Kerb Hohl wrote:Crane fumbled the delivery but I have two questions:
1. What, if anything would appease fans/writers? It feels to me like if the Astros got overly specific and deeply, deeply apologized, that there would be an insane uproar that they have not cut/disciplined the players, they still have the trophy, etc. and that they were insincere because they did not bring any action with their apologies. "OMG! They admitted and apologized for everything about their cheating and here we are with the team moving on with their trophy as if nothing happened!"
2. Coming off of that, it is almost impossible to have a sincere apology when you cannot go into specifics. And while it may be a "sad state of the current world" they would have been extremely stupid to say, "sorry about that buzzer I had on my upper chest" both for their own franchise, their own careers, and for the league as a whole. Not only would it draw extreme ire and potentially lawsuits, but I think the league hopes this is just swept under the rug because there were probably 10+ other teams doing similar things.
I'm ok with apologies and not going into specifics.
However,
Reporters asked Crane specifically about whether the sign-stealing scheme affected their playoff games with the Yankees. The Astros defeated the Yankees in the American League Championship Series in 2017 and 2019.
"Listen, the Yankees had had a few comments out there. Our opinion is, that this didn't impact the game," Crane said. "We had a good team. We won the World Series, and we'll leave it at that."
Does anyone actually believe this didn't impact the game? I.E. Knowing what type of pitch is coming?
He brought the story right back to himself and the Astros by making that comment. And he deserves backlash for his comments.