Rob Manfred is still struggling to clean up the Houston Astros’ mess.
The MLB commissioner did little to lessen criticism of the league’s handling of the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal, which called into question the validity of the team’s 2017 World Series win. Manfred met with ESPN for a sit-down interview, which went live on Sunday morning, and he addressed the general assessment that the Astros’ apologies were a complete failure.
“It was not successful,” Manfred told ESPN.
The same could be said for most stages of the scandal: the investigation, the punishment, the apologies. The cheating itself, however, seemed to be quite successful. But Manfred struggled to get conclusive evidence on some of the suggested methods of sign-stealing. For example, Manfred reiterated that there was no evidence that Astros players were using a buzzer under their jerseys to aid in their sign-stealing scheme.
As the interview came to a close, Manfred said he would “work with the Astros to help them put this behind them.”
To a degree, he’s trying to show he’s taking an interest in moving on from this scandal. And why wouldn’t he? His office’s handling of the situation has been, to steal his words, not successful. But his comments also come off as disingenuous, as if he’s trying to put the scandal behind the Astros in an effort to cover up the scale of the cheating, because that magnitude makes Manfred look awfully bad.
MLB fans on Twitter did not seem reassured by Manfred’s comments on Sunday. To the contrary.
Rob Manfred on ESPN just said he will send a memorandum to all teams discouraging retaliation against the Astros. He cited that throwing at Astros hitters is inappropriate, and increased punishments will be in play.
As opposed to ZERO punishment for the players who cheated.
— Phil Mackey (@PhilMackey) February 16, 2020
It's crystal clear.
MLB needs to step in and vacate the 2017 Houston Astros World Series title.
The Astros had a chance to put it to bed and choked it.
It's the only way to truly end this whole debacle.
Time for Rob Manfred to lead and nip this in the bud.
— Peter Burns (@PeterBurnsESPN) February 16, 2020
Rob Manfred to ESPN about the buzzers: "The piece that no one appreciates is that we found no evidence — not a single witness — who could corroborate that there were buzzers being used during the 2019 season or that they were doing anything during the 2019 season."
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) February 16, 2020
Rob Manfred was unimpressive in today's ESPN interview. He said he'd "work with the Astros to help them put this behind them." Why do the Astros get help from the commissioner? Why should this be put behind them?
— Michael David Smith (@MichaelDavSmith) February 16, 2020
Live look in at Rob Manfred pic.twitter.com/6yuioLoTL5
— Kurt/Filthykur (@filthykur87) February 16, 2020
Manfred resign !
— Rey (@Rey163Rey) February 16, 2020
The last question in the interview says everything. In today's world of judgment by public opinion, @MLB
will be punished for their handling of the cheating.
Spin it anyway you want Manfred. You had a chance to be a leader and you chose not to. Too bad. https://t.co/ubrQJRb41T— JimmyJJam (@JimmyJJam) February 16, 2020
Rob Manfred sure is sweating a lot during this ESPN interview.
— Joe Day (@joebomb33) February 16, 2020
Karl Ravech: “Most people would describe the Astros apology as an epic failure. How would you describe it?
Rob Manfred: “It was not successful.”https://t.co/7Pso3ZAHuX
— Joe Giglio (@JoeGiglioSports) February 16, 2020
Manfred will survive this. The Astros will, too. And no one will be happy — not even the Astros, who apparently don’t feel a great deal of remorse for their actions.
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