughout the 2020 season. “I’m not asking for extra security. I’m here to play baseball and I can defend myself, if anything. We do have National League games and I’m going to have to get into the box (to hit) just like everybody else. It’s part of the game. If they decide to throw at me, then they throw at me. There’s nothing much you can do about it.” He added: “I’ve dealt with a lot in my life. I’ve dealt with people hating me before. I’ve dealt with a lot of life problems. It is what it is. And if someone’s going to retaliate then by hitting me with a pitch, it’s not a big deal.” When asked whether he was concerned about his safety during the three A’s road trips to Houston this season, Fiers responded: “No. Everyone’s crazy — everyone can get crazy at a certain point if they don’t like something that you do. Listen … everyone’s mad at (the Astros). There are teams that are mad. It doesn’t matter what it is, extra protection, I mean, what are you going to do? There’s not much you can do.” After Fiers agreed to go on the record in The Athletic’s report last November detailing electronic sign-stealing by the Astros throughout their World Series-winning 2017 season (while Fiers was playing for Houston), past and present players began weighing in on his decision, on the actions of the Astros and even on other teams’ alleged similar activities in the past. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday that he has never seen this level of player commentary in his tenure. Manfred also said that “we will take every possible step to protect Mike Fiers wherever he’s playing, whether it’s in Houston or somewhere else.” Fiers has been trying to tune all of this noise out, partially by staying off of social media. But he also admits that it’s difficult in an age where social media usage is so prevalent. “At first, obviously, it’s a shock,” he said Wednesday. “And then it becomes … it’s a shock to everybody, and then people decide whether it was right or wrong. And then you go to just dealing with it. It happened. And we’re trying to move past it, too. Nobody’s trying to sit on this. We want this to be over. We want an even playing field. It’s not a personal thing. It’s just playing the game and respecting the game that we all grew up loving and just competing. Going out there and playing the game. “It’s kind of hard to not see it. Especially when reporters ask you, your team, whoever. Everyone’s on social media. Your teammates see that as well, and they’ll show you. So it’s kind of hard to stay away from it and focus on pitching for this team. At the end of the day, everyone wants an even playing field. Everyone wants to perform and win for their team. And that’s what we’re doing. It’s not much more than that.” When asked whether trying to create an equal playing field was the main impetus behind his speaking about the sign-stealing publicly, Fiers said: “Of course. That’s everybody here. Every team’s trying to find an advantage, and that’s fine, just do it the right way. That’s pretty much it. We’re all trying to win.” The Astros and A’s play six series this season, beginning with a home series at the Coliseum from March 30-April 1. The second meeting between the two clubs will come in Houston, on April 24-26. Unless Fiers is slated to start one of the A’s first two games in their season-opening series against the Twins, he likely wouldn’t start against the Astros in that early series. But as he has repeatedly said since Jan. 24, he’s trying to avoid thinking about that in an attempt to tune out the distractions, both for himself and for his team. “You don’t want to put that stuff in your mind, really,” he said. “You go play the game. Your team has your back. Everyone’s team is there to fight for you. If somebody has a problem with you and they throw at you, you know there’s ways in the game that you handle it and retaliate back. I’m not going to go out there and put too much on my mind. You don’t want to overthink because then it’s going to take you out of your game.” He added that the repercussions of the sign-stealing revelation obviously extend beyond him. “It’s the same with those guys (the Astros),” Fiers said. “They’ve got to go in there hoping to play the game of baseball and if they get hit, they get hit. The consequences are going to be what it is.”
Fiers continues to be a full-blown coochie with his "I just wanna talk/play baseball" comments. He needs to get caught with child p*rn.
You think I reported you for your opinion about hypocritical attacks against the Astros? We're agreed on that. Do you really need someone to point out to you what's unacceptable in that post???
I don't support the use of foul language on this board. But words are sometimes words (please don't ban me)
OK, it's not about cuss words. Terms that abase or ostracize a person or group of people based on their religion, ethnicity, sexuality, or anything else are not cool. How is it that I'm having to explain this in 2020? But you know what, if I'm way off on this, then actually ban me. Hate speech sucks.
This one is so funny, you can hear them try to bait Giradi into making this something worse than it was but Joe's basically like "Yeah, we were kind of use to this kind of thing by then." he's so nonchalant about it and thinks it's going to continue anyways. He even admits that other teams were up to shenanigans that they had to protect from. You'd think a good person in media would then ask "Really? Other teams? Care to name a few?" But they were too focused on trying to get Joe to cry and whine about it and blame the Astros for preventing the Yankees from their destiny.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ml...sox-flawless-sign-stealing-system/ar-BB10bUQ5 In a recent interview on 1310 The Ticket in Dallas, former Red Sox second baseman Ian Kinsler said that MLB wouldn't find "anything close to what's going on [in Houston]." "I don't know what [MLB] is going to find, but in my opinion, it's not anything close to what's going on [in Houston], Kinsler said. "The Red Sox were just a very tight-knit group. When I was injected into that team in the middle of the season, it was a lot like the Rangers clubs I was on, where it was just a very tight-knit group and their system was flawless. They just had a very good system of relaying from second base to home plate. That was it. Honestly. We'll see what happens with the commissioner's report." This is the most detailed that any Red Sox player has been about the allegations to date, and with good reason. Kinsler is retired, so he doesn't stand to lose anything by talking now. While Kinsler's depiction of the Red Sox sign-stealing is far from damning, he did acknowledge that while watching his previous at-bat on tape, he would check out the signs to see if he could de-code them. "If there's a video and you're going to check out your at-bat and while you're checking out your at-bat, there's a runner on second base also, and you look through your at-bat to see your personal flaws and what you're trying to fix for the next time… I'm going to go back again and check out the signs and see if I can crack them," Kinsler said. "If I can, I can. If I can't, I can't." That's somewhat of a gray area, as all MLB teams have access to video in-game. So, it will certainly be interesting to see what the MLB rules on this aspect of the allegations and what they may do to curb in-game video going forward. Still, as Kinsler said, he doesn't think that the Red Sox are going to get anything more than "a small punishment," as the league won't find anything "substantial". "I'm interested to see what happens with this whole report because I truly believe they're not going to find anything that's substantial," he said. "They might throw a small punishment out there because they did a report. I don't know. I don't know where they stand on this whole thing. We saw where they stood on the Astros thing. I just really don't see any form of punishment coming to the Red Sox. It was a very good team."
Just to be clear, it appears: TellIng the batter what pitch is coming when theres a runner on second base = allowed, and almost expected Telling the batter what pitch is coming any other time = the worst crime in the history of baseball This is an absolutely batsh*t distinction, if you really think about it.
The takeaway from Kinsler seems to be that Fiers is a little b**** and nobody on the Red Sox will be a rat like him.
And there you have it...taking the stolen money out of the bank with your bare hands is bad, but taking it out in a sack is a whole other level!
Mind you, Mr. Kinsler, this was AFTER being caught once before and punished before. Kinsler might be an idiot. He literally just confessed to ILLEGAL use of the video room. For the simple fact that they had been caught before should warrant a punishment AT LEAST the same as ours. But, amazingly enough, I still doubt that anything significant comes of it.
I said this already in this thread once I think...I understand what he is trying to do. I understand him trying to put this to bed in his own head...but there are already plenty of people digging on the Astros. Really wish he would take some of that devotion and point it towards "catching" some other teams. I know ours is so specific that it makes it easy bc there is "something to look for," but there are things to look for elsewhere too.
