Totally agree. I have in general been a Correa hater, but he is coming off great today. Amazingly candid and sincere without throwing himself or anyone else under the bus. Well done.
Correa was the star of the day. I can't state enough how much more I respect him after today. I already did, and really liked him (although like a lot of Astros fans, there was always that small part of him that was kinda frustrating), but he killed it today. Was apologetic, sincere, blunt, open and adamant that we did not wear buzzers in 2019. Unfortunately his sound bites won't be the ones making the rounds with the national media. They'll only play what Crane said (which admittedly comes across a lot worse from a PR perspective than Correa's very candid comments).
"Is that the sole reason they won the World Series? I don't know," Chapman told reporters, including ESPN's Buster Olney. "But what I can say that when you have an advantage like that, it's definitely going to make you a stronger team." "Yeah, I've seen that video," Chapman said Thursday morning, through an interpreter, at George M. Steinbrenner Field. "I think a lot of people have seen that video. It's a popular video right now. And yeah, if you look at his actions, they look a little suspicious. But at the end of the day, I just don't know" whether Altuve illegally knew what pitch was coming. "I assume responsibility for how the events developed," Chapman said. "I gave up the homer and we lost, and that's the bottom line. I was the pitcher on the mound. I was the guy facing Altuve Chapman also said, "I think it was the extra edge that allowed them to move on," in 2017. The 2017 ALCS went the full seven games with the home team winning each contest. The Yankees actually outscored Houston 22-20 in the series, but the Astros won close one-run games at Minute Maid Park in Games 1 and 2. Earlier this week Yankees right-hander Masahiro Tanaka said he believes the Astros cheated the Yankees out of a World Series. Others, including the retired CC Sabathia, has expressed a similar sentiment. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Wednesday he wants his players to vent their frustration, but vent it early in spring training and move on to 2020. "The range of emotions is huge -- mad, frustrated, disappointed," Boone said. "Some guys will want to talk about it and give you a lot. Some guys have already moved on."
Question, and sorry if it's been addressed but I missed it in the past dozen pages: When Crane was getting roasted for not punishing the players, why on Earth didn't he cite the MLB decision to give players immunity on condition of their full and honest cooperation? Crane's comments sounded like he was saying they shouldn't by held accountable at all, like they were hapless children incapable of sound ethical judgment.
If I'm Dusty Baker, I'm constantly reminding the team that as far as the universe, outside of Astros' circles, is concerned, your 2017 World Series doesn't count, won't be accepted by history, and doesn't mean ****. As far as the world is concerned, you've won nothing. And the only way that's going to change is by going out and winning another one. I might even publicly embrace such rhetoric if I was the organization as a strategy to alter the narrative going forward this season.
So, obviously Crane's conference with the team was him telling everyone to admit fault, take the hit, and let it all eventually blow over. Well, I hope this gets him in good with Manfred, because that's all the positive he's going to get out of it. You've got idiots like Screamin A. renewing his "Astros should be stripped of their WS" BS, and since the Red Sox report isn't ready (and you KNOW they're not going to get hit as hard as we did) this is all the media is going to focus on. Any time we come up with a clutch hit, talking heads are going to start with the new conspiracy theories. Never mind that I would bet that every team in the majors probably bends if not outright breaks some rule about sign stealing. We got caught so we are the bad guys and the idiot media schills and self righteous morons like Trevor Bauer get to prattle on about playing "the right way". I swear, if I ever meet Fiers I'm going to kick him in the balls so hard he's going to be able to wear them as earrings.
Very good question. I think he might have just wanted to not come across as throwing the players under the bus at all. Wouldn't look good for an owner to come across as doing that. Unfortunately his comments will now be spun to imply that he didn't think his players had any responsibility in their actions. I think he could've answered it a little better by doing exactly what you suggest... referring to their immunity being conditional on their full honesty and transparency.
Totally predict that the National media will try to sweep the Correa comments under the rug and still promote the Champman "It's suspicious" comments. The NY media and fans just want to keep using this as an excuse to why they've lost the last few years to the Astros.
MLB's insistence on protecting the players in all this is mind boggling. They act like the players couldn't wipe their own @$$es without the GM telling them to and the manager showing them how. These guys are professional athletes and adults, they are just as culpable. All hail the specter of the players union, I guess.
Give Correa a lifetime contract. Springer too. Ride with them, Bergman, and Jose until the end of time. You know they’re sick of the slander. LFG
Ok then let’s start the ****ing protests to take the championships away from teams with known steroid users. The Astros have to fight back with this approach because the attack on them is more ludicrous than warranted.
More cries of suspending or banning players. Why? You want to know why? They are scared. They know this won't have a huge effect on performance. Otherwise, wouldn't it be better to see them fall flat on their face? They are terrified of losing to the Astros again and what excuse will they have then?
