They’re just digging in
Players realize any post-scandal trust will only reside in own locker room
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Skepticism will surround the Astros indefinitely. Apology after apology, whether rehearsed and read at a podium or shouted with profanities, has done little to tame the tumult enveloping this team. The road to a rehabilitated image is long. Few outsiders feel any empathy.
“I think as a team we’ve done pretty much everything we can do,” outfielder Josh Reddick said. “We keep asking for our peers’ forgiveness, and hopefully, they can come around to us one day and understand that we are truly remorseful and sorry for what we’ve done.”
Forgiveness feels far away. Opponents remain livid at the Astros players who were not punished for a sign-stealing scheme they perpetuated. Conspiracy theories continue to consume the industry and invade the internet. Pitchers promise retaliation despite commissioner Rob Manfred’s insistence it will not be allowed.
“I think the most important thing for us to do is stay in our dugout, stay within and go play the game that our team knows how to play,” outfielder George Springer said.
Defense of anyone associated with the Astros is nowhere to be found. “We dug our grave,” Justin Verlander said last week, “and we’re in it.” To endure the 2020 season, the Astros will have only each other.
“I think the most important thing is to have the trust of the guys who are in the locker room,” Springer said. “It’s to believe in each other. It’s to trust one another whether we’re down, up, good, not good.
That’s why this is such a family.”
Monday brought the first fullsquad workout under new manager Dusty Baker, who is not a big proponent of meetings. His good teams required hardly any, and his bad teams conducted far too many.
Baker prefers individual connections in lieu of lengthy teamwide gatherings. Monday prompted the latter. The Astros met for more than 35 minutes before the workout. Specific contents were kept private. An overriding message was simple.
“Be yourselves. Be yourselves, stay together, and let’s win,” Baker said. “And let’s have a good time while we’re doing it. I told them, really, that I watched them on TV. And these guys seem like they’re a close-knit bunch of guys, seem like they love each other.
“If anything, this might have made them closer, I think. Adversity sometimes makes you closer. It can either break you or it can make you closer. From what I see, these guys are close. Big time.”
Returning eight of nine everyday position players, three starting pitchers and five relievers from last season’s team aids in the cohesion. The scandal’s stain is unmistakable, a burden that will follow participants for the remainder of their careers. Not allowing it to interfere with the 2020 team’s exploits is of everyone’s utmost concern.
“I think we’re all going to rely on each other a lot this year,” Springer said.
Such acts have already begun. Two days ago, shortstop Carlos Correa crusaded for the tattered credibility of his teammates. He’s become the unofficial spokesman for this entire scandal, satisfying multiple media requests with candor and culpability.
On Saturday, he sought absolution for Reddick and second baseman Jose Altuve, two men he claimed never used the trash-can banging scheme in 2017. Correa heaped credibility on Altuve’s MVP Award in 2017 and introduced the most talked-about tattoo in Astros history — a seven-letter word on the second baseman’s left shoulder.
Altuve arrived Monday morning and observed a crowd of reporters near his locker. A team spokesman had already briefed the scrum that Altuve would speak after the team’s first fullsquad workout.
Nonetheless, Altuve approached them. He removed his shirt, slinging it around his neck so only to cover one sliver of his left shoulder. Correa claimed that Altuve did not want his shirt ripped off after winning the American League pennant because of an unfinished tattoo on his collarbone. Photographs from early 2019 showed a bare-chested Altuve with no ink. Altuve sought to defend the teammate who defended him.
“Carlos is a great teammate to do what he did, go out there and defend his teammates. It’s amazing. It’s the only thing I have to say,” Altuve said.
On Monday, Altuve advanced to his locker and reached for another shirt. Before he put it on, the second baseman greeted the scrum. A tattoo of his daughter’s name — Melanie — along with a heart was across his left shoulder.
Altuve said he got the art in San Francisco last season — the Astros often stay in the city when playing the Oakland A’s. It took two sessions to complete, Altuve said. The questions seemed to perturb the affable Altuve, who wanted nothing more than to focus on the task ahead.
“We have 25 leaders, even more including coaches and everybody,” Altuve said. “We really need every single (leader) that is in this clubhouse to go out there and make it happen.”