As the only Houston Astro willing to speak candidly on the sign-stealing fiasco, Carlos Correa is becoming the leader of what should be a heel turn.
After the PR disaster that was the Houston Astros’ press conference on Thursday, shortstop Carlos Correa was the only player to speak in any sort of genuinely apologetic tone about the team’s sign stealing. In response to pointed comments from Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger on Friday, Correa has offered a pointed response.
Bellinger ripped Astros’ owner Jim Crane, while suggesting second baseman Jose Altuve “stole” the 2017 AL MVP from Aaron Judge and the Astros stole a ring from the Dodgers in the 2017 World Series.
That did not sit well with Correa, who has responded via Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
(Bellinger) says, ‘Jose Altuve cheated (Aaron) Judge out of the MVP.’ Cody, you don’t know the facts,”
Correa went further to defend Altuve, citing him among few teammates who didn’t use the alleged trash can banging in the dugout to get a tip on what pitch was coming.
“The few times that the trash can was banged was without (Altuve’s) consent and he would go inside the clubhouse and inside the dugout to whoever was banging the trash can and he would get pissed. He would get mad,” Correa told Rosenthal. “He would say, ‘I don’t want this. I can’t hit like this. Don’t you do that to me.
Altuve’s ALCS-clinching home run last fall has been plucked as an example of Astros’ players wearing buzzers to get pitches tipped. Altuve has said his wife didn’t want him to have his jersey ripped off, but Correa offered an extra detail.
“The second reason – he doesn’t want me to talk about this but I’m going to say it – is because he’s got an unfinished tattoo on his collarbone, that honestly looked terrible. It was a bad tattoo and he didn’t want nobody to see it. He didn’t want to show it at all.”
So Altuve had (or still has?) an unfinished tattoo on his collarbone, and thus didn’t want his jersey to be ripped off in the celebration. That’s acceptable I guess, even as a flimsy excuse that invites easy jokes.
After the brief and/or disingenuous comments from Crane, Alex Bregman and Altuve on Thursday, it’s nice to see someone on the Astros get mad and decide they’re not going to take it anymore as players from other teams speak out on the sign-stealing scandal.
If the Astros do fully embrace a heel turn, Correa is advancing himself as the leader of the movement and we all should be here for it.