Astros’ Sign-Stealing Continued Through 2017 Playoffs, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred Says

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday that the Houston Astros banged trash cans to relay signs through the 2017 postseason.

The league’s report did not explicitly state that the scheme continued in the playoffs. Astros players, most notably shortstop Carlos Correa, have insisted the trash-can system was abandoned in the postseason because stadiums were too loud for the banging to be heard by batters. Manfred said Astros players admitted the scheme was used in the postseason during the league’s investigation.

Two days after adding fuel to the scandal rocking his league and igniting wrath from players across the sport, Manfred also apologized for referring to the World Series trophy as “a piece of metal.”

“I referred to the World Series trophy in a disrespectful way,” Manfred said.

Read the full story at LATimes.com.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred Says Astros’ Sign-Stealing Continued Through 2017 Playoffs

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday that the Houston Astros banged trash cans to relay signs through the 2017 postseason.

The league’s report did not explicitly state that the scheme continued in the playoffs. Astros players, most notably shortstop Carlos Correa, have insisted the trash-can system was abandoned in the postseason because stadiums were too loud for the banging to be heard by batters. Manfred said Astros players admitted the scheme was used in the postseason during the league’s investigation.

Two days after adding fuel to the scandal rocking his league and igniting wrath from players across the sport, Manfred also apologized for referring to the World Series trophy as “a piece of metal.”

“I referred to the World Series trophy in a disrespectful way,” Manfred said.

Read the full story at LATimes.com.

LeBron: MLB Commissioner Needs to Listen to Players’ Astros Ire

LeBron James is stepping to the plate for ballplayers furious over baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred’s handling of the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scam.

The four-time NBA MVP and star with the Los Angeles Lakers unleashed in two tweets Tuesday, echoing calls for harsher punishments made by baseball stars Mike Trout, Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger, among others.

“Listen I know I don’t play baseball but I am in Sports and I know if someone cheated me out of winning the title and I found out about it I would be … irate!” James tweeted. “I mean like uncontrollable about what I would/could do! Listen here baseball commissioner listen to your….. players speaking today about how disgusted, mad, hurt, broken, etc etc about this. Literally the ball is in your court(or should I say field) and you need to fix this for the sake of Sports!”

James’ tweets included the hashtag #JustMyThoughtsComingFromASportsJunkieRegardlessMyOwnSportIPlay”

Listen I know I don’t play baseball but I am in Sports and I know if someone cheated me out of winning the title and I found out about it I would be F*^king irate! I mean like uncontrollable about what I would/could do! Listen here baseball commissioner listen to your…..

— LeBron James (@KingJames) February 18, 2020

players speaking today about how disgusted, mad, hurt, broken, etc etc about this. Literally the ball() is in your court(or should I say field) and you need to fix this for the sake of Sports! #JustMyThoughtsComingFromASportsJunkieRegardlessMyOwnSportIPlay

— LeBron James (@KingJames) February 18, 2020

Manfred issued a report last month detailing Houston’s cheating scheme during its 2017 World Series championship season involving a video monitor and a trash can located near the team’s home dugout. Manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow were banned for one year by the league and subsequently fired by Houston. The only player mentioned in the report was since-retired Carlos Beltrán, who lost his job managing the New York Mets in fallout from the scandal.

No other players have been punished because Manfred promised them immunity as part of the league’s investigation.

The Astros staged a team-wide apology last week at the start of spring training, but many players from the 29 other clubs say Houston’s remorse felt insincere. Rather than opening spring camps with sunny optimism as usual, baseball

Trout, a three-time MVP, ripped Houston and questioned MLB’s discipline. Bellinger claimed the Astros stole the ’17 title from his Dodgers. Judge, runner-up to Houston’s Jose Altuve in the ’17 MVP race, said the Astros “cheated and you didn’t earn it.”

“That’s how I feel,” Judge said Tuesday. “It wasn’t earned. It wasn’t earned the way of playing the game right and fighting to the end and knowing that we’re competing, we’re competitors. The biggest thing about competition is laying it all out on the line, and whoever is the better player, better person comes out on top. To know that another team had an advantage that, nothing you can really guard against, I just don’t feel like that’s earned.”

Dodgers’ Justin Turner Slams MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred for Demeaning World Series

The Dodgers have reached the doorstep of a championship and watched an opponent celebrate a title at Dodger Stadium twice in the last three seasons. Several players in their clubhouse know firsthand how difficult it is to win a World Series.

So when Justin Turner saw Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred’s comments Sunday in which he defended his investigation into the Houston Astros’ illegal sign-stealing scheme and referred to the World Series trophy as a “piece of metal,” rage boiled.

“I don’t know if the commissioner has ever won anything in his life,” Turner said in front of his locker Monday. “Maybe he hasn’t. But the reason every guy’s in this room, the reason every guy is working out all offseason, and showing up to camp early and putting in all the time and effort is specifically for that trophy, which, by the way, is called the Commissioner’s Trophy.

“So for him to devalue it the way he did yesterday just tells me how out of touch he is with the players in this game. At this point the only thing devaluing that trophy is that it says ‘Commissioner’ on it.”

Read the full story on LATimes.com.