MLB

[willeyeam]

Should have stripped the title

[MWB]

The commissioner has really painted himself into a corner here. He can’t punish the Astros’ players; he’s said he’s not going to allow punishment on the field; he’s got a bunch of players who are pissed. Fun times.

It is quite interesting that the only team able to beat the Astros in the AL playoffs were the Red Sox, managed by Houston's 2017 bench coach. So they couldn't run that scheme. And even though Houston cruised through Boston in 2017, the Red Sox have not been vocal about this scandal. Probably cause they've known about it and probably had some thing of their own.

We’re still waiting on the results from the Red Sox’ investigation.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

pretty sure chapman is going to hit one of those dudes if/when he faces them.

[King Colby]

Manfred ****** up

Aside from obviously stripping the title, what else do you think he should have done? I'm having a hard time landing on the right punishment in my head.

Do you think players from other orgs would view stripping the title as adequate?

[willeyeam]

Manfred ****** up

Aside from obviously stripping the title, what else do you think he should have done? I'm having a hard time landing on the right punishment in my head.

Do you think players from other orgs would view stripping the title as adequate?

Strip the title is a start. I think that would satisfy a lot of players that feel they were cheated out of a title. Honestly if he suspended anyone on that team for a year would anyone argue? Not sure if it's feasible but the players aren't facing any repercussions. I was a fan of some outside the box stuff I read, no FA signings for a year or two. Something like that. The punishment they got was a joke

I don't think there's any one punishment that everyone will think is sufficient. But there's one so far that no one thinks is sufficient

[MWB]

From what I read, he couldn’t suspend players, and not just because of the immunity. When Luhnow and Hinch were told that there could be no electronic sign stealing, they apparently didn’t pass it on, according to players. Since they didn’t, the union would have no problem winning an appeal.

Restrictions on free agents isn’t a bad idea.

[willeyeam]

Oh, they weren't told you can't cheat. Hmph

[King Colby]

I think anything potentially damaging to the MLBPA is off limits. No FA signings takes away jobs from other current MLBPA players.

I'm thinking on top of losing their title, a 3 year ban on international signings, high draft pick/slot money forfeitures over a period of time, potentially even postseason ineligibility.

[Dickie Dunn]

**** like this highlights the inherent flaw in the US sports system. If this was European soccer style with promotion and relegation the Astros would be fined millions and get sent down to AA baseball and have to work their way back up.

[shafnutz05]

I am loving Manfred getting dragged all over social media. Dude is a career litigator that doesn't even care for the sport he is commissioner of.

[MWB]

Some interesting ideas, including having the Astros bat first for their home games the next two years.

[shafnutz05]

Three Year Letterman continues to be one of my favorite parody accounts on Twitter. Even with how ubiquitous he is he still somehow triggers people.

[tifosi77]

So as a complete tourist and baseball detractor, this whole sign-stealing thing is amusing to me. Not in a schadenfruede kind of way, just more of a how-else-can-we-mis-manage-this kind of way.

How does this rank in the grand scheme of things? On its face, this seems worse on a few levels than the steroids scandal. Again, as a tourist, the steroid thing always seemed like a nod-wink situation that was pretty widespread. And it did not fundamentally improve your foundational skill set; tripping balls on a HGH was not Jobu making you able to hit a curve ball, for example. Hitters still had to bring that to the table through their own skill. And the sign stealing thing has altered other players' careers, as pitchers were apparently getting bombed and sent down to the minors. And not for nothing, but juicers were assuming an actual medical/physical risk to their own long-term well being by roiding out. And similarly, there's an element of fan approval of steroid use; it resulted in home run record chases for several season in the 90s and early 00s, so it generally, for lack of a better word, improved the product.

Maybe sign stealing is a common, if frowned on, practice, I don't know. They just seem like completely different kettles of fish.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

Pitchers juiced, too.

[dodint]

Sign stealing is common. Sign stealing with no runners on base is not common.

[MWB]

Yeah, steroids and sign stealing are quite different. It’s hard to find another sport that draws a parallel it’s a one on one battle. The whole point of pitching is to keep the batter off balance and deceive them. When the deception part is taken away, it makes the hitters job so much easier.

[tifosi77]

KtK that's kind of my point, though. If all - or at least many of the top performers - were doing it, isn't that sort of a case of water finding its own level? Zeroing out the scale? The cream still rose to the top, as it were. The sign stealing thing seems to be a case of perhaps a team who would not otherwise have been in that position claiming the prize.

We can complain about Lance Armstrong's hypocrisy, but.... he still won, what, seven Tours de France in a row against fields of other juicers. The sport was so replete with cheaters that his vacated wins could not be retroactively awarded to other riders, as many of them had already previously been DQ'd.

[Freddy Rumsen]

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

KtK that's kind of my point, though. If all - or at least many of the top performers - were doing it, isn't that sort of a case of water finding its own level? Zeroing out the scale? The cream still rose to the top, as it were. The sign stealing thing seems to be a case of perhaps a team who would not otherwise have been in that position claiming the prize.

We can complain about Lance Armstrong's hypocrisy, but.... he still won, what, seven Tours de France in a row against fields of other juicers. The sport was so replete with cheaters that his vacated wins could not be retroactively awarded to other riders, as many of them had already previously been DQ'd.

Yes, you and i are in agreement. IMO one of the differences between the Astros cheating scandal and the steroids scandal is that steroid use was across the board....everyone was doing it. So I agree steroids zeroed out the scale. If Jose Altuve knew that Arnodis Chapman is throwing a slider instead of 100 mph gas? Not zeroing out the scale.

And to your point about Armstrong, baseball had the same end result. Barry bonds was the best player in baseball before widespread steroid use then was the best baseball player after widespread steroid use.

[DigitalGypsy66]

Secret Rodeo Alias sounds like a great Wilco LP. (Per one of the replies to the tweet lol)

[shafnutz05]

Secret Rodeo Alias sounds like a great Wilco LP. (Per one of the replies to the tweet lol)

Oh man, this is really cool. It says something that the rodeo/roping community, which is incredibly tight-knit, kept the secret for him for as long as they did.

[LITT]

or it means that no one really cares about the rodeo/roping community

[willeyeam]

or it means that no one really cares about the rodeo/roping community

pal, don't question shad's knowledge of the rodeo/roping community

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

I went to a rodeo in Strathmore, Alberta this summer

and it was **** awesome

[Freddy Rumsen]