Astros = CHEATERS

156,392 Views | 1481 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by Aggies2009
MaxPower
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South Platte said:

MaxPower said:

He mentions in one sentence the complete transformation of the team, which really should have been half the article. We brought in several hitters who K less plus Bregman who is a league leader in K ratio. Springer is brought up as an example but he has gone on to be just as stuffy after the sign stealing.

BTW, the Yankees went from 183 HR in 2016 to 241 in 2017, which was a higher % increase than we had decrease in K's. Anyone investigating how they were able to have such a gigantic ncrease?
Well the Yankees have this really good player, I think his name is Aaron Judge. He had 4 home runs in 2016, 52 in 2017.

183+48=231 home runs

That just about covers the entire increase.

Do you even follow baseball?
And the Astros brought in 5 guys (including full season Bregman) who K significantly less than their predecessor. That's my point, the vast majority of that year over year change was due to different players on the team, not existing players who "magically" got better. And even the guys who did improve from 2016 to 2017 generally continued that improvement in 2018 and 2019 when its already been stated by the commish they were no longer using the sign stealing system. It's data dredging at its finest.
Wabs
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AG
Quote:

"Some unnamed members of the Milwaukee Brewers told the Athletic during the 2018 National League Championship Series that they were concerned the Dodgers were using video to steal their signs."
If a player's accusations can start an investigation (as in the Astros case), why didn't/doesn't MLB investigate the Dodgers?

https://www.dodgersnation.com/dodgers-were-accused-of-sign-stealing-in-2018-per-the-athletic/2020/01/08/
BMX Bandit
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there is an enormous difference between "sources" saying they think a team did something and an actual person saying he knows first hand that a team did something.
Proposition Joe
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It's not a lazy narrative at all, it's actually Astros defenders being so quick to goal-tend that they aren't even reading the narratives they are accusing of being lazy and just assuming they aren't actually fair or critical.

Direct from Stark's article:

"We can't say they wouldn't have dramatically improved their contact rate if they'd never banged on those trash can lids because they did, in fact, bring in more contact-oriented hitters and did, in fact, change their hitting philosophy heading into that season."

and further down

"But does that mean we can definitively say they made that dramatic a change simply because they were stealing signs? We can't. This was Alex Bregman's first full season and Yuli Gurriel's first full season. The Astros also brought in Carlos Beltrn, Brian McCann, Josh Reddick and Nori Aoki that year. All of those players had a track record of making more contact than the players they replaced."



He's making a case with large amounts of statistical data, but also countering it with reasonable explanations that might have made the historical shift a bit more explainable.


But it's easier to shout "LAZY!" like somehow the burden of proof falls on the media to uncover a scandal that... the media already uncovered.
tjack16
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AG
Proposition Joe said:

It's not a lazy narrative at all, it's actually Astros defenders being so quick to goal-tend that they aren't even reading the narratives they are accusing of being lazy and just assuming they aren't actually fair or critical.

Direct from Stark's article:

"We can't say they wouldn't have dramatically improved their contact rate if they'd never banged on those trash can lids because they did, in fact, bring in more contact-oriented hitters and did, in fact, change their hitting philosophy heading into that season."

and further down

"But does that mean we can definitively say they made that dramatic a change simply because they were stealing signs? We can't. This was Alex Bregman's first full season and Yuli Gurriel's first full season. The Astros also brought in Carlos Beltrn, Brian McCann, Josh Reddick and Nori Aoki that year. All of those players had a track record of making more contact than the players they replaced."



He's making a case with large amounts of statistical data, but also countering it with reasonable explanations that might have made the historical shift a bit more explainable.


But it's easier to shout "LAZY!" like somehow the burden of proof falls on the media to uncover a scandal that... the media already uncovered.


The problem is we now live in a world where people don't actually read the articles .... they go off of the titles and then run with it. It goes both ways, but these sports sites know most people will only see the title and then run with it. That's how a lot of false narratives get spun. See Facebook and Twitter for examples
Proposition Joe
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So we're blaming the sports sites for doing an in-depth dive into the numbers, all the while being fair towards the counterpoints, just because the headline was "Does electronic sign stealing work? The Astros' numbers are eye-popping" ?

That's not a false narrative. That's people who want it all to go away trying to shout it down.
tjack16
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AG
Proposition Joe said:

So we're blaming the sports sites for doing an in-depth dive into the numbers, all the while being fair towards the counterpoints, just because the headline was "Does electronic sign stealing work? The Astros' numbers are eye-popping" ?

