What's new
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums

Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.

2020 MLB Spring Training (6 Viewers)

DJackson10 said:
Just gonna give my two cents on this whole Astros thing. If anyone from players, media, coaches, people in MLB, etc are upset with what the ASTROS did I hope to god you were just as upset when the whole Steriod Scandal happened in MLB. If not you are a hypocrite and anything you say shouldn't be taken seriously. This is another black eye for baseball and Manfred like Selig went soft on punishment for the situation. Beltran should get a life time ban as he was also in the PED scandal as well. I'm still confused on Hinch. Sounds like he wanted no part of it and destroyed stuff but never told people to stop it. It sounds like he was either afraid of going against his employer or something else. Crane should lose the team and the team should be MLB owned. Cora deserves a hefty suspension and any and all players should be banned for the entire upcoming season no matter what. The Astros should have a ban on signing FAs and post season play. I hate taking away awards and such though. I'm cool with individual awards but not cool with taking titles away. We can just put an asterisk next to them like many of us do with the Patriots titles anyway. 

I find it ironic how some of the same media members or former players who defended the Steroid Scandal are losing their #### over this. You're a hypocrite. Why are performance enhancers ok by your standards but what the Astros did blasphemy against the sport? Both put a black eye n the sport. I felt robbed and honestly had I been older and spending money on MLB during the steroid era I'd be looking into suing MLB for false advertisement of players and product as it was not a natural occurrence. I was paying for something that was advanced by drugs not skill. I literally lost so much respect for players I liked from ARod (My #2 to Ken Griffey at the time) to Clemens, to Sosa and Bonds, Palmerio etc. This is a horrible look for the game and Manfred simple gave them a slap on the wrist. I'm going out on a limb and going to say like Selig the journalist and entire league knew about the PED scandal there are important people in MLB who knew about the Astros cheating and hoping to keep it under wraps similar to Selig and the PEDs and The NBA with Stern sweeping the better allegations on Donaghey and NBA refs was tried to kept quite for yrs. My best guess is after all the issues in Houston with the storms and what the city went through MLB didn't want to put more strain on the city nor MLB with possible cheating allegations by a team that was bringing so many in the Houston community together. I'm with guys like Trevor Bauer and Cody Bellinger here. Lost a lot of respect for those players and the organization and the commissioner is a ####### clown to the league. 

Finally all I got to say to every player or team pissed off. Time to stop acting like a bunch of ####### and do something about it. Old School baseball some chin music and eat dirt to the batter and some dirty slides. I'll just say if anything unfortunate happens to an Astros player don't think anyone will have sympathy for them. They brought it on themselves and the organization. They disgraced the city, the fans, the sport and the name of the organization. Owners all the way down to everyone involved. 
Click to expand...
this is not two cents its about 75 bucks and some change brohan holy smokes take that to the bank 

 
ChiefD said:
That's pretty much all I got as a Royals fan for the next 35 years or so. 
Click to expand...
I'm surprised you guys survived after George Brett cheated with the pine tar.  Then the fact they overturned the call pretty much proved the commissioner was incompetent.  Honestly, I stopped being a Royals fan that day.  Just couldn't imagine rooting for a team that violated the pine tar restrictions so willy nilly.  

 
On a serious note, I thought it was interesting that Manfred said the main reason they didn't go after the players was because even though teams were told not to use electronics anymore that season, that information wasn't passed along to the players.  And he said if they would have tried to suspend players, grievances would have followed and they would have almost certainly lost those cases.  

 
“My team cheating to get a squad of 5 stars when the best you can muster is a 3 star and these better players don’t affect anything between the lines.”

gtfoh with that lol

 
NREC34 said:
So you think it’s right that a group of schools pays and gets the best players? Then when my school that doesn’t have much  gets a shot to play one of the big boys it’s a 57-3 score. They get laughed at, put in the ESPN bottom 10, etc. 
Click to expand...
Kids and coaches are still earning it on the field, which the Astros cheated the game to do.

 
gump said:
:lmao:   Auburn paid to get Cam. What they didn’t do was cheat between the lines. The way people look back at Au-Cam will be wildly better than your guys will go down.
Click to expand...
Is the reason we look back at Cam and not feel a certain way because we are pretty sure every other elite team was doing something similar?

 
NREC34 said:
Is the reason we look back at Cam and not feel a certain way because we are pretty sure every other elite team was doing something similar?
Click to expand...
No, it’s because Cam was a superstar between the lines...without cheating.

 
OPULAR ON TWITTER

Twitter › JeffPassan

Jeff Passan

Jose Altuve just walked by a group of reporters, took his shirt off, turned around bare-chested, grabbed another shirt and put it on. Yes, there was a tattoo on his left collarbone. I’m not sure if it was bad or not.

