Annnnnnnnnnnnndddddd just like that, the dominoes are starting to fall for REAL this time. If you don't live under a rock, I'm sure you've heard about the Astros, but if you haven't, the Astros were stealing signs via an outfield camera, a replay room and the installation of a television right outside of the dugout. This was for the most part a player-led movement, with the exception of the recently fired Red Sox Manager and 2017 Houston Astros Bench Coach, Alex Cora. This then escalated into the use of banging a garbage can with either a bat or massage gun, with one bang indicating an off-speed pitch and two indicating a fastball. Sign stealing happens in baseball, it's part of the game, I get it, but taking it this far? Bush league to the highest extent, but the sad reality is almost every team has a similar scheme, except for probably the White Sox because Ricky Renteria still thinks sacrifice bunting is an efficient way to win baseball games, despite what analytics and technology tell him.
The entire league was warned about the cheating scandal after the Red So were caught stealing signs in 2017, which led to a fine, but the Houston Astros decided they were above the law and rode this sum bitch straight to a World Series. Players caught onto the scheme, with former White Soc pitcher Danny Farquhar being one of the first, and this led to panic in the Astros' clubhouse, it saw the removal of the television screen and the transition to a computer screen in the Astros' dugout.
As I'm writing this, more information is coming out that Astros' players were wearing buzzers under their jerseys, because the old system had run its course:
Not sure about all of you, but this looks pretty fucking fishy to me! Josh Reddick (hillbilly in the third tweet) clearly has something on his chest that sure as hell isn't confetti. Looks like something is taped onto his chest, with a very visible wire underneath his jersey. Here's the thing, Reddick has been a good MLB player for close to a decade now, but from 2016 between Oakland and the Dodgers he hit .281 with an OPS of .749. HOWEVAH in 2017, his first year in Houston, he hit .314 and had an OPS of .847! Quite the improvement if you ask me, but in 2018 Reddick hit .242 and had an OPS of .718.
Now don't get me wrong, Jose Altuve is an elite MLB hitter, and I'm not sure what his numbers will look like when the entire world knows that your team is full of cheaters. But what's this do to the younger guys on the team, like Springer, Correa or Bregman? Bregman is a perrenial MVP candidate who has great numbers both home and away, which isn't concerning for him. The same virtually applies for Correa and Springer, but as Springer enters his final year of a deal with Houston, what's this do for his market value? Are teams going to be blackballing him, and other Astros' players? You'd think their numbers since the cheating has supposedly stopped is enough to rectify the situation for them, but I highly doubt that as the layers keep getting peeled back on this story. There's still a lot to uncover with this, and I think the Astros are going to keep getting exposed, but this time with its pitching staff. Justin Verlander looked like a shell of his former self at the end of his end in Detroit, and he goes to Houston, sees wicked increases in his spin rates and looks like it's 2011 again during the years 2017-2019.
People keep getting doxxed across the league, it looks like the Yankees are next, and the Mets just parted ways with Carlos Beltran before he even managed his first game. The Mets might as well hire Bobby Bonilla as their manager at this point instead of hiring their third manager within a year. I feel for you, Mets fans, we're blood brothers and I understand your pain (even though yours is much worse than mine).
The most staggering part about this random third-base coach's sons Instagram comment to me is that Major League Baseball is knowingly covering up not only the Astros' cheating scandal until the public found out, but allowing Mike Trout to take HGH, for a thyroid issue?
Without a shadow of a doubt, the best baseball player of my generation has allegedly found a loophole in the system to use HGH, and I'm not sure how to feel. For one, Mike Trout is the most under appreciated athlete I think I'll ever see. Sure that's the price you pay to be a 3x MVP, 7x Silver Slugger making $427,000,000 playing for the Angels, but yet, Major League Baseball decides to market its other stars more than Mike Trout tenfold. I guess we should've been a little bit suspicious about Mike Trout, I mean look at his fucking neck for starters.
Looks like he should be wearing a cowboy collar and patrolling the middle of a Chicago Bears defense if you ask me.
And maybe Major League Baseball is allowing Trout to allegedly pump HGH into his body in an attempt to make him more marketable, who knows. It's also worth mentioning that HGH still doesn't make you the otherworldly baseball player that Mike Trout is, see Barry Bonds.
Do I care that Mike Trout is allegedly using HGH for a thyroid issue? Absolutely fucking not! The MLB is struggling to stay relevant amongst younger generations across the country, and if you ask me, it's because the people who don't like baseball have the attention span of a 3-year who hasn't been prescribed Adderall yet and would prefer to watch James Harden shoot 13-37 from the field.
I'm of the opinion that professional athletes should be able to pump whatever type of growth hormone they want into their bodies, like they're Hulk Hogan, Macho Man or the Ultimate Warrior. People love the long ball, and we saw what it did for baseball in the 90's, why not let people be juiced out of their eye balls now if you're cornered about attracting a younger demographic!
Now don't get me wrong, I'm taking what this kid said with a grain of salt, but there's definitely something to it. Rob Manfred is sitting on the hottest seat I think I've ever seen if it comes out that he was actually covering both the Astros' scandal and is allowing the games top player to use HGH. If Trout's using, who's to say other players aren't? Is the MLB favoring certain players, franchise and markets by selectively choosing who gets to break the rules? This scandal seems like it's just getting started, and I'm ready to buckle up for the ride because it's going to be fascinating to see what else is being covered up in Major League Baseball, and on days like these baseball fans across the world miss Bud Selig.
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