lda6339 said:
agsquirrel97 said:
Next, from JomBoy's video, here is when Farquhar comes to rest, every pitch as shown in the video (I hope in order, they are timestamped). My untrained eye sees what seems to be a loading up on the back leg for fast balls and a chicken wing right arm for off speed. Both of those characteristics would be very noticable from the dugout. Every offspeed pitch shows the "Bang" in the screenshot. I am not saying that is what the dugout was keying on, I am saying that is faster than a camera relayed to a monitor. There are plenty of tells and these two are not obvious to the batter perspective but very obvious to the dugout.
That's a pretty neat explanation, that only could explain the video, but it tackles none of the other evidence.
1) It doesn't explain the difference in stats for the time the accusations were levied, click on this tweet and read through the whole thread, its not just Altuve
2) Without seeing the dugout view we can't know how obvious his stance before the throw really looks.
3) If it was because he was tipping pitches to the dugout, why did the former player say they were cheating, instead of just telling the young guys to make sure they don't tip any pitches?
4) Why would the team not say the tips were being pitched by the dugout?
5) Occam's Razor
Like you said, until the investigation is finished we don't know- but there's nothing wrong with saying "this looks bad" and if it comes out they were cheating they should be punished.
I don't twitter so I really don't know how to look at that. I said in my post if it was outside the lines it should be punished, so we agree. MLB draws the lines and decides what is inside and what is outside, I am interested in what is published by MLB. For right now, every post I see is as biased as my post, from one perspective or another, at least my post acknowledges both perspectives because either could both be true (and both could be true).
As far as Fiers' claim, I could not say why he would say one thing and Beltran would say another. However, I am extremely confident that in this day and age, everyone has an angle. I will not get political, but I have become very skeptical of what I hear thanks to some eye-opening incidents in recent years. I will say I have seen biases from ESPN on numerous topics, and beating up on the Astros seems to be a new favorite pastime of mainstream media. I find it complimentary to be nitpicked and my skin is thick enough to ignore them knowing they have about as much information as I do in this day and age, people can form very different opinions based on the same information.
I could also say Occam's razor, as seeing a chicken wing in real-time seems easier than electronically stealing the signs from a catcher. I think it is very easy to tell his elbow is higher on his offspeed from the outfield and that would be magnified from directly behind him in the dugout. From the outfield, I can tell he has loaded up on his back leg and from the dugout there would be an obvious weight distribution difference as he would be standing over his back leg versus more centered on both legs for an offspeed. Again, I don't know cameras weren't used, but I think it is apparent he is tipping pitches.
I do not know how the Astros stole signs, I hope there is a definitive report; however, they have been my team since 1980 and will still be my team in 2020 and beyond so it doesn't really affect me one way or another.
ps - i have sunglasses too