Stealing signs is and has been part of baseball forever. Suddenly it is “cheating.” This entire controversy is ludicrous. Right, Red Sox and Yankees?
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And where was MLB when steroid use was known and rampant?
Report on NBC Nightly News:
“Red Sox being accused of cheating during their World Series wining season in 2018. This on the heels of the Astros cheating to win the World Series the year before. The Dodgers would be entitled to World Series crowns in both seasons.”
Good grief.
I would never watch another MLB game. Ever.
That is laughably stupid.
The Dodgers can go fuck themselves. Anybody who seriously thinks that any team is “innocent” is just plain naive. Especially the teams that are most “forward thinking”
I’ll bet every dime I have that the Dodgers are also trying to bend every rule they think they can bend, just like everybody else. Fuck em, let them cry.
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So if they go to a communications system between the pitcher and catcher, can that be hacked, intercepted, jammed, whatever? In war and in baseball, every measure is inevitably met with a counter-measure. Trying to stop it is a fool’s errand.
The real issue is that the home team not have an advantage. Let the live feed go into both dugouts. Give them both a big trashcan to bang on. Heck, make sure each team gets a big strong batboy to do the thrashing to keep the players from hurting themselves.
If clubs can deal with potential sign-stealing with runners on base, they can deal with it every at-bat if necessary. Again, as long as both teams have access to the same information, it is not an imbalance between the teams, although it does affect the balance between the hitters and pitchers.
I trust Rob Manfred to deal with the Astros fairly in comparison with the Red Sox about as much as I trust a Nigerian prince with my ATM PIN code. Jeff Passan and ESPN are already laying the groundwork for how MLB can distinguish the two situations.
But rules are rules. If use of the replay feed during game situations for anything other than evaluating whether to challenge is against the rules, then it is completely irrelevant whether the Red Sox were using it to steal signs in real-time or not. It is a clear misuse of the feed.
Heard Rosenthal on the Athletic Podcast this morning say the Astros stealing was more egregious than the red sox. Heard a MLB guy say the same thing. I am confused as to why that is?
They say it was because the Astros info was happening in real time.
The Astros system only worked at MMP. The Red Sox system worked both home and away.
Oh, and the big issue, the Red Sox committed after the apple watch incident that they wouldn’t do it again.
To me 2nd time offender should get harsher punishment than 1st time offenders.
Rosenthal also was clear that more were involved than just these two teams but these are the only ones they can report on.
He also said that Cora is an easy target but that the Red Sox were using this system before he became manager, so it is bigger than just one guys.
Dear Rosenthal, horse shit.
According to this article the only difference was in the subtlety of the relaying of signs. Banging on a trash can vs base runner body movements.
https://sports.yahoo.com/five-things-to-know-about-the-mlb-signstealing-scandals-193836710.html
The Red Sox went about their alleged sign stealing in a subtler way. According to The Athletic, they used Red Sox staffers in the video room to decode the signs of opposing teams, before MLB began sending monitors to watch every room. Once the signs were deciphered, a player would bring the information to the dugout on foot. It would then be communicated to the baserunner, who would use body movements (such as putting two feet on the bag or looking in a certain direction) to tell the batter what to expect.
I guess I’ve never understood what the big deal is even if they did steal signs? Teams have been stealing signs ever since there were signs in baseball. To me, the other team should be smart enough to adapt and change their signs up. This is all so stupid.
Yeah, teams have been stealing signs and relaying those stolen signs to batters like you said…since there were signs in baseball.
If un-aided by technology it is not against the rules. “Technology” includes the use of binoculars. In the past if signs are stolen and relayed by someone with binoculars (from stands, dugout, bullpen…etc) then it crossed the line of breaking MLB rules.
Same goes for video relying of signs.
Isn’t is correct that the visiting team has access to the same replays as the home team? The silence from the poor victimized teams is deafening. Why aren’t they screaming about their victimization from the rooftops? Wont any team come forward?
I hope the Astros have lawyers at the ready. Scapegoat for the big boys.
So we took the hit moving to the American League, we had to open the roof, moved home games to Florida, and now this. Why does everyone hate Houston? If I were Crane I would already have my Lawyers at Def-con 5. Tired of being the whipping boy!
and the RSOX’s “cheated” after being caught “cheating”. They should get the death penalty not a slap on the wrist…errrrrr!
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Hmmm… that sounds AWFUL familiar…