grilledcheese Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 The facts are that they cheated, though. I think it's well within the realm of normalcy to have questions about how far it went. The fucking league wants no part of dealing out any punishment that would suffice by my standards, so I would assume that there are likely players that have the same notions. I'm already biased in his favor obviously, but I think it's pretty bitchin that Bellinger spoke his piece. I thought he addressed his concerns pretty well, and in a pretty even manner, with the exception of the "ring-stealing". No one knows how anything ends up, so you can't say for sure that LAD takes it. But that's a super young dude, expressing his anger at a perceived injustice that effected him and his teammates directly. I'd be real fired up if I'm him as well. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Man Known as Dan Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 Watching Lawful go to bat for his cheating fucking rat of a player makes me wish the ignore feature on this board worked better. Also Correa couldn’t even keep the report he was citing straight. He talked about how the report said it stopped after 2017, but the report actually said it said they were doing it at least into 2018 as well, and when that got brought up he had no retort. 8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John from Cincinnati Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 lol 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammerva Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 Watching the Manfred interview on ESPN and his explanation on investigating the buzzer was laughable. So because the Astros did apparently so much to expose what they did in 2017 we decided to take their word for it basically on the buzzer? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sabremike Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 16 hours ago, The Man Known as Dan said: Watching Lawful go to bat for his cheating fucking rat of a player makes me wish the ignore feature on this board worked better. Also Correa couldn’t even keep the report he was citing straight. He talked about how the report said it stopped after 2017, but the report actually said it said they were doing it at least into 2018 as well, and when that got brought up he had no retort. Why would you do that and deprive yourself of such comedic gold? Seriously, think of it as like Bobby Heenan coming up with completely absurd and preposterous defenses of heels blatantly cheating. OK, maybe closer to Paul Jones or Downtown Bruno but you get the point. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grilledcheese Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 (edited) He's not a player, but I'm pretty sure this jamoke is going to say some stupid shit, so let's assume that this goes here: I'm sure it will be something along the lines of all the heavy suspensions they are going to hand out for what they deem to be intentional HBP of HOU personnel. Edited February 16, 2020 by grilledcheese Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammerva Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 Yeah it does seem that Manfred is way more concerned with the league getting their own version of justice then actually finding the whole story. Frankly the Astros should be lucky they don't play in the National League. Especially the NL Central where the Reds are beaning guys just for the fuck of it 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobbyWhioux Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 "We underestimated how mad you, the baseball fan, is about this cheating scandal. Rest assured we have heard you and taken measures to rectify the sport...." ...FOUR batter minimums for relief pitchers. Thank you and good night." 1 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grilledcheese Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 10 minutes ago, hammerva said: Especially the NL Central where the Reds are beaning guys just for the fuck of it Amir Garrett needs to be a loaner for AL West teams every time they play HOU. I just read this stupid shit https://apnews.com/58215ce2afa84795aac24b50eadcfa2c: Quote “It’s not good for the game, it’s not good for kids to see it, so I think both,” the new Houston manager said Saturday. “Stop the comments and also stop something before it happens.” Dear Dusty, Go fuck yourself. Keep your hurt feeling horseshit under your hat. You were hella cunty about Bonds being on the up and up, and now you want to defend these crooked fucks as well? Maybe you sit this one out and only say things about the season upcoming, since you have no goddamn idea about what was going on in HOU while you were busy managing in WAS. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobbyWhioux Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 (edited) The irony in all this is that the Astros cheating scandal is a golden opportunity for Manfred to achieve both his official goal (improve pace of play) and fulfill his true mission to the owners (break the union in the next CBA) and yet he seems reluctant to capitalize on it as such. Why do playoff games take forever? Because everyone is constantly changing sign systems to stay ahead of the Astros [and yes, the other teams] with high tech sign stealing techniques. Non-punishments like what's been handed down are basically green lights to every team in MLB to start cheating because the juice of potentially winning the world series is absolutely worth the squeeze of 5 million dollar fines [pocket change to a man rich enough to own an American sports team] and taking away draft picks from a team that's already loaded with good players. All a defense can do is go through the signs over and over and talk half an hour to strike out even the #9 hitter, all 3-4 times he comes up. Furthermore, imagine the PR coup: ban Altuve, Bregman, Correa for a few years. Player's union objects that there's no provision for allowing that in the CBA, and the owners simply start shrieking "OMG PLAYER'S UNION WANTS TO PROTECT CHEATERS OMG! THE BIG BAD UNION WON'T LET US CLEAN UP BASEBALL FOR YOU!" over and over again. And you've won. Edited February 16, 2020 by BobbyWhioux 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Man Known as Dan Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 Wow, that speech was actually worse then I expected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSC Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 Glad that the MLB commissioner considers the World Series trophy a "piece of metal". What a moron. