MLB TRANSACTIONS
determined to crack down digital chicanery.
The need for vigilance was magnified in 2017, when a Red Sox trainer was caught using an Apple Watch to relay signs from the team’s replay assistants to batters. Now, replay assistants are monitored by a security official; they are ostensibly the only ones with access to a live broadcast, as other TVs are required to be set on a several-second delay.
That was perhaps the most notable advancement in a fivepage memo MLB circulated in February in its effort to lend clarity in a digital era that still doesn’t frown upon “ethically obtained” signs.
“I think MLB has done an incredible job this year,” Astros starter Justin Verlander said before his Game 5 start in the ALCS. “There’s been someone in the video room every game of the season, somebody is there full time. You’re not allowed to have a live feed anywhere in the stadium that the players have access to; they check all that.
“I think that’s been an incredible step forward for MLB to go against the trend of all this technology that’s out there. That’s pretty much it. They did what I think was the best thing possible to resolve whatever issue paranoia teams have.
“Obviously, it didn’t resolve the paranoia, it’s still out there for every team.”
Including Verlander, who, at 36, finds himself changing sign sequences more than ever.
“I understand where the paranoia comes from. We have it. I have it,” he says. “There’s just so many cameras and there’s so much video now, it just kind of evolved a few years ago. You’ve got teams studying what signs you use at second base before you even step on the mound. It used to be kind of a gamesmanship thing, runner gets on second base and if he’s able to decipher your signs the time he’s on second base, that’s OK, good for you.
“But if you’re pre-studying them or having some person study them before you even get out there and all of a sudden you take the field and the team already knows what you’re using, I think that’s a little bit different.”
Menhart agrees. The probing eyes – and lenses – make everybody’s on job a lot more complicated. Whatever moral dilemmas that arise quickly fade in a cutthroat competitive environment.
“Some of it’s helpful,” he says. “And you can gain an advantage from it, it’s all part of the game. But I wish there was no such thing as that. I wish we could play the game without relying on machines and things that can pick up tipping.
“I’m a purist. I like people to go out and battle and not try to gain an advantage unnaturally.”
Nationals right-hander Anibal Sanchez, their likely starter in Game 4, said a coach helped him diagnose a pitch-tipping tic in 2012, when he held his glove near his chest in a set position. Shortly thereafter, he made an adjustment, holding the glove closer to his belt, and he’s had no problems – that he knows of – since.
Strasburg was forced to diagnose a problem this year, too, when, in two starts against the Diamondbacks, he gave up 18 hits and 15 earned runs in 92⁄3 innings – a 13.98 ERA. His ERA in his other 31 starts: 2.80.
“You feel for him,” Menhart says of a pitcher laid bare by tipped pitches. “Because it’s such a bad feeling as a pitcher when you know the other team knows what you’re throwing. Your mind starts racing and it doesn’t really matter. You overdo it, you tinker around and start doing other stuff, and you totally get out of your game.”
The two deepest and most dominant rotations in the major leagues are squaring off with a championship on the line. Should Verlander or Gerrit Cole, or Washington’s Strasburg, Scherzer or Patrick Corbin get peppered in a particular outing, the questions will come back.
Were they tipping their pitches? How did the other team know? And was any verboten technology used to pass along information?
Both teams hope to avoid that fate. The Astros will have the added motivation to win a title sans the appearance of digital impropriety.
“There’s nothing going on,” Houston manager A.J. Hinch insisted during the ALCS, “other than the competition on the field.”
Game on.
MLB – Oct. 18: Approved an ALCS roster substitution by the New York Yankees that has RHP Ben Heller replacing injured LHP CC Sabathia.
USA Baseball – Oct. 16: Announced the resignation of Team USA manager Joe Girardi. Named Scott Brosius manager.
American League
Boston Red Sox – Oct. 19: Released RHP Steven Wright. Assigned RHP Josh A. Smith and OF Gorkys Hernandez outright to Pawtucket (IL).
– Oct. 16: Named Joe Maddon manager and agreed to terms with him on a three-year contract.
Oakland Athletics – Oct. 17: Promoted Ed Sprague to director of player development and Keith Lieppman to special adviser to player development.
National League
Chicago Cubs – Oct. 17: Named Matt Dorey senior vice president, player development; Bobby Basham director of player development; Craig Breslow director of pitching/special assistant to the president and general manager; Justin Stone director of hitting; and Jeremy Farrell assistant director of baseball development.
– Oct. 18: Designated C Juan Graterol for assignment. Claimed LHP Josh D. Smith off waivers from Miami and sent him outright to Louisville (IL).
Los Angeles Dodgers –
14: Announced pitching coach Rick Honeycutt will transition to a special assistant role next season.
– Oct. 19: Signed RHP Deolis Guerra to a one-year contract.