MLB spring training opened this week with pitchers and catchers reporting to camps across Arizona and Florida. And predictably, the Astros cheating scandal was at the forefront of everyone’s mind.
The Astros, of course, were punished by MLB for their technology-aided, sign-stealing tactics that definitely included beating up a trash can and maybe-but-maybe-not included wearable buzzers. Either way, the Astros lost their manager, GM, a bunch of draft picks and faced a maximum fine. They didn’t, however, lose their 2017 World Series championship.
And if Angels pitcher Andrew Heaney’s comments are any indication, the Astros should probably expect some brutal treatment from opposing pitchers this season. Speaking to reporters in Tempe, Heaney unloaded on the Astros and took issue on how the players seemingly showed no remorse after getting caught cheating.
He said via The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya:
“I’m not going to make excuses for those guys. I know how it is. You get caught up in something. I’m sure they look back now and say, ‘Oh (expletive), we really took that overboard.’ But I think somebody in that locker room had to have enough insight to say this is not OK. I haven’t read all the latest (expletive) to know what everybody’s writing about. I don’t know how much is true. But somebody in that locker room had to say, ‘This is (expletive) up. We shouldn’t be doing this.’ For nobody to stand up and nobody to say ‘we’re cheating other players,’ that sucks. That’s a (expletive) feeling for everybody. I hope they feel like (expletive).”
He continued about the Astros’ lack of remorse:
“They sure as (expletive) need to do more than what they already did. That was terrible. I understand they are going to get their (expletive) in order, and they are going to have their thing to say, and they are going to hide behind the commissioner’s report and whatever, but I don’t think that’s good enough.”
And chances are that Heaney isn’t alone with this sentiment. After all, the Astros’ cheating hurt careers. Former Dodgers pitcher Mike Bolsinger even filed a lawsuit over Houston’s cheating. Pitchers were evaluated based on their inability to get the Astros out, and it turned out the Astros knew what pitch was coming.
If one pitcher from the Angels — a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2014 — is that angry, just imagine how every other pitcher feels about the Astros’ cheating. In a sport that polices its etiquette by hurling 98 mph projectiles at people, opposing teams aren’t going to go easy on brazen cheaters who weren’t individually punished.
Heaney didn’t explicitly say it, but you can almost expect for opposing pitchers to take discipline into their own hands — and it’s not going to be pleasant for the Astros.
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