bobinator said:

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Eh, I have no idea. Depends on what they can actually prove and I'm not super familiar with some of the similar punishments given out.

I'm just saying the 'everyone was doing the same thing' take isn't really one I agree with in this case.

Plus like JJ is saying, there may be some things the Astros stopped doing after MLB actually put some rules in place against it.

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bobinator said:

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I posted on the season thread, maybe in 2018, that I happened to have some insider info on the Astros sign stealing operation and I have absolutely no doubt that we were (are?) doing is above and beyond everyone else.

Kind of figured it would get us before long, too many people moving between franchises.

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Quote:

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The Astros' set-up in 2017 was not overly complicated. A feed from a camera in center field, fixed on the opposing catcher's signs, was hooked up to a television monitor that was placed on a wall steps from the team's home dugout at Minute Maid Park, in the tunnel that runs between the dugout and the clubhouse. Team employees and players would watch the screen during the game and try to decode signs sitting opposite the screen on massage tables in a wide hallway.


The area between the clubhouse and dugout at Minute Maid Park where the Astros placed a screen in 2017.


When the onlookers believed they had decoded the signs, the expected pitch would be communicated via a loud noise specifically, banging on a trash can, which sat in the tunnel. Normally, the bangs would mean a breaking ball or off-speed pitch was coming.

Fiers, who confirmed the set-up, acknowledged he already has a strained relationship with the Astros because he relayed to his subsequent teams, the Tigers and A's, what the Astros were doing.
"I just want the game to be cleaned up a little bit because there are guys who are losing their jobs because they're going in there not knowing," Fiers said. "Young guys getting hit around in the first couple of innings starting a game, and then they get sent down. It's (B.S.) on that end. It's ruining jobs for younger guys. The guys who know are more prepared. But most people don't. That's why I told my team. We had a lot of young guys with Detroit (in 2018) trying to make a name and establish themselves. I wanted to help them out and say, 'Hey, this stuff really does go on. Just be prepared.'"

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bobinator said:

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Well, I don't have insider info on all of the other clubs, so I guess I can't be 100% sure. They all could have had the same ideas at the same time I suppose, but they seemed to think they were a level above everyone else.

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bobinator said:

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Well, there's a pretty clear reason for that. They finally got someone to go on the record in Mike Fiers.

They've probably had the outline of this article for a while but I'm sure the editors wanted at least one actual name put to it.

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bobinator said:

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I think a potentially interesting question is whether or not it was only people watching the video.

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JJxvi said:

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The only "camera" the Astros needed to do this was the broadcast camera in dead center field (from a network they also own, BTW). Its just a matter of putting the live instantaneous broadcast on in the tunnel, and you can see the catchers signs in real time, just like you can if the catcher is holding them too low or whatever.

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bobinator said:

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I think a potentially interesting question is whether or not it was only people watching the video.

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03_Aggie said:

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JJxvi said:

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The only "camera" the Astros needed to do this was the broadcast camera in dead center field (from a network they also own, BTW). Its just a matter of putting the live instantaneous broadcast on in the tunnel, and you can see the catchers signs in real time, just like you can if the catcher is holding them too low or whatever.

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It seems that was addressed by MLB by implementing an 8 second delay.

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Ag_07 said:

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Fiers is just looking for an excuse as to why his former team has shelled his ass to the tune of a 6.95 ERA over the past 2 years.

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Ag_07 said:

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All that said I'm not saying we didn't have aTV screen down there and satff studying it.

It's probably more plausible that guys studied the tape and in between innings relayed what they deciphered to the players and coaching staff but no way do I think the banging on the trash cans from the tunnel during an AB is plausible.

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Ag_07 said:

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So from the time a sign was given to the time a pitch was thrown we relayed the sign from a camera, to a TV in the tunnel, up to the dugout, and to the hitter.

Then after that the hitter had a split second to hear the noise, process what it was, and make the decision based off that noise.

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Deluxe said:

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Let's deflect attention from this by signing Cole and Wheeler tomorrow.

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