A's Mike Fiers a ‘hero' for revealing Astros scandal, Bob Melvin says

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A’s Manager Bob Melvin can sum up his sentiments on the Astros' cheating scandal in two words: “Not happy.”

He’s seen a lot of chatter over during the offseason, including comparisons of what Houston did to what the New England Patriots have been accused of in the NFL.

“It’s not even in the same realm,” Melvin said. “The only thing you could compare it to is if somebody hacked into their play calling and knew every play they were running. That’s how significant it is.”

Significance has been hard to quantify, specifically how much the Astros gained from knowing what pitches were coming. 

What really gets under Melvin’s skin is backlash towards A's pitcher Mike Fiers, who was the named source that really put MLB’s investigation in motion.

“When I hear some of the criticisms of Mike Fiers, it really upsets me,” Melvin said.

Opinion and criticism exists that an unwritten rule was broken by Fiers not “keeping it in the clubhouse.”  

Melvin couldn’t disagree more.

“This goes way beyond that," Melvin said. "This is the integrity of the game. This is the closest thing you can find to fixing a game. It’s something that needs to be cleaned up.”

A lot remains to be seen regarding what happens next in Houston, and across Major League Baseball. Nobody will ever know when the story is “over,” or unfolds a new wrinkle.

[RELATED: Fiers blamed by Jessica Mendoza]

But Melvin knows one thing right now.

“The farther this goes on the more I think people are going to realize Mike Fiers was a hero for doing something like this,” Melvin said. “It needs to be out of our game.  No one should have that advantage.”

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