Toronto Star

MLB: Former Houston Astro Gonzalez apologizes for sign-stealing scandal

- SAM FORTIER THE WASHINGTON POST

In the first of what will be many spring-training sound bites on the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal, one of the team’s former players apologized for cheating en route to the 2017 World Series title. Marwin Gonzalez, a utility player now with the Minnesota Twins, expressed regret as his current team reported to camp in Fort Myers, Fla.

“I’m remorseful for everything that happened in 2017, for everything that we did as a group, and for the players that were affected directly by us doing this,” he told reporters. “That’s why I feel more regret, and that’s why I’m remorseful.”

Gonzalez was the first former Astros position player to address the scheme, and he said it’s impossible to know whether the Astros would have won their first championsh­ip in franchise history without it. Frustratio­n has swirled throughout the sport since former Astros pitcher Mike Fiers revealed the signsteali­ng operation to The Athletic in November. The scheme was reportedly nicknamed “Codebreake­r,” and it relied on illegal videotapin­g of signs from the catcher to the pitcher. The fallout led to three managers and a general manager losing their jobs, as well as an investigat­ion into similar allegation­s against the Boston Red Sox, who won the World Series in 2018.

Since the scandal broke, current Astros have said almost nothing. That’s why former players such as Gonzalez and Dallas Keuchel, a pitcher now with the Chicago White Sox, have been among the few Astros-adjacent voices to address the issue. Keuchel personally apologized to former White Sox pitcher Danny Farquhar, who was one of the first in baseball to speculate the Astros were cheating.

“First and foremost I think apologies should be in order for, if not everybody on the team, then himself,” Keuchel told reporters in late January. “It was never intended to be what it is made to be right now.”

Still, the revelation­s sparked outrage around baseball. Some players — Cincinnati Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer, Cleveland Indians pitcher Mike Clevinger, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger — lambasted the Astros. Softer-spoken ones criticized the effect on those living on the margins in the league. One of them, pitcher

Mike Bolsinger, sued the Astros for cheating in the outing that became the “death knell” of his career.

Gonzalez himself illustrate­s how the sign-stealing could benefit a player. Teammates telegraphe­d what the pitcher would throw by banging trashcans on 147 of the 776 pitches he saw that season (18.9 per cent), higher than the overall team total (13.8), according to data charted by an Astros fan. He posted career-high offensive numbers that year, batting .303 with 23 home runs and a .907 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. He hasn’t near those figures since.

Current Astros, even when asked for comment, have demurred. Outfielder Josh Reddick, the first Astros player available, told reporters, “It stinks for everybody involved,” and that, “when everyone feels the time is right, it will get taken care of.”

Two of the team’s star players, Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve, spoke at the team’s winter fan festival in Houston and deflected any questions regarding the incident. Altuve declined to address the situation, and Bregman repeated strains of his first statement, “The commission­er made his report, made his decision and the Astros made their decision and I have no further comment on it.”

The backlash to this performanc­e led Astros owner Jim Crane to promise the team would hold a news conference at spring training and “apologize for what happened, ask for forgivenes­s and move forward.”

The Astros’ former manager A.J. Hinch, fired in the fallout, spoke on MLB Network and apologized for his role in the scandal. He held himself accountabl­e for failing to stop the scheme.

 ??  ?? Marwin Gonzalez is the first position player to address the scheme.
Marwin Gonzalez is the first position player to address the scheme.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Canada