Judge: Strip Astros of ’17 title
TAMPA, Fla. — New York Yankees star Aaron Judge feels the Astros should be stripped of their 2017 World Series championship.
“You cheated and you didn’t earn it,” Judge said Tuesday after the Yankees’ first full-squad workout. “That’s how I feel. It wasn’t earned. It wasn’t earned the way of playing the game right and fighting to the end and knowing that we’re competing, we’re competitors. The biggest thing about competition is laying it all out on the line, and whoever is the better player, better person comes out on top. To know that another team had an advantage that, nothing you can really guard against, I just don’t feel like that’s earned.”
MLB concluded the Astros used a video camera to steal catcher’s signs in 2017, including during the postseason, and in 2018. Manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow were suspended for one season each, then were fired by the team. The Astros were fined $5 million and stripped of its next two first- and secondround draft picks.
“It affected a lot of games, no matter what anybody says,” Judge said.
“It affected the game big time. People lost jobs, people lost money, people lost a lot of things important to them.”
No players were punished by MLB.
“I wasn’t a fan of the punishment,” Judge said. “I thought that was a little weak for a player-driven scheme that no players involved got any punishments.”
The Astros beat the Yankees in a seven-game AL Championship Series in 2017, winning all four home games, and defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in a seven-game World Series.
“To hear that you got cheated out of that opportunity, that’s tough to kind of let go,” Judge said.
LeBron swings at commissioner
LeBron James is stepping to the plate for ballplayers furious over baseball commissioner Rob Manfred’s handling of the Astros’ sign-stealing scam.
The four-time NBA MVP and star with the Los Angeles Lakers unleashed in two tweets Tuesday, echoing calls for harsher punishments made by baseball stars Mike Trout, Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger, among others.
“Listen I know I don’t play baseball but I am in Sports and I know if someone cheated me out of winning the title and I found out about it I would be … irate!” James tweeted. “I mean like uncontrollable about what I would/ could do! Listen here baseball commissioner listen to your….. players speaking today about how disgusted, mad, hurt, broken, etc etc about this. Literally the ball is in your court(or should I say field) and you need to fix this for the sake of Sports!”
Mikolas will miss start of season
St. Louis Cardinals righthander Miles Mikolas will receive a platelet-rich plasma injection in his ailing throwing arm, likely delaying his regular-season debut by about one month.
A 2018 All-Star, Mikolas received a similar injection after last season to treat a flexor tendon issue.
St. Louis manager Mike Shildt said the injection will keep Mikolas from throwing for three to four weeks. Once he is cleared to throw, Mikolas will have to restart his throwing program from the beginning.