Astros punishments: suspensions, firings, team gets over, everyone is pissed.

[Taylor]

Perhaps the Astros' real punishment was the friends we made along the way.

Edited January 14, 2020 by Taylor

[tdawg87]

Just now, Taylor said:

Perhaps the Astros' real punishment was the friends me made along the way.

Well said.

[the dude abides]

1 minute ago, Taylor said:

Perhaps the Astros' real punishment was the friends me made along the way.

 

[Taylor]

Typos sku

[yk9001]

Farquhah knew

 

[the dude abides]

Just now, Taylor said:

Typos sku

That pic is probably my favorite from last year.

Kudos for introducing it to the board.

[yk9001]

14 hours ago, Stradling said:

Well that was on the road, so maybe.  

So the Houston Astros, the cheatingist team in baseball, playing in the biggest game of the season, don't cheat.  Yet at that same exact time, in the same exact game, Yu Darvish suddenly started tipping his pitches.  Really??

I feel like the Simpson's Superintendent Chalmers, seeing a fire in Principal Skinner's kitchen, and hearing Skinner tell them that no, it's not a fire.  What he is really seeing is Aurora Borealis.

‘Aurora Borealis. At this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the country, localized entirely within your kitchen?' 

'Yes!’

 

[Lou]

"it's an Albany expression"

my brother and I use that one all the time. 

[Stradling]

2 minutes ago, yk9001 said:

So the Houston Astros, the cheatingist team in baseball, playing in the biggest game of the season, don't cheat.  Yet at that same exact time, in the same exact game, Yu Darvish suddenly started tipping his pitches.  Really??

I feel like the Simpson's Superintendent Chalmers, seeing a fire in Principal Skinner's kitchen, and hearing Skinner tell them that no, it's not a fire.  What he is really seeing is Aurora Borealis.

‘Aurora Borealis. At this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the country, localized entirely within your kitchen?' 

'Yes!’

 

Well game 7 on the road, they don’t have access to the camera that’s in real time that they had in Houston. If they did then it’s a Dodger problem. The TV feed is delayed.  Could they have found another way to electronically cheat, I guess.  How?  No idea. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

3 hours ago, yk9001 said:

Encinitas, Oceanside.. I want to hear from YOU!

I'll be taking calls on Pete Rose, right after the best 15 minutes in sports. Here's what's going  on in the world of sports,  here's what Lee Hamilton thinks...

Feeling you

Edited January 14, 2020 by ten ocho recon scout

[yk9001]

1 minute ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

 

Seriously.  Vic the brick Jacobs lasted 20 years in a major market in sports talk radio.

Does anyone remember the annoying dude who played LA troll for years in sports talk?  "OH, LAKER FANS............."

I forget his name. Had like an east coast accent.

[GregAlso]

20 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Well game 7 on the road, they don’t have access to the camera that’s in real time that they had in Houston. If they did then it’s a Dodger problem. The TV feed is delayed.  Could they have found another way to electronically cheat, I guess.  How?  No idea. 

Surreptitiously setting a WiFi enable camera in center field. Wouldn’t be that hard to do on the road. I don’t think they only cheated at home. If it was working do you think they just said, “well these half of the games we just give up. Oh and the single most important game of the year we just will leave to chance.” Doubt that. 

[Stradling]

2 minutes ago, GregAlso said:

Surreptitiously setting a WiFi enable camera in center field. Wouldn’t be that hard to do on the road. I don’t think they only cheated at home. If it was working do you think they just said, “well these half of the games we just give up. Oh and the single most important game of the year we just will leave to chance.” Doubt that. 

So someone in the stands held a camera.  There’s zero chance the home team isn’t going to notice the visiting team putting a camera in CF. 

[yk9001]

4 minutes ago, GregAlso said:

Surreptitiously setting a WiFi enable camera in center field. Wouldn’t be that hard to do on the road. I don’t think they only cheated at home. If it was working do you think they just said, “well these half of the games we just give up. Oh and the single most important game of the year we just will leave to chance.” Doubt that. 

