OC Register: Dodgers, Angels respond to Astros sign-stealing allegations

[AngelsWin.com]

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The story of the day at the GM Meetings on Tuesday hung over the Houston Astros, with ripples that affected the Dodgers and Angels.

The Athletic published a detailed piece outlining the Astros’ method for stealing signs at Minute Maid Park during the 2017 season, including comments from former Astros pitcher Mike Fiers.

The Astros reportedly watched the catcher’s signs on a television in a tunnel near the dugout and would bang on a trash can to signal to hitters when certain pitches were coming.

The Angels, of course, are in the Astros’ division, and the Dodgers lost the 2017 World Series to the Astros in seven games. Two sources told The Athletic that Houston used the system into the playoffs while another source said it ended before the postseason.

After Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said to dozens of reporters that the team is “going to look into the allegations in cooperation with Major League Baseball,” Andrew Friedman stood across the room and reflected on the manner in which the Astros beat the Dodgers in the World Series that year.

“Being that we are a team directly involved, it sounds a little sour grapes for me to say much about it,” the Dodgers president of baseball operations said on Tuesday. “We’ll see what Major League Baseball comes back with and kind of go from there.”

Friedman, however, did say that there was widespread suspicion before the 2017 World Series that the Astros were up to something.

“Yeah there was a lot going into it,” Friedman said. “During the playoffs, our advance team that was on Houston talked about it. There was a lot of speculation at the time about it.”

After the World Series, there had been stories suggesting that Yu Darvish was tipping his pitches to the Astros, contributing to him allowing four runs in 1-2/3 innings in his World Series start in Game 3 in Houston.

“We had a player who was really good at picking up pitch-tipping type things and watched the Darvish outings and said you couldn’t sell out on something that Darvish was doing,” Friedman said.

If the Astros couldn’t tell what was coming from watching Darvish, perhaps they had been stealing the catcher’s signs.

Of course, Darvish also gave up five runs in 1-2/3 innings against the Astros in Game 7 at Dodger Stadium.

While the Dodgers only played the Astros in the World Series, and only three times in Houston, the Angels play the Astros 19 times a year. In 2017, the Angels faced them 10 times in Houston.

Angels general manager Billy Eppler said on Tuesday afternoon that he had not yet read the story in The Athletic, so he didn’t want to comment on it specifically. However, he said the best policy is to be watching for that type of thing all the time.

“In general, our players are mindful in any environment they walk in,” Eppler said. “It’s something that if you are prepared for it, you probably won’t get caught off guard.”

For what it’s worth, in 2017 the Astros hit .207 against the Angels on off-speed pitches in Houston and .232 against off-speed pitches in Anaheim. The sign-stealing system would have helped the Astros’ hitters prepare for off-speed pitches.

Eppler and Friedman both said sign-stealing is something to be aware of in any park, but Friedman said there’s only so far a team can go to combat it.

“My biggest thing is trying to make sure we have a sign system that our guys feel comfortable with, that won’t create mass paranoia,” Friedman said. “We want our players going out and playing the game and not being bogged down by that. You have to do something on the front end to make them feel as comfortable as possible with different signs. From our standpoint, it’s trying to make it as small of a distraction as possible.”

Astros using cameras to steal signs, a breakdown pic.twitter.com/rncm6qzXxw

— Jomboy (@Jomboy_) November 12, 2019

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[ten ocho recon scout]

On 11/12/2019 at 5:44 PM, AngelsWin.com said:

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The story of the day at the GM Meetings on Tuesday hung over the Houston Astros, with ripples that affected the Dodgers and Angels.

The Athletic published a detailed piece outlining the Astros’ method for stealing signs at Minute Maid Park during the 2017 season, including comments from former Astros pitcher Mike Fiers.

The Astros reportedly watched the catcher’s signs on a television in a tunnel near the dugout and would bang on a trash can to signal to hitters when certain pitches were coming.

The Angels, of course, are in the Astros’ division, and the Dodgers lost the 2017 World Series to the Astros in seven games. Two sources told The Athletic that Houston used the system into the playoffs while another source said it ended before the postseason.

After Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said to dozens of reporters that the team is “going to look into the allegations in cooperation with Major League Baseball,” Andrew Friedman stood across the room and reflected on the manner in which the Astros beat the Dodgers in the World Series that year.

“Being that we are a team directly involved, it sounds a little sour grapes for me to say much about it,” the Dodgers president of baseball operations said on Tuesday. “We’ll see what Major League Baseball comes back with and kind of go from there.”

Friedman, however, did say that there was widespread suspicion before the 2017 World Series that the Astros were up to something.

“Yeah there was a lot going into it,” Friedman said. “During the playoffs, our advance team that was on Houston talked about it. There was a lot of speculation at the time about it.”

After the World Series, there had been stories suggesting that Yu Darvish was tipping his pitches to the Astros, contributing to him allowing four runs in 1-2/3 innings in his World Series start in Game 3 in Houston.

“We had a player who was really good at picking up pitch-tipping type things and watched the Darvish outings and said you couldn’t sell out on something that Darvish was doing,” Friedman said.

If the Astros couldn’t tell what was coming from watching Darvish, perhaps they had been stealing the catcher’s signs.

Of course, Darvish also gave up five runs in 1-2/3 innings against the Astros in Game 7 at Dodger Stadium.

While the Dodgers only played the Astros in the World Series, and only three times in Houston, the Angels play the Astros 19 times a year. In 2017, the Angels faced them 10 times in Houston.

Angels general manager Billy Eppler said on Tuesday afternoon that he had not yet read the story in The Athletic, so he didn’t want to comment on it specifically. However, he said the best policy is to be watching for that type of thing all the time.

“In general, our players are mindful in any environment they walk in,” Eppler said. “It’s something that if you are prepared for it, you probably won’t get caught off guard.”

For what it’s worth, in 2017 the Astros hit .207 against the Angels on off-speed pitches in Houston and .232 against off-speed pitches in Anaheim. The sign-stealing system would have helped the Astros’ hitters prepare for off-speed pitches.

Eppler and Friedman both said sign-stealing is something to be aware of in any park, but Friedman said there’s only so far a team can go to combat it.

“My biggest thing is trying to make sure we have a sign system that our guys feel comfortable with, that won’t create mass paranoia,” Friedman said. “We want our players going out and playing the game and not being bogged down by that. You have to do something on the front end to make them feel as comfortable as possible with different signs. From our standpoint, it’s trying to make it as small of a distraction as possible.”

 

 

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Per the video.... reference the yankees...

 

Again... if the biggest victims in all this are the dodgers and yankees....