Major League Baseball’s horrendous handling of the sign-stealing scandal has led to a nearly nonstop stream of quotes from players criticizing the Astros and their handling of it all. All during the week -- pitchers and catchers report! -- which is supposed to be about renewal, optimism, and all the positive things the league likes to promote about the sport.
The latest comes from Camelback Ranch in Arizona, where the Dodgers train. This morning reigning NL MVP Cody Bellinger spoke with the press and offered his two -- more like fifty-two -- cents on the Astros’ much-maligned apologies from yesterday and from their sign-stealing shenanigans in general:
Bellinger: "I thought Manfred's punishment was weak, giving them immunity. I mean these guys were cheating for three years. I think what people don't realize is Altuve stole an MVP from Judge in '17. Everyone knows they stole the ring from us."
— Jorge Castillo (@jorgecastillo) February 14, 2020
Players were going to have ill-feelings about all of this anyway, but I suspect that they feel far more emboldened to offer them like this given Major League Baseball’s mishandling of it all. And, of course, Jim Crane’s absurd claim yesterday that the sign-stealing didn’t help the Astros threw gas on the fire.
Great job, everyone. Way to start out the season.