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grilledcheese Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 (edited) A person that does not understand the significance of winning the WS should not be in charge of the game of baseball. Fuck that motherfucking trophy. It's a pretty thing to look at when you go on a stadium tour. Being the best of 30 in any given year means more than any goddamn trinket ever could. HOU can't possibly claim to be the best in 2017, because the playing field wasn't even. Put a black mark on their names in every single record kept thus far or yet to be kept. Edited February 16, 2020 by grilledcheese 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawful Metal Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 Y’all are just whining. Everybody steals signs. Everybody. Carlos Beltran brought it to the Astros from the Yankees. Where he was before and after 2017. Hmm, I wonder if the Yankees were cheating? Astros got caught. That’s all. Sure, do intentional HBP. Against this lineup? Sure, give them free base runners against Springer, Altuve, Bergman, Yuli, Correa, A full season of Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker. Oh, and they had better stats on the road than at home where they were “cheating.” Y’all should just be happy that Manfred ain’t investigating the at least 8 other teams the Astros provided evidence that they were cheating. As if none of the other teams were trying to steal signs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubbymark Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 If anything, I would expect Altuve or Correia to get some Chase Utley high slides as retaliation from teams that felt aggrieved. Intentional HPB is pretty stupid, and Manfred might drop the hammer on teams if it gets egregious. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 10 hours ago, Lawful Metal said: Astros got caught. That’s all. Technically the Red Sox also got caught... they just haven't got punished yet. Which is a different issue to how badly Manfred has handled everything 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawful Metal Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 22 minutes ago, RIPPA said: Which is a different issue to how badly Manfred has handled everything Absolute truth here. Fire Manfred. Has there ever been a decent baseball commissioner? Weren't they trying to recruit George W. to do it at one point? Don't know if it would actually improve things. I mean, it wouldn't be the first time he'd be put in charge of something despite being woefully unqualified. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 12 minutes ago, Lawful Metal said: Weren't they trying to recruit George W. to do it at one point? There were rumors that folks wanted him to be commissioner when Fay Vincent was booted around the time of the 94 strike. This was mainly due to him being friends with his fellow owners. (Though it didn't hurt being the son of a former President. Old white guys love nepotism) The timing clearly didn't lineup since he became Governor when Bud Selig was taking over. (Plus W was one of the owners in favor of keeping Vincent after the strike mess) Then because he was a name thrown out then - his name was thrown out again when Selig retired. But again - this was mainly wishful thinking from his old owner buddies It is like how every time there is talk about a new NFL Commissioner someone will write a story about how Condi Rice should be commissioner because she is a football fan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Man Known as Dan Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 10 hours ago, Lawful Metal said: Y’all are just whining. Everybody steals signs. Everybody. Carlos Beltran brought it to the Astros from the Yankees. Where he was before and after 2017. Hmm, I wonder if the Yankees were cheating? Astros got caught. That’s all. Sure, do intentional HBP. Against this lineup? Sure, give them free base runners against Springer, Altuve, Bergman, Yuli, Correa, A full season of Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker. Oh, and they had better stats on the road than at home where they were “cheating.” Y’all should just be happy that Manfred ain’t investigating the at least 8 other teams the Astros provided evidence that they were cheating. As if none of the other teams were trying to steal signs. Friendly reminder the Astros went from the 4th highest strikeout rate in 2016 (23.4 percent), then suddenly out of nowhere dropped there strikeout rate to 17.3 percent the following year, the lowest in baseball by over a full percent. Their team strikeout rate over the past 3 seasons is easily the best at 18.3%, with only the Indians and Pirates also below 20 percent (19.8 and 19.7%, respectively) My question is, if other teams are cheating in such an egregious ways, then why the fuck are strikeouts running rampant in the last 3 years for everyone except the Astros? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 Every team that can afford to cheat in one way or another probably is, so it's a fair and balanced system of cheating. I'm good. Steroids should be mandatory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawful Metal Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 16 minutes ago, The Man Known as Dan said: Friendly reminder the Astros went from the 4th highest strikeout rate in 2016 (23.4 percent), then suddenly out of nowhere dropped there strikeout rate to 17.3 percent the following year, the lowest in baseball by over a full percent. Their team strikeout rate over the past 3 seasons is easily the best at 18.3%, with only the Indians and Pirates also below 20 percent (19.8 and 19.7%, respectively) My question is, if other teams are cheating in such an egregious ways, then why the fuck are strikeouts running rampant in the last 3 years for everyone except the Astros? Well, they got rid of a lot of their strikeout or bust dudes. Brought up Bregman, who's super patient at the plate. Yuli Gurriel is also super patient and rarely strikes out. Altuve still swings at everything, but he usually hits it. I think it had a lot more to do with personnel and player development than anything else. Springer and Correa still strike out a lot, at least from the eye test. The other guys, not so much. I can't remember the name of that huge black guy in 2016. Hit a ton of homers, also struck out a ton more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 1 minute ago, Lawful Metal said: I can't remember the name of that huge black guy in 2016. Hit a ton of homers, also struck out a ton more. I thought you were talking about Yordan Alvarez but you said 2016 so now I am confused Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawful Metal Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 9 minutes ago, RIPPA said: I thought you were talking about Yordan Alvarez but you said 2016 so now I am confused Chris Carter - 2015. Off by a year. but the 2016 team had - Gattis, Tyler White, AJ Reed, Marisnick, Colby Rasmus, Jason Castro, Carlos Gomez etc. lots of strikeouts at the bottom of the order. And Springer and Correa struck out a ton, just played in a lot less regular season games in 2017. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gatling Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 8 minutes ago, RIPPA said: I thought you were talking about Yordan Alvarez but you said 2016 so now I am confused I'm guessing @Lawful Metal is thinking of Chris Carter, but he played for the Astros in 2015, not 2016. The biggest difference looks to be replacing Carlos Gomez and Colby Rasmus with Nori Aoki and Josh Reddick. Reddick and Aoki had 24 more plate appearances in 2017 than Gomez and Rasmus did in 2016 but struck out 120 times less. Well, that and George Springer striking out 67 fewer times in 115 fewer plate appearances... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 The Truth is Out There 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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