Twitter · 42 mins ago

Twitter › BNightengale

Bob Nightengale

Jose Altuve walks into clubhouse shirtless, exposing a tattoo

Twitter · 44 mins ago

Twitter › Chandler_Rome

Chandler Rome

Jose Altuve will speak to reporters after today’s workout. He just entered the Astros clubhouse shirtless, exposing a tattoo on his left shoulder that said “Melanie.”

 
I think it's hilarious we're on Tattoo Watch:2020 now.  :lol:

Jesus, listen to yourselves.  I couldn't imagine getting this upset over a game.  Especially one I wasn't playing.  It's like being mad for 6 months because you saw a guy cheat at Words With Friends on the bus.  You weren't playing, but damn if that didn't piss you off.  :lmao:

 
Can't believe the first game of Spring Training is this Friday.  

This is like the unofficial end of the winter for me.  I feel like we've made it through the cold and warm air is on the way.

 
Manfred met with all teams in Florida today and warned them about retaliation by pitchers throwing at Astros.  Tomorrow he will do the same in Arizona.

Boy, I hope no one cheats by breaking the rules to throw at them.  

 
Brett Gardner files restraining order against obsessed fan

Though Devasahayam, 46,  and Gardner, 36, have never met, she has claimed in her lawsuit that the outfielder has hinted that he is interested in her.

Devasahayam says in the suit that a video of Gardner in the dugout shows that he “motions with his hip on the stairs as though he is having sexual intercourse with me,” according to NJ.com.    :oldunsure:

 
TheIronSheik said:
Manfred met with all teams in Florida today and warned them about retaliation by pitchers throwing at Astros.  Tomorrow he will do the same in Arizona.

Boy, I hope no one cheats by breaking the rules to throw at them.  
Click to expand...
So a player who hits an Astros batter with a pitch could be punished more severely than the Astros players who cheated. Makes sense.

 
You could literally kill someone with a baseball. This whole thing getting crazy. 

It’s just supposed to be mindless entertainment. 

 
NREC34 said:
You could literally kill someone with a baseball. This whole thing getting crazy. 

It’s just supposed to be mindless entertainment. 
Click to expand...
Wait.  Are you implying that killing someone is WORSE than stealing signs?!?  

THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!

 
TheIronSheik said:
On a serious note, I thought it was interesting that Manfred said the main reason they didn't go after the players was because even though teams were told not to use electronics anymore that season, that information wasn't passed along to the players.  And he said if they would have tried to suspend players, grievances would have followed and they would have almost certainly lost those cases.  
Click to expand...
Weirdly, I personally don't blame the players as much as management.  Of course players will try to get an edge.  That's where the manager and GM need to be the adults in the room.  The Astros front office culture under Luhnow was toxic and reprehensible.  Hinch was a coward who destroyed monitors but refused to tell his own players to stop doing something he knew was wrong. 

Most of the players said they would have stopped if told. :shrug:

 
Tom Hagen said:
Weirdly, I personally don't blame the players as much as management.  Of course players will try to get an edge.  That's where the manager and GM need to be the adults in the room.  The Astros front office culture under Luhnow was toxic and reprehensible.  Hinch was a coward who destroyed monitors but refused to tell his own players to stop doing something he knew was wrong. 

Most of the players said they would have stopped if told. :shrug:
Click to expand...
Can you unpack this a little more?  

 
cosjobs said:
Most American make less than 1500/mo and only get paid six months a year?
Click to expand...
That's taken out of context.  I've gone over this already, GB, but the argument was about the minor leaguers involved in the trade that fell through.  Those minor leaguers were millionaires.  

 
The usually reserved Mike Trout, of all players, is yet another one of their peers that has lost all respect.

"They cheated ... I don't agree with the punishment."  

"Going up to the plate knowing what's coming ... that would be a lot of fun."'

"I lost respect..."

 
TheIronSheik said:
Can you unpack this a little more?  
Click to expand...
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaredwyllys/2020/01/14/the-culture-jeff-luhnow-created/#3aedba953649

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27926780/the-houston-astros-front-office-missteps-began-long-brandon-taubman-comments

I don't want to beat a dead horse but the Astros treatment of Stephanie Apstein was horrific and they almost got away with it.  I have no doubt that was all Luhnow choosing to ruin a woman's reputation to protect a misogynist dbag assistant GM.  They not only lied about what happened, they went out of their way to publicly accuse her of fabricating the story. After they were exposed they had to be publicly shamed into apologizing to her. 

