Tag: Houston Astros

Major League Baseball had itself quite the week after a league investigation determined that the Houston Astros, who won the World Series in 2017, had a sign-stealing system in place during the postseason that year. Basically, MLB found that the team used technology to cheat and fined the Astros $5 million, docked them draft picks for the next two years and suspended general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch, who the team then promptly fired.

The sign-stealing scandal also cost Alex Cora, who was the Astros bench coach in 2017, his managerial job with the Boston Red Sox, and the New York Mets parted ways with manager Carlos Beltran, who was hired in November, over his role in the scam as a player. It also led to a flurry of internet rumors over advanced sign-stealing operation — more so than just beating a garbage can.

The good news is that people are talking about baseball in the offseason more than they have in a while, but the obvious bad news is that it’s about a cheating scandal that could affect how people view the league moving forward.

As the story continues, players, fans and commentators have offered a wide variety of punishment suggestions for the Astros beyond what was already dished out. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith shared his thoughts on Outside The Lines and wants the 2017 Astros and 2018 Red Sox World Series trophies back, along with each player’s championship ring.

On Outside The Lines, Stephen A. pointed to the hot bats of Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and Carlos Correa specifically and said:

“If I’m looking at Altuve, who that particular year batted like .346, if I remember correctly. You look at Bregman, you look at Correa, you look at these guys and how they were playing, to know what pitches were coming. I’m just looking at it from this perspective: The players were clearly complicit. That is undeniable.

“The fact that the players themselves — particularly in the sport of Major League Baseball, at a time when we are so gung-ho about making sure basketball players are punished, football players are punished, once again — to see baseball players getting away with this stuff really bothers me. That is why I am of the mindset that they need to take that World Series trophy out of Houston, they need to take it out of Boston, and every single player on those teams in 2017 and 2018, respectively, need to hand back their championship rings, effective immediately.

“You gonna keep your money. You had the moment, we can’t take that back. But you can give back that ring, and you can give back that trophy because a legitimate question exists as to whether or not you deserve it.”

However, Smith acknowledged when it comes to cheating and stripping teams of trophies, it could be a slippery slope trying to draw a line between individual players’ actions and something orchestrated by an organization.

But he continued explaining his mindset and compared this scandal to college sports, where the NCAA regularly strips titles from teams caught breaking rules. He added:

“Here’s the deal: They do it to college athletes. These guys don’t get paid. You play football, you play basketball, and there’s something wrong with the program — Reggie Bush doesn’t have his Heisman Trophy. USC doesn’t have their national title.

“You know, you got a whole bunch of instances, don’t y’all find this a tad bit odd that so-called amateur athletes, who don’t get paid, all right, you can confiscate something from them, but millionaires paid to play professionally be upstanding and compete at the highest level are cheating with no punishment? I’m sorry, I’ve got a problem with that.”