Yesterday’s post contained links to (and quotes from) a number of
articles that summarized what happened I lot better than I can. I did want to
add some personal thoughts, however.
WORDS MATTER
Whenever I hear an apology that uses passive tense (“mistakes were
made!”) and/or sounds like it was written by either a lawyer or PR specialist,
I immediately file it in my mental trash receptacle. Altuve was apparently sorry
for “what happened”. With Bregman, it wasn’t even “mistakes” that were made, it
was “choices” that he regretted. Guys, the word is “cheat”, and it’s not just
that “cheating happened”. How about: I cheated, he cheated, we all cheated.
It helps to apologize to those who were actually wronged. Everyone was
falling all over themselves to apologize to the Houston fans – why? They’re the
ones who got to celebrate. They got to go to the parade, touch the trophy, wear
the “2017 World Champions” T-shirts. Try apologizing to the players and fans
you deprived of the opportunity to compete for, and possibly enjoy, that
championship on a level playing field.
Don’t shift all the blame to those who are no longer around. Crane’s
statement that the players “are a great group of guys who did not receive
proper guidance from their leaders” was totally pathetic, when the Comissioner’s
Statement made clear that the sign-stealing-scheme was “player-driven and
player-executed”.
Don’t deny the obvious. Anyone who’s followed baseball for more than a
week knows that it can be a significant advantage for hitters (and a
corresponding disadvantage for pitchers) when the hitter knows exactly what
type of pitch is coming. That doesn’t mean that all hitters want to get, or
always benefit from, this information, but overall it’s crystal clear that when
one team’s hitters are illicitly receiving such information and the other team’s
are not, it’s hardly a fair competition.
Building on that, don’t have the audacity to insist that your
championship is “legitimate” and deny that it is in any way tainted. True, we
can’t replay the 2017 season without the Houston players’ misconduct, and so we
will never know whether or not they could have won as a thump-free team. But
that uncertainty is their fault, not anyone else’s.
WORDS AREN’T ENOUGH
Actions speak louder than words, and the team and its players have not
indicated that they will do anything concrete to partially atone for their
previous sins. I have a couple of suggestions.
Many of the 2017 cheaters are now multi-millionaires. The full
per-player post-season share in 2017 was over $438,000. Maybe all of those rich
guys could take that money and put it into a fund. (Those just hanging on
financially could kick in a lesser amount.) Divide the fund into three parts,
with each part going to a charity selected by one of the teams that Houston
defeated in October of 2017.
Similarly, the team itself benefited greatly from their ill-gotten
success, in terms of increased attendance, merch sales, and ancillary revenue.
I have no idea how much, but it certainly exceeds the $5 million fine (the
maximum allowed, apparently) from MLB. So the team itself should contribute a
substantial amount of money to the compensation fund described above.
Some have argued that MLB should strip the team of their title.
Arguments can be made in either direction, but I have no expectation that this
will actually happen. However, the team itself could make a gesture by taking
down its championship flag, given the means by which it was obtained. Its
continued presence above Minute Maid Park would represent a big, raised middle
finger to every team that comes there to play, and to baseball in general. (They
can keep the trophy, as far as I’m concerned.)
FINAL THOUGHTS
I would really love to have been a fly on the wall at the big Wednesday
evening team meeting. Was it all really the gnashing of teeth, rending of
garments, and self-abasement that has been portrayed? Or was most of it devoted
to building team unity and deciding on a mutual set of talking points going
forward. I’m also really curious about who actually wrote the statements that
Bregman and Altuve read at the press conference.
And what happens now? Did they really think that Wednesday’s talking points
were enough? Was the performance evil, or just clueless? Were they surprised by
the unanimity and vitriol of the response, or did they expect it? Is anything
more coming, or do they just not give a f--k?
Dusty, Dusty, Dusty. I get it that he wants to have one final
opportunity to add a World Series title to his otherwise-impressive managerial
resume. If he had gotten a job with just about any other team, I would be
pulling hard for his success, but certainly not under these circumstances, with
this team. For me, the Asstros 2020 season is going to bear a remarkable
similarity to Trump’s impeachment trial. Where Trump claimed vindication after
his acquittal, the Houston players will claim that a 2020 championship
completely legitimizes their 2017 title. I’m sure that others disagree, but for
me, taking a job managing Houston this year is the baseball equivalent of
taking a job working for Trump. You're selling your soul either way.