Add in denying a Detroit reporter access against MLB rules and spiking the memo about electronic sign stealing.  Manfred's report even spoke about a culture problem in the front office:

But while no one can dispute that Luhnow’s baseball operations department is an industry leader in its analytics, it is very clear to me that the culture of the baseball operations department, manifesting itself in the way its employees are treated, its relations with other Clubs, and its relations with the media and external stakeholders, has been very problematic. At least in my view, the baseball operations department’s insular culture – one that valued and rewarded results over other considerations, combined with a staff of individuals who often lacked direction or sufficient oversight, led, at least in part, to the Brandon Taubman incident, the Club’s admittedly inappropriate and inaccurate response to that incident, and finally, to an environment that allowed the conduct described in this report to have occurred.
Click to expand...

 
Last edited by a moderator:
E-Z Glider said:
I actually saw a segment with the complete opposite. It was a running chain of commentary from players that were pissed off. Glasnow and Snell, **** Hernandez, Stroman. I dont remember them all, but there were a lot. The most definitive comment came from Ryan Braun who said they've "literally never even given a sign from second base in his 15 years in baseball". As much as I dont like/trust Braun, these type of comments have swayed my opinion a bit. If everyone is doing it, knock it off and move on, but if there are truly teams/players that weren't participating at all, it makes it that much worse in my opinion. As it stands now, I feel like the more that comes out, and the more it is discussed, the worse the Astros are looking.
Click to expand...
Its getting worse and worse each day. Players (like Trout) wouldnt be coming out with such definitive statements if they had their own skeletons in the closet to worry about. This is becoming a bigger and bigger deal and doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon.

 
Tom Hagen said:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaredwyllys/2020/01/14/the-culture-jeff-luhnow-created/#3aedba953649

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27926780/the-houston-astros-front-office-missteps-began-long-brandon-taubman-comments

I don't want to beat a dead horse but the Astros treatment of Stephanie Apstein was horrific and they almost got away with it.  I have no doubt that was all Luhnow choosing to ruin a woman's reputation to protect a misogynist dbag assistant GM.  They not only lied about what happened, they went out of their way to publicly accuse her of fabricating the story. After they were exposed they had to be publicly shamed into apologizing to her. 

Add in denying a Detroit reporter access against MLB rules and spiking the memo about electronic sign stealing.  Manfred's report even spoke about a culture problem in the front office.
Click to expand...
I think the media was making more out of that story than there was.  I don't think the Astros tried to cover that up.  I think they had their employees back until all of the facts came out.  This is pretty standard everywhere.  And when they did find out, they fired him.  I just don't think that was that big of a deal.  Dude was an idiot and he got fired.  

 
E-Z Glider said:
Its getting worse and worse each day. Players (like Trout) wouldnt be coming out with such definitive statements if they had their own skeletons in the closet to worry about. This is becoming a bigger and bigger deal and doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon.
Click to expand...
Please see my unrelated post about people in politics who come out against gay right, then are found in a bathroom soliciting... you know.

I'm not saying everyone is guilty, but I don't think just because you come out against it means you are clean.  

I would also wait to see how this story persists once the season gets started.  There's nothing to talk about now and players are in front of the media for the first time since the news broke.  It was expected to be talked about by everyone these first couple of weeks.  But once meaningful games start being played, I think this will die down.  Hell, even Bauer who has been one of the most vocal people just said that everyone needs to move on from this and stop talking about it.  

 
TheIronSheik said:
I think the media was making more out of that story than there was.  I don't think the Astros tried to cover that up.  I think they had their employees back until all of the facts came out.  This is pretty standard everywhere.  And when they did find out, they fired him.  I just don't think that was that big of a deal.  Dude was an idiot and he got fired.  
Click to expand...
They released a statement calling her reporting "misleading and completely irresponsible"  and that she  “attempted to fabricate a story where one does not exist.”   without doing even the slightest bit of due diligence.  They could have at least tried to figure out what happened before resorting to character assassination.

 
TheIronSheik said:
Please see my unrelated post about people in politics who come out against gay right, then are found in a bathroom soliciting... you know.

I'm not saying everyone is guilty, but I don't think just because you come out against it means you are clean.  

I would also wait to see how this story persists once the season gets started.  There's nothing to talk about now and players are in front of the media for the first time since the news broke.  It was expected to be talked about by everyone these first couple of weeks.  But once meaningful games start being played, I think this will die down.  Hell, even Bauer who has been one of the most vocal people just said that everyone needs to move on from this and stop talking about it.  
Click to expand...
I disagree. These guys have had weeks to prepare what they were going to say when asked. I honestly wasn't expecting so many definitive statements against the Astros this week. I was expecting everyone to give the safe, canned replies. I think these statements are actually saying a lot.

