Steinbrenner wonders ‘what if?’ Yanks feel cheated

ORLANDO, FLA. » New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner understands why his players feel cheated by the Houston Astros.

If Houston had not been using a video camera to steal opposing catcher’s signs in 2017, maybe the Yankees would have won the AL Championship Series instead of losing to the Astros in seven games.

“When the report came out, I was as upset as anyone,” Steinbrenner said Wednesday at the baseball owners meeting. “Clearly, there were direct implications to my organization, our team, our 2017 team. But at some point I think we all for the sake of the game and the good of the game, need to move on.”

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred issued a report on Jan. 13 that concluded the Astros broke rules against electronic sign stealing in 2017, including during the postseason. Houston won all four home games against the Yankees in the playoffs, when Astros players had the advantage of the sign-stealing system, and lost all three in the Bronx.

Steinbrenner is among the Yankees who wondered: what if?

“I think enough people have brought that to my attention and I’m a reasonably smart guy. I’ve certainly thought that,” Steinbrenner said.

Three days after Manfred issued his report, CC Sabathia vented his anger on his R2C2 podcast. Sabathia won Game 3 at home against the Astros in 2017 and lost Game 7 on the road.

“There’s no way that you can

tell me that we weren’t better than them,” Sabathia said, mixing in profanities. “I cried like a baby. ... Forever in mymind now, in ‘17, we won the World Series.”

Houston went on to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games.

“We would have whooped the Dodgers’ ( behind),” Sabathia said.

After the report in The Athletic last November in which former Astros pitcher Mike Fiers revealed the signstealing system, Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge tweeted: “Wait... what....?” Judge later deleted his November 2017 Instagram post after Houston’s Jose Altuve won the AL MVP award, a message that read: “Nobody more deserving than you!! Congrats on an unforgettable 2017!!”

Jeter vote remains private

The lone basebal l writer who did not vote for Derek Jeter for the Hall of Fame chose to

keep his or her ballot private.

The Baseball Writers’ Association of America released the ballots of 315 Hall voters on Tuesday, and all public ballots included the longtime New York Yankees captain.

Jeter was on 396 of 397 ballots in voting announced Jan. 21, elected along with slugger Larry Walker. They will be inducted into the Hall at Cooperstown on July 26 along with catcher Ted Simmons and late players’ association head Marvin Miller, who were elected by the modern era committee in November.

Mariano River a, Jeter’s Yankees teammate for five World Series titles, became the first unanimous pick last year when he was on all 425 ballots.

The BBWAA has listed public ballots since 2012. The BBWAA voted all Hall ballots should be made public but was overruled by the Hall’s board of directors, which instead included an option for each voter to decide whether to release his or her ballot two weeks after the voting announcement.

The percentage of public ballots released by the BBWAA was about the same this year (79.3%) as last (79.5%).

Ryan Thibodaux’s vote tracker lists 332 ballots (83.6%), including six that are anonymous, and all included Jeter.

Stadiumchanges

A pair of social gathering areas are being added to the second deck of Yankee Stadium, cutting seating by 500 to 800 seats. New York said Monday it is adding the Stella Artois Landing to sections 232A and 232B in left field and the Michelob Ultra Clubhouse to sections 207 and 208 in right field. Both areas, which are covered because they are below the top deck, will be accessible to fans with game day tickets and will be available as pregame party spaces for groups of 20 or more. Several social areas had been added before the 2017 season. New York said many of the lost seats will be replaced by standing tick-ets.

apacity last year was listed at 47,309, down from 50,287 when the ballpark opened in 2009.