Occam's razor

Cheaters gonna cheat.

[ten ocho recon scout]

22 minutes ago, Stradling said:

So someone in the stands held a camera.  There’s zero chance the home team isn’t going to notice the visiting team putting a camera in CF. 

"You can become a tree" - SERE school, Coronado Ca

[eaterfan]

1 hour ago, zenmaster said:

The MLB has effectively given the green light to cheat. There's not a team in the league who wouldn't exchange a World Series title and all the $ and accolades that go with it in exchange for a $5M fine and some lost draft picks. They'll find another GM and Manager just fine. The world series title literally made them 20x or more than what they were fined.

Stealing signs doesn't mean you win a WS. Yeah, every team would trade the punishment for winning one, but only one team can win any year. Maybe it increases the odds by 3% or 5% (I think that's a pretty significant number). Would you trade the Angels next two first and second rounders for a 5% increase in their WS odds?

And for the record, I do think the punishment was a bit too light, but let's be real about what the benefit was.

[Stradling]

2 minutes ago, eaterfan said:

Stealing signs doesn't mean you win a WS. Yeah, every team would trade the punishment for winning one, but only one team can win any year. Maybe it increases the odds by 3% or 5% (I think that's a pretty significant number). Would you trade the Angels next two first and second rounders for a 5% increase in their WS odds?

And for the record, I do think the punishment was a bit too light, but let's be real about what the benefit was.

All of this.  So which is it, cheating guarantees a World Series or everyone is cheating, because it really can’t be both.  

[yk9001]

1 hour ago, Lou said:

"it's an Albany expression"

my brother and I use that one all the time. 

Skinner, you're an odd fellow, but you do steam a good ham.

[ScottT]

1 hour ago, zenmaster said:

The MLB has effectively given the green light to cheat. There's not a team in the league who wouldn't exchange a World Series title and all the $ and accolades that go with it in exchange for a $5M fine and some lost draft picks. They'll find another GM and Manager just fine. The world series title literally made them 20x or more than what they were fined.

I dont think coaches like Alex Cora will be risking their jobs in the future. Same goes for Hinch and Lunhow.  Those guys arent going to to turn a blind eye very easily.  

[Jay]

This topic has been beaten to death but I will say that I take no pleasure in the Astros' punishment.

MLB made a symbolic gesture by punishing management. This will deter further occurrences. Hinch and Lunhow should have stopped it and never allowed it to occur in the World Series. They should have been banned for life, IMO. Maybe Alex Cora will be banned for life.

The Astros will be fine going forward, except maybe for the loss of the draft picks which are hit-or-miss anyway. I can see how this might motivate the team to prove they can win without cheating.

[kevinb]

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

All of this.  So which is it, cheating guarantees a World Series or everyone is cheating, because it really can’t be both.  

Cheating doesn't guarantee you anything, it just increases your odds of doing something. Not everyone who used steroids hit 73 home runs. Not everyone who used some sort of substance struck out 20 plus batters in a game. The sport is hard whether you are cheating or not, just gets a little easier if you are cheating. 

[Stradling]

I am not sure the Astros will be fine.  They are slowly losing their depth as well as some of their actual stars (Cole).  They traded away prospect depth to get Greinke, Cole and Verlander the last few years.  Once you start winning you obviously don’t get the cream of the crop in the draft like they were when they were tanking.  Now they lose their top two picks in each of the next two drafts.  They also lost the GM that put all of the analytics and player evaluation in place. You also have to wonder if pending free agents like Springer and Correa are going to want to stick around.  There are a lot of things going in the wrong direction to see that the end could be near for this team.  

[PattyD22]

Well hell...who knew the A’s were cheating before the Astros and Red Sox were?  
 

From 2015.

Edited January 14, 2020 by PattyD22

[Pancake Bear]

19 minutes ago, Stradling said:

You also have to wonder if pending free agents like Springer and Bregman are going to want to stick around.  

Correa? Bregman already extended.

[Stradling]

1 minute ago, Pancake Bear said:

Correa? Bregman already extended.

Yes, that is who I meant.  Sorry.