 
E-Z Glider said:
I disagree. These guys have had weeks to prepare what they were going to say when asked. I honestly wasn't expecting so many definitive statements against the Astros this week. I was expecting everyone to give the safe, canned replies. I think these statements are actually saying a lot.
Click to expand...
No, what I'm saying is that this is really the first time that all of these players are around the media.  Every single media person was going to ask their local stars, "What's your take on the Astros sign stealing scandal?"  So I think that's why the past week has been littered with sound bites from almost every single player on every single team.  Saturday, most teams start playing ST games.  I would think by then, these questions won't be asked as much anymore.  And come Opening Day, these guys will be focusing on more important stuff, like how their team is doing.  

 
NREC34 said:
You could literally kill someone with a baseball. This whole thing getting crazy. 

It’s just supposed to be mindless entertainment. 
Click to expand...
Bro you have passed the point of this claiming to be mindless entertainment about 4000 posts in this thread ago. 

 
TheIronSheik said:
No, what I'm saying is that this is really the first time that all of these players are around the media.  Every single media person was going to ask their local stars, "What's your take on the Astros sign stealing scandal?"  So I think that's why the past week has been littered with sound bites from almost every single player on every single team.  
Click to expand...
Agree with this, but I was expecting a hundred sound bites all saying "It's an unfortunate situation for MLB. We need to move on." Instead we have endless soundbites of people specifically blasting individual Astros players. Not at all what I was expecting.

 
TheIronSheik said:
I think it's hilarious we're on Tattoo Watch:2020 now.  :lol:

Jesus, listen to yourselves.  I couldn't imagine getting this upset over a game.  Especially one I wasn't playing.  It's like being mad for 6 months because you saw a guy cheat at Words With Friends on the bus.  You weren't playing, but damn if that didn't piss you off.  :lmao:
Click to expand...
its good schtick when the guy who posts the most in this thread accuses other people of getting too worked up about this take that to the bank bromigo

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Cowboysfan8 said:
Yeah, when the garbage can banger tells you what’s coming and you line it right back where it came from, right?
Click to expand...
Doubt it. They’re probably trying to drive the ball out. Also they’re good but not that good. What would be the motive to hit the opposing pitcher (assuming that they could)?

 
SWC said:
its good schtick when the guy who posts the most in this thread accuses other people of getting too worked up about this take that to the bank bromigo
Click to expand...
Please show one post of mine where it shows me worked up and I'm being serious about it.

 
NREC34 said:
Doubt it. They’re probably trying to drive the ball out. Also they’re good but not that good. What would be the motive to hit the opposing pitcher (assuming that they could)?
Click to expand...
I didn’t say anyone would intentionally. 
 

But I’m sure you would agree that it’s alot easier to hit a ball hard when you know what pitch is coming 

 
TheIronSheik said:
On a serious note, I thought it was interesting that Manfred said the main reason they didn't go after the players was because even though teams were told not to use electronics anymore that season, that information wasn't passed along to the players.  And he said if they would have tried to suspend players, grievances would have followed and they would have almost certainly lost those cases.  
Click to expand...
Seems more of a we are cover our ### quote and lip service over anything else. Considering the reactions from current players and big time names I highly doubt the MLBPA would defend the punishments. They'd argued fairness on punishment from fines amount and suspension length These are rules that were broken that the MLBPA agreed to as well

 
Cowboysfan8 said:
I didn’t say anyone would intentionally. 
 

But I’m sure you would agree that it’s alot easier to hit a ball hard when you know what pitch is coming 
Click to expand...
Okay. You throw a ball at someone’s head intentionally that’s way different. 

I am sure it is easier for most of them though some say it’s distracting and they don’t want it. 

Bottom line, they were dumb to do it and even dumber to bang on trash cans. Buzzers would have been way smarter. If Fiers still came forward they could have denied it. 

 
gump said:
:lmao:   Auburn paid to get Cam. What they didn’t do was cheat between the lines. The way people look back at Au-Cam will be wildly better than your guys will go down.
Click to expand...
Auburn cheating and paying for Cam stole a Heisman Trophy from Andrew Luck. It's still cheating. 

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

BobbyLayne
Veterans Day
Replies
6
Views
314
rustycolts
rustycolts
TLEF316
Online gambling addiction
Replies
36
Views
1K
The Z Machine
The Z Machine
V
Career Advice - New Job Choice and Exit Strategy
Replies
21
Views
1K
Hawks64
Hawks64

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 7 (members: 0, guests: 7)
Top