WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 13: Alex Bregman #2 of the Houston Astros speaks during a press conference at FITTEAM Ballpark of The Palm Beaches on February 13, 2020 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
The New York Yankees were mentioned in a new chapter of MLB’s sign-stealing scandal, and some Houston Astros were weirdly excited.
On Sunday, it was revealed that a federal judge ordered MLB to unseal documents with serious sign-stealing allegations against the New York Yankees. The details of said allegations have yet to be unveiled, but several Astros players took a break from their apology tour to fire shots in the Yankees direction, further fueling one of the better recent rivalries in the American League.
Still, in doing so, the Astros are losing sight on their own transgressions, which resulted in the delegitimizing of the game’s greatest prize.
Several Houston Astros stars fired shots in the Yankees direction on Sunday.
Astros stars Alex Bregman and Carlos Correa — both of whom were rather large pawns in their sign-stealing scheme — subtweeted the Yankees in rather obvious fashion. In doing so, they revealed their true colors, and their intent to never learn from their own wrongs.
This is a problem of Rob Manfred’s creation. By giving the player anonymity, he gave them the impression of innocence, rather than even an obvious slap on the wrist. No punishment sent the wrong message, and now we’re seeing it rear its ugly head in a complete lack of remorse and understanding in how they — the prominent Astros 2017 World Series champions who remain employed by the organization — tarnished the very game they’re paid millions of dollars to play in a clean fashion. They broke their one rule.
Such jokes weren’t received well by the baseball community (outside of Houston, at least), but the backlash defeats the purpose. The Astros must know by now that they’re the face of this scandal, and that’s been set in stone ever since they won a World Series by illegal means.
Wishing the worst on their closest enemies who are rightfully angry they had an unseen advantage only provides further fodder for the rest of us.