Boom! Astros get ASS JAMMED by MLB

[Hy Feiber]

I thought the penalties were over the top. Stealing signs is part if the game.

They broke the rules about using electronics and communication and all but a year long suspension for the GM and FM then four draft picks? It seems over the top to me.

It is more that just sign stealing:

Manfred had harsh words for the organizational culture established under Luhnow's stewardship, saying "while no one can dispute that Luhnow’s baseball operations department is an industry leader in its analytics, it is very clear to me that the culture of the baseball operations department, manifesting itself in the way its employees are treated, its relations with other clubs, and its relations with the media and external stakeholders, has been very problematic."

Nothing like pissed off “external” stakeholders to give a franchise a black eye!

[Moe Gibbs]

I'm not happy to hear about the fact that Houston cheated and got caught. Really. I'd like to believe they [Astros] have been legitimately better than everyone else these past few years. I hate to hear about cheating after the fact. The NBA and NFL have both proven to be rigged in my mind, but MLB has been "clean" in my lifetime up until now.
How many other MLB teams cheat similar to how Houston has cheated, but simply don't have the talent for massive amounts of cheating to make enough of a difference [more runs scored] to raise suspicion...?
Is my idol...Nolan Ryan linked to any of this...?
Evan Gattis retired sort of mysteriously before he absolutely had to. I wonder if he had a guilty conscience...?
I'm happy to hear the MLB is throwing the book at Houston, but not too surprised. MLB is smart enough to know that they need to keep a squeaky clean image in order to keep a public that places a high value on fairness and legitimacy interested in what they are selling.

[Bil522]

I'm not happy to hear about the fact that Houston cheated and got caught. Really. I'd like to believe they [Astros] have been legitimately better than everyone else these past few years. I hate to hear about cheating after the fact. The NBA and NFL have both proven to be rigged in my mind, but MLB has been "clean" in my lifetime up until now.
How many other MLB teams cheat similar to how Houston has cheated, but simply don't have the talent for massive amounts of cheating to make enough of a difference [more runs scored] to raise suspicion...?
Is my idol...Nolan Ryan linked to any of this...?
Evan Gattis retired sort of mysteriously before he absolutely had to. I wonder if he had a guilty conscience...?
I'm happy to hear the MLB is throwing the book at Houston, but not too surprised. MLB is smart enough to know that they need to keep a squeaky clean image in order to keep a public that places a high value on fairness and legitimacy interested in what they are selling.

Soooo....rampant steriod abuse was part of the "squeaky clean" image?

[Donn Beach]

the squeaky clean image of baseball?...you mean like stealing signs, corking bats, doctoring baseballs, altering the dimensions of the batters box...Gaylord Perry rode an illegal pitch into the HOF. In terms of being rigged, baseball is the one with an actual rigging scandal

[Coeurd’Alene J]

Logan Morrison weighs in......

The Manfred report that came out is straight FAKE news. This started in Houston well before [Alex] Cora got there. I was playing in Seattle in 2014 and every time we went into Houston you would hear this banging. No one put two and two together. Seattle fans may remember we came with in a game of going to the playoffs. Felix should have won a CY young that year. But couldn’t get pasted [sic] the 5th in Houston.

This is getting ugly.......

[Donn Beach]

not know what he is getting at as fake news, and by the way I am getting pretty tired of that term, yeah they were all doing it, Manfred told them to stop or there be a price to pay, the Astros got caught

“I know from first hand accounts that the Yankees, Dodgers, Astros and Red Sox have used film to pick signs. Just want you guys to know the truth. I personally think it’s a tool in a tool belt to pick signs, but if we are going to be punishing people for it. Don’t have a— it.”

[Coeurd’Alene J]

MLB needs to review all Astros home games For several years to see if this is true

[Donn Beach]

lots of teams were stealing signs, the sign stealing was not the issue, its not about going back seasons, this is what its about...

“I find that the conduct of the Astros, and its senior baseball operations executives, merits significant discipline,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said as part of the ruling. “I base this finding on the fact that the club’s senior baseball operations executives were given express notice in September 2017 that I would hold them accountable for violations of our policies covering sign stealing, and those individuals took no action to ensure that the club’s players and staff complied with those policies during the 2017 postseason and the 2018 regular season.

Manfred gave notice for the sign stealing to stop, and the Astros got caught still doing it, there were probably other teams still doing it too, but it was the Astros that got caught. This is as much about putting all teams on notice of the consequences of not self policing their organizations.

When Luhnow said he didn't know about its probably true, it doesn't matter. This is about teams self policing, organizational control. Its what happened to the Huskies. Its what the IRS does. There is no way the IRS can really monitor tax payers. What they do is grab a cheater every so often and ream them to keep everybody else in line, scare the shit of them. This what Manfred is doing with GMs

[Coeurd’Alene J]

lots of teams were stealing signs, the sign stealing was not the issue, its not about going back seasons, this is what its about...

“I find that the conduct of the Astros, and its senior baseball operations executives, merits significant discipline,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said as part of the ruling. “I base this finding on the fact that the club’s senior baseball operations executives were given express notice in September 2017 that I would hold them accountable for violations of our policies covering sign stealing, and those individuals took no action to ensure that the club’s players and staff complied with those policies during the 2017 postseason and the 2018 regular season.

Manfred gave notice for the sign stealing to stop, and the Astros got caught still doing it, there were probably other teams still doing it too, but it was the Astros that got caught. This is as much about putting all teams on notice of the consequences of not self policing their organizations.

When Luhnow said he didn't know about its probably true, it doesn't matter. This is about teams self policing, organizational control. Its what happened to the Huskies. Its what the IRS does. There is no way the IRS can really monitor tax payers. What they do is grab a cheater every so often and ream them to keep everybody else in line, scare the shit of them. This what Manfred is doing with GMs

There’s no question they were warned to stop, I wasn’t aware that the garbage can banging went on for yrs and pretty sure you didn’t either, I find it upsetting that the Astros who joined our division really cheated this way and it should be investigated thoroughly. There should be no timeline for not penalizing for this behavior To say everybody cheats isn’t exactly true, You have no proof that we banged garbage cans, In fact we probably never get away with that because our stadium has been at about 25% of attendance for awhile. If your Felix, your probably thinking back to those games and wondering, It would be fairly simple for Manfred to go back and see how far back it goes

[Coeurd’Alene J]

not know what he is getting at as fake news, and by the way I am getting pretty tired of that term, yeah they were all doing it, Manfred told them to stop or there be a price to pay, the Astros got caught

“I know from first hand accounts that the Yankees, Dodgers, Astros and Red Sox have used film to pick signs. Just want you guys to know the truth. I personally think it’s a tool in a tool belt to pick signs, but if we are going to be punishing people for it. Don’t have a— it.”

Speaking of fake news
CNN is joining with HBO to put out a fake news investigation report........

And then there’s this today from Bernie

https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/com ... hes_trump/