Astros try to apologize for scheme
Houston infielders Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve said Thursday the team is sorry for its signstealing scheme that was investigated and punished by Major League Baseball.
“I am really sorry,” Bregman said.
Astros owner Jim Crane and new manager Dusty Baker — who replaced the fired AJ Hinch — also spoke at a news conference at the team’s spring training facility in West Palm Beach, Fla.
“We cannot take back what happened,” Crane said.
MLB did not punish any players for the cheating and Crane said he stood by that.
“We’re not going to do anything to the players,” the owner said.
On social media, the Astros’ apologies were roundly panned as inadequate.
Altuve said there was a full team meeting Wednesday to discuss what happened.
Commissioner Rob Manfred disciplined the Astros after he found the team broke rules by using electronics to steal signs during its run to the 2017 World Series championship and again in the 2018 season.
The Astros were fined $5 million, the maximum allowed under majorleague rules, and forfeited their next two firstand secondround amateur draft picks.
The investigation found that the Astros used the video feed from a centerfield camera to view and decode catchers’ signs. Players banged on a trash can to signal to batters what was coming.
Pedroia missing: Injured second baseman Dustin Pedroia won’t report to spring training with the rest of Boston’s position players next week, manager Ron Roenicke said in somewhat of a eulogy for the 2008 AL MVP’s career.
“He’s a special player,” Roenicke said after confirming what had been suspected since it was reported that Pedroia had a setback in his latest attempt to rehab his left knee. “All the things you like from a player, he’s got.”
A fourtime AllStar and Northern California native who was the AL Rookie of the Year in 2007, Pedroia has played in just nine games the past two seasons while trying to recover from the injury he sustained when Baltimore’s Manny Machado slid spikeshigh into his knee in May 2017.
Briefly: The Red Sox defeated pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez in salary arbitration, improving teams to 51 this year. Rodriguez will earn $8.3 million rather than his request for $8,975,000 . ... The Dodgers agreed to pay Kenta Maeda’s $1 million assignment bonus as part of their trade of the pitcher to Minnesota. Los Angeles also agreed to pay the Twins $3 million to cover part of Maeda’s salary and reimburse Minnesota for up to $7 million of his earned bonuses. Maeda was acquired with catcher Jair Camargo on Monday for righthander Brusdar Graterol, outfielder Luke Raley and the Twins’ competitivebalance round B pick in this year’s amateur draft, the 67th overall . ... Freeagent outfielder Jarrod Dyson finalized a $2 million deal with Pittsburgh, which hopes he can fill the void in center created by Starling Marte’s trade to Arizona. Dyson, 35, hit .230 with seven home runs and 27 RBIs in 130 games with the Diamondbacks last season . ... Righthander Brad Boxberger (13, 5.40 ERA for Kansas City in 2019) and utilityman Sean Rodriguez (.223 in 76 games for Philadelphia) agreed to terms on minorleague deals with Miami that include invitations to bigleague spring training.