MLB: Morton regrets inaction on Astros’ cheating

ST. PETERSBURG, FLA.— Rays pitcher Charlie Morton was aware of the illegal sign-stealing by his then Astros teammates and said Saturday “I regret not doing more to stop it.”

Talking with Tampa Bay media about the scandal for the first time, Morton said the championship the Astros won in 2017 has been impacted.

“I think the perception of that World Series was negatively affected, at minimum,” Morton said.

Morton was new to the Astros in 2017, and not the established star he is now, which may have impacted what he could do or say about the scheme.

“I was aware of the banging. You could hear the banging, being in the dugout you could hear it. I don’t know when it dawned on me, but you knew it was going on,” Morton said.

“Personally, I regret not doing more to stop it. I don’t know what that would have entailed.”

Morton said he couldn’t say if players should have been punished because there were different levels of involvement, and there probably couldn’t be a uniform level of discipline.

Morton was with the Astros in 2018 and said that by the time he returned to Houston as a visitor for the first time with the Rays in August of 2019, he was confident the cheating had stopped.

As to how he will view his former Astros teammates knowing they were caught cheating, Morton sounded forgiving.

“From a personal standpoint, good people make mistakes. It’s as simple as that,” he said. “I really don’t have anything else to say about it. I think mistakes were made and everybody is just trying to move on.”