Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com recently shared an intriguing quote from Alex Cora, the current manager of the Boston Red Sox and former bench coach of the 2017 World Champion Houston Astros.
At the time, Cora reflected on Alex Bregman and the 2017 Astros after Bregman had just agreed to sign a three-year contract to join the Red Sox.
“With all those guys, we went through a lot,” he said. “We’re still going through a lot. We made a mistake in ‘17. Some of us paid the price and we’re back in baseball. A.J. (Hinch) got a second chance; I did too. Carlos (Beltran) is being penalized because he did that. He should be a Hall of Famer already. He should be managing, too.”
Ahem…
Please allow me a moment while I collect myself.
In the spirit of the weekend’s 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live, I am waiting for the sketch to conclude with “Live From New York…”
I must apologize to current Boston Red Sox fans for mentioning New York, and to those Houston Astros fans who have been trying to forget this “mistake” for years.
Let us be clear…
To use the word mistake implies you made a bad decision.
It is one thing to make a single bad decision. It’s another to make thousands of continuous bad decisions.
In 2017, there were not any MLB employees monitoring the clubhouses for any usage of electronic equipment, nor were there any MLB employees monitoring the clubhouses for players staring at clubhouse TVs to decipher signs delivered by catchers or banging on garbage cans.
Now MLB employs multiple game-day compliance monitors who are essentially “cheating detectives” in each clubhouse to observe any possible suspicious behavior.
Speaking of clubhouse TVs, in 2017, anyone in the clubhouse could watch a live feed.
Currently, the only live feeds are available to MLB-certified video personnel of each club. Their names, pictures and official club positions are given to the compliance monitors to confirm before each game and are periodically checked for appropriate behavior. These video teams are locked in a room without windows.
Have you ever wondered why the dugout has to use the “phone” to check replays? They are contacting their video personnel in that locked room.
Now there are two phones — one for the bullpen and one for video replay.
In 2017, MLB personnel weren’t searching for illegal cameras, foreign substances, or communication devices in dugouts, bullpens, clubhouses, training rooms, weight rooms, bathrooms, or anywhere in the stadium.
Why? Because nobody expected a team to stoop that low. The discovery of the behavior was mind-blowing.
Currently, every approved camera in the stadium is documented and mapped by MLB.
This means no flashes in the scoreboard, no personnel with walkie-talkies or anyone else sending signals remotely to certain players on the field during live action.
I am not here to call out names, but there is plenty of video evidence of certain Astro players hesitant to have their jerseys ripped off in celebration of a walk-off win.
Hmmmm, why not?
So, while I am optimistic though, the Astros helped MLB create jobs. Good job guys!
They cheated like dogs. Repeatedly. Day after day adding to the cheating arsenal.
Sign stealing is one thing.
Being proficient at stealing signs is an art form.
Getting your signs stolen by the other team is a sign of laziness.
This does not condone the use of electronic devices to aid in cheating. Stealing signs is a subtle action. You don’t want the opposing team to realize you’ve stolen their signs. This aspect of the game is a mental challenge — it’s not about relaying details electronically.
Not relaying details electronically.
The Astros cheated for years and now Cora has reignited a controversy that many of us hoped to forget.
Congrats Alex Cora, you are not only minimizing what you did, but you are trying to attempt to draw sympathy for the players that you led into this debacle. The bus has already run over the 2017 Astros and its players — multiple times. Good job throwing those same players back under the bus for decisions you were responsible for.
The 1919 White Sox were banned from the game.
Pete Rose was banned from gambling on games, not cheating on the games.
Meanwhile, Alex Cora has returned as an MLB manager – while his former players will once again pay the price.