CLEVELAND — The Houston Astros remain at the center of controversy in the sports world because of the cheating scandal that cost their manager, A.J. Hinch, and general manager, Jeff Luhnow, their jobs, as well as Alex Cora (Boston Red Sox) and Carlos Beltran (New York Mets) their manager positions.
Opinions about the Astros’ elaborate cheating scheme have been pouring in on social media and sports talk radio, and on Friday, former Major League Baseball pitcher Brian Anderson addressed the matter on “The Baskin and Phelps Show” on Cleveland’s 92.3 The Fan.
“You’re crossing the line,” said Anderson, who played for the Cleveland Indians from 1996-1997. “When a guy has a set of signs that’s so easily decodable from second base or a catcher is being lazy with his glove and the first-base coach or guy that’s on first base can look in and see, ‘Here comes a breaking ball. Now, I’m going to steal,’ if it’s that blatant and you’re not buttoned up and allow that stuff to happen, that is part of the game and should be part of the game.
“That’s why you change your signs. That’s what you have a sequence of signs with a runner on second.”
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred levied severe penalties on the Astros for their usage of technology to steal signs from the Los Angeles Dodgers during the 2017 World Series.
MLB announced Monday that Hinch and Luhnow were suspended for the 2020 season, and Houston lost first- and second-round picks in the draft over the next two years in addition to a $5 million fine, but team management did not just accept those penalties.
Owner and chairman Jim Crane announced in a press conference that the Astros took their own measures and fired Hinch and Luhnow for their roles in the scandal that utilized replay monitors and equipment to gain an understanding of the Dodgers’ signs, and then, used sounds from the dugout to indicate the pitches.
“In that tunnel, they had a wall-mounted flat-screen TV,” Anderson said. “They had a camera in center field that was spying right on the catcher’s fingers, and so, they would sit there and just watch the catcher’s signs and log the pitch. Catcher signs, log the pitch.
“It wouldn’t take them too long. They would decode it. As soon as they would decode it, here come the signs, and in real time, you could bang the trash can, whistle or whatever they were doing, and the hitter knew what was coming. That is out of line.”
Although the idea was “player driven,” to the point where Hinch removed two monitors in an effort to win straight up, then-bench coach Alex Cora, now the manager of the Boston Red Sox, had an integral role in the plot.
Cora was a first-year manager with Boston when the Red Sox went on a near-historic run to capture the 2018 World Series Championship, only later to be accused of using similar tactics to the Astros. Cora is expected to receive a harsh punishment following MLB’s ongoing investigation into the Red Sox’s usage of technology to steal signs and has parted ways with Boston.
Beltran stepped down as Mets manager without having coached a single game.
“The Houston Astros in the 2017 playoffs, they were 3-6 on the road with a team batting average of .208,” Anderson said. “At home, 8-1 with a team batting average of .278. Maybe you roll your eyes at the team batting average of .278, but that’s a team average of .278 against elite pitching. That’s a huge number.”