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[polo007]

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[Skin Blues]

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Mike Trout has a higher combined OPS in his 6 non-MVP seasons (1.001) than in his 3 MVP seasons (0.997). There's not much left to say about him at this point, but I just find that amazing.

[polo007]

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[Fairview4Life]

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[Fairview4Life]

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So this 100% happened and is a big deal.

[BigLeagueChew]

Had no idea Yuli Gurriel is 35, signs a 5 year deal at 8M+ per.

[polo007]

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[dagger]

Travis d'Arnaud moving to the Braves, 2 yr/$16m

[Tanner]

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Big news. Not the signing or the trade, but the fact that this proves GM's in MLB are actually alive.

[Wo1verine]

3/$30M for Gibson.

Pomeranz signs with the Padres.

Hopefully with Gibson off the board (for cheap) it just means we are aiming higher.

[Black Watch]

Man, I wouldn't want the Jays to sign any reliever for that kind of money, at least not in our current situation.

[Black Watch]

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So this 100% happened and is a big deal.

The Houston Astros used a camera to help steal signs during their 2017 championship season, pitcher Mike Fiers and three other unnamed former Astros told The Athletic.

The kicker: There is video evidence to support it.

How it worked: "A feed from a camera in center field, fixed on the opposing catcher's signs, was hooked up to a television monitor that was placed … in the tunnel that runs between the dugout and the clubhouse."

"Team employees and players would watch the screen during the game and try to decode signs — sitting opposite the screen on massage tables in a wide hallway."

"When the onlookers believed they had decoded the signs, the expected pitch would be communicated via a loud noise — specifically, banging on a trash can, which sat in the tunnel."

Why it matters: While it's not illegal to steal signs, there are rules against using technology for an advantage — something the Astros clearly violated if these claims are true.

The backdrop: Sign stealing allegations have surrounded the Astros organization for years. In 2018, they were accused of clapping in the dugout to relay stolen signs, and in this year's ALCS, the Yankees said they were whistling to do the same.

What they're saying:

"Regarding the story posted by The Athletic earlier today, the Houston Astros organization has begun an investigation in cooperation with Major League Baseball. It would not be appropriate to comment further on this matter at this time."

— Astros official statement

The big picture: This is obviously a terrible look for Houston. Unless MLB's investigation proves otherwise, one of the few modern sports dynasties was either (1) the best team in baseball and they cheated, or (2) the best team in baseball because they cheated.

The bigger picture: Between this, the juiced baseballs, past sign-stealing scandals (remember when the Red Sox used an Apple Watch?) and claims of teams colluding to suppress player salaries, MLB's brand feels very… opaque.

The bottom line: Spygate has come to MLB, and the Houston Astros are officially the New England Patriots of baseball.

P.S. … Did the Astros not think this would eventually get out when players left the team…? Did they just not even care? So confused.

[I_Like_Dirt]

Did the Astros not think this would eventually get out when players left the team…? Did they just not even care? So confused.

I mean, people are no longer talking about the Cardinals hacking the Astros anymore so who knows? I sort of get the impression that teams do a load of shady stuff and assume (rightly) that other teams are all doing their own shady stuff and that it will all be ignored. It's really only when the media/public randomly decides to care about a specific issue that comes to light that things get out of hand. Teams have been horribly violating the spirit of international signings for ages and MLB has done relatively nothing about it.

[Fairview4Life]

They won't take away the WS victory, so I don't think the Astros give a ****.

[Schad]

Did the Astros not think this would eventually get out when players left the team…? Did they just not even care? So confused.

I mean, people are no longer talking about the Cardinals hacking the Astros anymore so who knows? I sort of get the impression that teams do a load of shady stuff and assume (rightly) that other teams are all doing their own shady stuff and that it will all be ignored. It's really only when the media/public randomly decides to care about a specific issue that comes to light that things get out of hand. Teams have been horribly violating the spirit of international signings for ages and MLB has done relatively nothing about it.

Well, the hack by the Cards landed an executive a nearly four year prison sentence, and the team lost multiple picks and was fined $2m despite MLB's investigation suggesting that the rest of the organization was unaware, and the Braves' circumvention of the international signing rules led their GM to be banned for life and a bunch of their prospects declared FAs. MLB comes down fairly hard on stuff it views as anti-competitive...it doesn't push teams making handshake agreements with IFAs because it's so widespread that no team has any particular interest in curbing the behaviour.

[rarefind]

Moustakas to the Reds 4/64

[I_Like_Dirt]

Well, the hack by the Cards landed an executive a nearly four year prison sentence, and the team lost multiple picks and was fined $2m despite MLB's investigation suggesting that the rest of the organization was unaware, and the Braves' circumvention of the international signing rules led their GM to be banned for life and a bunch of their prospects declared FAs. MLB comes down fairly hard on stuff it views as anti-competitive...it doesn't push teams making handshake agreements with IFAs because it's so widespread that no team has any particular interest in curbing the behaviour.

MLB does come down hard on stuff like that but only when it catches serious public traction. The Braves are a great example of that. They may or may not have pushed things further than other teams but loads of teams make all sorts of violations in international free agency. The Braves just happened to be caught and wound up in the spotlight more than is normal. MLB was super cool about PEDs until the public turned on them and suddenly they were aghast and needed to take a moral stand against something they had no idea was actually happening ever. Some of the punishments are eye-opening, to be sure, but people aren't worried about that for the same reason that longer jail sentences don't actually stop murderers or thieves or whatever. Beyond that, MLB is pretty great at fostering a don't ask-don't tell environment where everyone is actively looking to do whatever they can, rules be damned (they aren't the only sports league that does this, and this is hardly unique to sports). Potentially being caught isn't generally something that factors significantly into the operations.

[Wally West]

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Didn’t know whether to post this in the Blue Jays offseason thread or here. WoW.

[Schad]

MLB does come down hard on stuff like that but only when it catches serious public traction. The Braves are a great example of that. They may or may not have pushed things further than other teams but loads of teams make all sorts of violations in international free agency. The Braves just happened to be caught and wound up in the spotlight more than is normal. MLB was super cool about PEDs until the public turned on them and suddenly they were aghast and needed to take a moral stand against something they had no idea was actually happening ever. Some of the punishments are eye-opening, to be sure, but people aren't worried about that for the same reason that longer jail sentences don't actually stop murderers or thieves or whatever. Beyond that, MLB is pretty great at fostering a don't ask-don't tell environment where everyone is actively looking to do whatever they can, rules be damned (they aren't the only sports league that does this, and this is hardly unique to sports). Potentially being caught isn't generally something that factors significantly into the operations.

MLB cares about a level playing field...they don't really care how that level playing field comes about, because the league represents the teams as a unit. If everyone is doing PEDs, MLB is fine with that; they're equally fine with a stringent testing regime, if that's what the teams want. They're fine with all of the teams exploiting the J2 system, so long as they're all doing it in the same (mostly benign) fashion. But if one team exploits it in a manner that harms the rest, they'll drop the hammer.

When one team is gaining an advantage over the others, it's pretty well 29 against 1, and the league will side with the 29. The Astros aren't going to lose their rings or anything, but they're likely to receive fines, loss of draft picks, and if they can demonstrate that any of their management was in on their scheme, they might be banned from baseball for a period of time.

[I_Like_Dirt]

MLB only cares about the perception of a level playing field. They don't really care too much otherwise beyond individual teams feeling like they're falling behind rather than gaining an advantage. I'd be absolutely shocked if there weren't other teams using cameras and such because... it's happened before. This got out there and suddenly the perception is that the Astros were cheating so MLB has to act. Reality doesn't bother MLB in the slightest.