Tainted until proven innocent
Until players start performing the way they did before the scandal, there will be skeptics
Major League Baseball sent a message earlier this week when it dished out lengthy suspensions for a cheating scandal that embarrassed the sport and called its integrity into question. Now it’s the players’ turn.
Teams have been warned against publicly commenting on the one-year suspensions former Astros manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff
Luhnow received for their involvement — or lack of oversight – in stealing signs from 2017-18. The athletes are under no such obligation and they are starting to speak out.
This has been a week of vindication for Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer and he’s making sure everybody knows it. The former Cleveland standout had several run-ins with Astros players over the past couple years for cryptic remarks he made suggesting not everything was on the up and up in Houston. That led to several public feuds and Bauer didn’t hesitate to circle back when news of the scandal first broke. Bauer posted old video clips of Hinch on social media, he wished Astros pitcher Lance McCullers a Happy New Year with a few mocking emojis and, in a video message to righthander Collin McHugh, he posted a recording of him asking Siri for the definition “hypocrisy.”
The biggest bombshell came Thursday afternoon from a Twitter account that claimed to be run by the niece of former Astro Carlos Beltran, who was fired by the Mets on Thursday before he ever managed a game. The supposed niece, who the family denies is a relative according to ESPN, accused players such as Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman of wearing buzzers under their uniforms that vibrated before off-speed pitches.
The allegations, which seemed comical at first, started to gain traction as the day went on. Former big-leaguer Phil Hughes retweeted the since-deleted account and pointed to its track record of reporting news. Bauer retweeted one message, which stated Altuve didn’t want to have his jersey removed after hitting a walk-off homer against Aroldis Chapman in the 2019 ALCS and wrote: “I’ve heard this from
multiple parties too, for what it’s worth,” Bauer wrote.
Video from the moment in question clearly shows Altuve tugging at his jersey and folding his arms to make sure it doesn’t get ripped off as he approaches the plate. In an on-field interview with Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal minutes later, Altuve claimed he was shy and didn’t want to upset his wife by showing skin on national television. At the time, it seemed like a funny moment, but now it’s being viewed through a different lens.
Later in the day, internet sleuths uncovered a post-game video interview of Josh Reddick where he is wearing a tank top and appears to have something stuck to his chest. Accusations were made that it was one of the electronic buzzing devices while his wife claimed it was a piece of confetti. If this keeps up for much longer, MLB might have to create its own reality television show to cover all the drama.
“When this came up (Thursday), Jose Altuve immediately contacted me and this is his statement: ‘I have never worn an electronic device in my performance as a major-league player,’ ” agent Scott Boras told the New York Post.
Altuve can say whatever he wants through Boras, it’s not going to change that the players involved have lost their credibility. The accusations are limited to the Astros and Red Sox, but the sporting community has every right to question whether there are more teams involved. If the steroid era taught us anything, it’s that once someone tries to get a leg up, others follow.
“I would rather face a player that was taking steroids than face a player that knew every pitch that was coming,” Dodgers left-hander Alex Wood tweeted.
That seems to be the prevailing sentiment among pitchers. Steroids allow players to recover faster, build muscle and hit the ball farther. What it doesn’t do, at least not in every case, is improve timing at the plate. The ability to mix and match speeds to keep hitters off-balance has always been a pitcher’s biggest advantage. Knowing what pitch is coming removes that element of surprise.
That’s why there has been a lot of anger about how the accused players are skating by without any repercussions. Yet at the same time, almost everybody seems to be at a loss when asked what penalties would be appropriate. Suspending an entire roster likely isn’t feasible, and even if it were, legal battles with the union would take months, if not years. What happens to the league when the Red Sox and potentially others get added to the list as well?
MLB created this mess by installing replay centres in each clubhouse. It allowed the deeds to go unpunished, except for some strongly worded memos, for the past two-plus years despite opposing players claiming complaints had been filed. And there is no discipline coming anywhere except in the court of public opinion. The careers of Altuve, George Springer, Carlos Correa, Bregman and many others are tainted. Until they start performing post-scandal the way they performed before it, people will be skeptical. Was it skill or was it simply cheating?
“They shouldn’t feel comfortable looking at any of us in the eye, let alone on the field and (if ) any other MLB player feels different, they can get it too,” Cleveland starter Mike Clevinger wrote on Twitter. “Best part is their fans still actin (sic) with the same pompous ass attitude those boys walked with, while taking millions of dollars from boys and stealing jobs completely, staring at the camera, carrying a bat to first, maybe some don’t get it. But this is worse than steroids.”
Punishment for the accused isn’t coming from MLB, but it might be coming from their peers. Frankly, the Astros players deserve it.