Community Forum

@DriveByTrucker17 said in This cheating scandal has really blown up.:

@ChuckCLC said in This cheating scandal has really blown up.:

@pogibana said in This cheating scandal has really blown up.:

@DriveByTrucker17 said in This cheating scandal has really blown up.:

@BIGHOOV2713 said in This cheating scandal has really blown up.:

@thinkbluedgr said in This cheating scandal has really blown up.:

And I love it. They deserve everything theyre getting. And I'm glad guys like Trout and Judge are speaking out. Everyone is disgusted. The way they have handled the whole situation is terrible. The Astros have lost all respect with the league.

Then Big papi calls Fiers a snitch. He's mad at Fiers for snitching but not at the Astros for damaging the integrity of the game. Unbelievable. I guess that's a cheaters mentality.

Big Papi has a lot of nerve IMO.

https://sports.cbslocal.com/2016/05/27/david-ortiz-ped-steroid-red-sox/

“Let he who is without blame, cast the first stone.”

He better keep his nose out of it if he wants his “Call to the Hall”.

The only players that have gotten upset at Fiers are players who also cheated/are cheating.

Hey just so you know in this country you are innocent until proven guilty. MLB is is still investigating the Red Sox that doesn't mean they will find them guilty.

I can almost assure you they will not. Boston, NYY, Cubs, Cardinals, or LAD have no chance. And TBH right no team really does, because one team has to take the fall.

The other teams mentioned in one of the original reports to be cheating were the rangers and Brewers.

Strange how we haven’t seen Yelich or basically anybody from the brewers calling out the Astros like other players are doing.

John Smoltz said make sure you're clean before you speak. Brewers got ex Astro people in their front office. They know better. Plus, they accused LAD in '18. May as well keep quiet.

But like I said the other day, you can't investigate the whole league. That's why I'm not upset by the whole thing. Just like Bountygate and Spygate and Tim Donaghy: You only need one suspect.

@MathMan5072 said in If you were an Astros fan...:

@Chuck_Dizzle29 said in If you were an Astros fan...:

MLB failed here more than anything. It's the reason this situation has evolved the way it did.

There was no disciplinary system in place for players set up by MLB. Any attempt by MLB to push it off on the union is a farce. The MLBPA wasn't preventing any discipline, their stance was any discipline should follow policy. MLB never instituted any kind of penalty system for players, only against teams and ownership.

When this all broke open MLB had no grounds for player discipline. The penalty system for players is not applicable to the timeline of the Astros cheating.

Manfred fined the Astros the maximum and suspended Hinch and Lunhow. That's all they could do. Of course MLB was made aware of potential cheating by Houston in 2017, but no one had any proof.

This only came to light because of Fiers, but to suggest he only waited till now it's also false. Bob Melvin stated he went to MLB with information from Fiers but did nothing.

That's where this all went haywire. MLB sat on it's hands and then the skeletons fell out of the closet.

Crane is a snake and the Astros players are chodes, but what else does it matter. The sign stealing scandal did not definitively determine the Astros winning the WS but they'll have to live with their reputations being tarnished.

Y'all can keep arguing about 2017, I'm here in 2020 enjoying spring training and the start of a new season of the greatest game on Earth ️

I couldn’t have said this better.

I don’t want to hear about the Astros anymore. Will the angels make a playoff push? Will the white Sox arrive ahead of schedule? Will Yankees be the power everyone thinks they will be? Will the Mets not be the Mets? Are the Reds a legitimate contender?

And the one I want to know the most...Will dodgers fans finally be able to replace Kirk Gibson with Mookie or Turner or Bellinger or Kershaw?

These are just a couple of great baseball stories out there this season that have nothing to do with the Astros. I really hope nobody gets suspended for throwing at Astros players. Too much other great stuff out there to worry about the Astros.

That's exactly why I said it got too emotional. Now, folks are just TIRED. Them trash can jokes (which is really the main thing a LOT people can't wait to joke about before actually being angry) can only take folks so far. Posting "W" and "L" on Twitter doesn't matter. That's not fun. And if the Astros suck, then what does the MLB have to speak on? Clowning Houston is fine but that's not going to be what true blue baseball fans will want to hear about in Mid-May.

