Trout on Astros: ‘They cheated’
TEMPE, Ariz. — Before Angels owner Arte Moreno held court with reporters and outlined how he intends to push his team back into the playoffs for the first time since 2014, the typically diplomatic star of Moreno’s franchise torched a division rival.
In his first news conference of the spring, Mike Trout on Monday said he had lost respect for Houston Astros players who utilized an elaborate and illegal sign-stealing scheme to gain an edge on their way to winning the franchise’s first World Series in 2017.
“It’s sad for baseball,” Trout said. “It’s tough. They cheated.”
Trout also expressed frustration with the discipline handed down by Commissioner Rob Manfred, who granted players immunity in exchange for their cooperation in his investigation. Trout did not think that Manfred’s one-year suspension of former Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow and ex-manager A.J. Hinch was sufficient.
“You don’t know what helped them or whatnot,” he said. “But if you know what [pitch is] coming, it’s going to definitely help them. I don’t know if you take the trophy away or take the rings away, but they should definitely do something.”
He later added: “The players getting nothing, that’s definitely not right, for sure.”
Throughout the 2017 season and for part of 2018, Astros video room staffers used an outfield camera to steal signs from the catcher and relay them to batters. The Astros eventually began banging on a trash can at the base of the dugout steps as part of the scheme.
Trout said he never heard the banging himself, but he “noticed the banging off the bat, from center field.”
“It seemed like they weren’t missing pitches,” he said. “It’s frustrating because you have guys coming in here battling every day and working on stuff and they make a nasty pitch down and away. I can’t tell you when this happened, but I’m sure it did. I can’t imagine what the pitchers feel like. It’s a mental game. You go in a stretch where you’re doing good and you go into Houston and get banged up, it could mentally drain you.
“I lost some respect for some guys. A lot of stuff that comes out, you have to see if it’s true or not. I’ll talk to them and see them in the season.”
Third baseman Anthony Rendon, who signed with the Angels as a free agent during the offseason after leading the Washington Nationals to the World Series title over the Astros, was more forgiving.
“Everyone’s quick to hammer them down and just kill them, basically,” Rendon said. “But at the end of the day, we’ve got to look at ourselves in the mirror, and we’re not perfect people. Whether it’s a speeding ticket or whatever it might be, some of us are trying to get an edge some way or another in life.
“They happened to get caught for doing it. You can forgive them, but doesn’t mean you have to forget.”
Trout, 28, won his third most-valuable-player award last season. He hit a careerhigh 45 home runs, drove in more than 100 runs for the first time since 2016 and batted .291 in 134 games. Despite not playing after Sept. 7, Trout led baseball in onbase percentage (.438), owned the highest on-base-plus-slugging percentage (1.083) in the American League and was second in the AL in home runs.
He couldn’t fathom what his numbers would look like if he had the same edge as the Astros, some of whom reached out to Trout to explain the situation.
“Me going up to the plate knowing what was coming?” he posited. “It would be fun up there.”
No decision on Simmons contract
The Angels have a multiple Gold Glove-winning shortstop in Andrelton Simmons, but for how much longer? Simmons’ contract is up after this season.
He had not been approached about his future with the team before he arrived for the first full squad workout of the spring Monday.
Moreno said the Angels still are determining their stance on Simmons’ contract status. Whether they pursue signing him to a longterm deal will depend on the evaluations of Moreno’s new coaching staff.
“I probably spend more time watching that guy on the field than anybody,” Moreno said. “I love Simmons.”
The Angels don’t have a shortstop prospect of Simmons’ caliber ready to ascend. Jeremiah Jackson, the Angels’ top middle-infield prospect, is only 18.
He hit .266 with 23 homers in 65 rookie-level games last year, but he also struck out 96 times while drawing only 24 walks in his first full professional season since being drafted out of a Mobile, Ala., high school in the second round in 2018. He is still years away from the major leagues.
If they were to lose Simmons, the Angels likely would have to rely on switchhitting middle infielder Luis Rengifo and the versatile David Fletcher.
Both players have at least five years of team control remaining and are fine defensive players.
Building a stadium is a possibility
In his first public comments on the stadium deal approved by the Anaheim City Council in December, Moreno said he has not decided whether he would replace Angel Stadium or renovate it.
SRB Management, a company affiliated with Moreno, agreed to buy the 153-acre site — the stadium and the surrounding parking lots — for $325 million. The city would like the development to include parkland and affordable housing and would consider reducing the final sale price as an incentive.
Moreno said the Angels would play in their current stadium for at least the next three to five years, the time frame he estimated would be needed to build a stadium elsewhere in the parking lot.
In the meantime, as the team studies whether to opt for a new or renovated stadium, he said he would continue to invest in Angel Stadium for cleanliness, safety and fan experience.
“A lot of people are looking at bigger, more fun gathering areas, so we look at that,” he said.