Hinch reflects on Astros scandal
Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch reflected on the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal that cost him his job as the team’s manager in his return to Houston on Monday, saying it put a “cloud over the sport.”
Hinch was suspended by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred for a year in January 2020 and subsequently fired by owner Jim Crane for his role in the scheme that violated rules by using a video camera to steal catchers’ signs during Houston’s run to the 2017 World Series title and again in the 2018 season.
He was hired by the Tigers this offseason and discussed the scandal prior to Monday’s opener of a three-game series against the Astros.
Asked whether he still takes pride in leading the Astros to their first title in a season tainted by cheating, he gave a long and frank answer acknowledging the team’s wrongdoing.
“I do believe that we did some good things in Houston,” Hinch said. “I do believe we were wrong in the behavior and the decisions that we made in 2017, and it’s hard to have that cloud over the sport and be responsible for that and be the man that was that was the manager that it happened on my watch.”
Hinch spent five seasons in Houston, helping turn around a team that had sunk to embarrassing lows during a rebuild in the years before he arrived. The Astros won more than 100 games in each of his last three seasons, capped by a franchise-best 107 wins in 2019 when they lost to Washington in the World Series.
Hinch added that he has largely been quiet in publicly reflecting on his time in Houston because his “relationship with that time is complicated.” He said he’s tried to keep the stain of his actions away from the Tigers since they hired him.
“It’s something I take very seriously,” he said. “I will continue to apologize not only to the Houston fans, but to all the fans around baseball and continue to repeat how wrong it was. And for that, we’re going to have to live with that for the rest of our careers. It’s part of my story.”
NATIONALS GET BACK SCHWARBER, BELL, HARRISON >>
Josh Bell swung at golf-ball-sized Wiffle balls darting about at what he estimates was 75 to 95 mph. Kyle Schwarber used virtual reality goggles to study major league pitching and took some real-world hacks with the help of a tee and net delivered to his home.
Whatever it took to try to get ready for their debuts with the Washington Nationals — 11 days after the MLB season actually began.
Bell, Schwarber and Josh Harrison were reinstated from the injured list by the Nationals, making the team’s roster nearly whole again after a coronavirus outbreak sidelined nine players and caused postponements of four games.
“Our lineup’s intact,” manager Dave Martinez said before Washington’s series opener at the St. Louis Cardinals, when Schwarber started in left field, Bell at first base and Harrison at second — just as they had been expected to be for Game 1 of 2021.
“I talked to them this morning when they landed and asked how they were doing,” Martinez said. “And without hesitation, all three of them said to put them in the lineup, that they were ready to go.”