@xxfireflyxx69 said in If you were an Astros fan...:

LOL, you are all acting like it's never been done before. It happens, will continue to happen and has happened repeatedly throughout the history baseball. The only thing people are mad about is how good they got at it.

Yankees used apple watches, The shot heard around the wall was tipped off by a buzzer etc. All this self-righteous indignation is hypocritical by the players and the fans. Threatening people's family is in far worst taste than the actual crime.

https://www.si.com/mlb/2020/01/23/sign-stealing-history-astros-red-sox

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sign_stealing

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1142879-memorable-sign-stealing-moments-in-major-league-baseball-history#slide9

Why even waste time posting these links and stuff? See what I mean by too emotional? You aren't going to win any argument doing all that, brother. Astros are the Patriots now. This too shall pass.

The issue the majority of people are having is that they have eliminated all logic when it comes to this. Astros fans, non Astros fans, you name it. It's all emotionally based. That's why you see people say things like "people lost jobs!"

When you sit and think about this, smart baseball fans just looked at this as another episode of baseball.

It's not up to me to call myself a smart baseball fan (that's up to everyone else lol), but I can tell you guys -- taking the emotion out of this whole thing made me realize a LOT about whatever this "scandal" was supposed to accomplish.

@luv2bDad2013 said in This cheating scandal has really blown up.:

@ThaShark316 said in This cheating scandal has really blown up.:

@luv2bDad2013 said in This cheating scandal has really blown up.:

I love that you’re glad Aaron Judge said his part... when him and his team were caught doing the same thing back in 2017 also!!!

For some strange reason, I feel the Astros, Red Sox and Yankees weren’t the only ones doing this. It probably goes deeper, way deeper. Just the Astros have become the scapegoat of the whole thing.

Everyone has accused everyone for about 3-4 years now. Just HOU is at the forefront. Lance McCullers was calling things out in 2018 and said the word EVERYONE. But with sports "scandals", there's never ever going to be a league wide investigation when it comes to whole franchises. You can't kill interest in a sport with a rogue villain; you can when it's league wide.

The thing is, I’ve always thought sign stealing is bush league, but its been a part of the game for a very long time.

Even as the Astros have clearly been heavily involved, the stats have shown that it not only hasn’t helped their performance, it has actually hurt their performance. Doesn’t excuse anything, but this narrative that they “stole” the championship is just not supported by actual facts.

But you’re right, and that is my thought, Manfred pegs this all on one team rather than the whole league, he can save face for the MLB as a whole

Blaming one team and put 200% more interest in baseball. Now you got one villain vs the whole league.

I mean, guess who plays on opening day at 7 eastern on ESPN? It works out perfectly. MLB got more "butts in the seats" now. Most interest since the steroid era.

@luv2bDad2013 said in This cheating scandal has really blown up.:

I love that you’re glad Aaron Judge said his part... when him and his team were caught doing the same thing back in 2017 also!!!

For some strange reason, I feel the Astros, Red Sox and Yankees weren’t the only ones doing this. It probably goes deeper, way deeper. Just the Astros have become the scapegoat of the whole thing.

Everyone has accused everyone for about 3-4 years now. Just HOU is at the forefront. Lance McCullers was calling things out in 2018 and said the word EVERYONE. But with sports "scandals", there's never ever going to be a league wide investigation when it comes to whole franchises. You can't kill interest in a sport with a rogue villain; you can when it's league wide.

As an baseball fan first and foremost, I have a hard time caring. No one's spoke this much about our game in a while, so I love that part. Just don't know if I could be outraged about THIS but not 98-2008, feel me? I'd personally (I know most of you folks probably don't view it the same) feel like a hypocrite.

As an Astros fan, I say let people talk. Call us whatever, it won't hurt me. Folks need to leave player's families alone, however. Internet or not, that's thoughtless and cruel behavior at best and it's not close to OK.