That's not a false narrative. That's people who want it all to go away trying to shout it down.


"The Astros numbers are eye popping" insinuates that because of sign stealing their numbers are eye popping.... when later in the article they say "oh well they also improved their roster so maybe it didn't impact it that much"

It's a lazy headline. Instead "an in depth look at Astros 2017 season post - sign stealing scandal" would be better
Deluxe
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AG
Sounds like we're on the same page. Nuanced analysis that looks at multiple variables to substantiate a claim is good. Blanket statements that attempt to substantiate a claim with a single variable to get clicks are lazy.

I don't support lazy narratives and sounds like you don't either.
Proposition Joe
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It actually sounds like you just don't understand thr concept of a headline.

Im against clickbait. This wasnt clickbait. It was a well researched article complete with counterpoints.
Deluxe
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AG
You demonstrated your ability think critically in your post and you seem to share my disdain for lazy narratives. We definitely agree that the following is not a lazy narrative (as you said before):

Quote:

Direct from Stark's article:

"We can't say they wouldn't have dramatically improved their contact rate if they'd never banged on those trash can lids because they did, in fact, bring in more contact-oriented hitters and did, in fact, change their hitting philosophy heading into that season."

and further down

"But does that mean we can definitively say they made that dramatic a change simply because they were stealing signs? We can't. This was Alex Bregman's first full season and Yuli Gurriel's first full season. The Astros also brought in Carlos Beltrn, Brian McCann, Josh Reddick and Nori Aoki that year. All of those players had a track record of making more contact than the players they replaced."
Mike Elko
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AG
From an ESPN article: "Hinch apologized in a statement the day of his firing, but Astros players -- given immunity and thus not punished as part of MLB's investigation -- have been reluctant to say they were sorry."

Cheating, arrogant *****es.
BMX Bandit
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AustinAg2012 said:

From an ESPN article: "Hinch apologized in a statement the day of his firing, but Astros players -- given immunity and thus not punished as part of MLB's investigation -- have been reluctant to say they were sorry."

Cheating, arrogant *****es.
bless your heart
Wabs
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AG
AustinAg2012 said:

From an ESPN article: "Hinch apologized in a statement the day of his firing, but Astros players -- given immunity and thus not punished as part of MLB's investigation -- have been reluctant to say they were sorry."

Cheating, arrogant *****es.
My hope is if/when they do decide to address this, they don't forget how to speak English like steroid user, cork bat user Sammy Sosa.
Marvin
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AG
Wabs said:


My hope is if/when they do decide to address this, they don't forget how to speak English like steroid user, cork bat user Sammy Sosa.

...who, never forget, began AND ended his career as a Texas Ranger.
PlaneCrashGuy
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AG
Marvin said:

Wabs said:


My hope is if/when they do decide to address this, they don't forget how to speak English like steroid user, cork bat user Sammy Sosa.

...who, never forget, began AND ended his career as a Texas Ranger.

Never thought I'd see the day a Houston fan wanted to mention player character in an argument.
Carlo4
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AG
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28655757/report-astros-front-office-laid-groundwork-codebreaker-sign-stealing-program

All because of an intern
DannyDuberstein
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AG
Used at home and on the road. So much for trying to analyze splits. There is no "not cheating" control to compare to since they were cheating the entire time
Chipotlemonger
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AG
DannyDuberstein said:

Used at home and on the road. So much for trying to analyze splits. There is no "not cheating" control to compare to


Yea that is very relevant information.
AustinAg2K
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I don't see how the codebreaking is different than analyzing a pitchers tendencies. Relaying that info real time to batters is different, but if you can break a team's signals by reviewing the video after the game then I don't see a problem with that. Team's should be changing their signs every game anyways.
Flexbone
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lda6339 said:

First Lawsuit has been filed. Since MLB has an official partnership with DraftKings I wonder if this could actually turn into something, guess we'll wait and see. Any lawyers have an preliminary opinion/comment?


I'm an attorney, and my comment is that you might be the biggest moron on this board. The Cardinals had employees GO TO JAIL and yet here you are, running your mouth about something that a TON of teams were doing. Just how big of a tool are you?

A CARDINALS fan. What are you, 95 years old?
saltydog13
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AG
He's still salty about the cash and draft picks the Cardinals had to give the Astros
pasquale
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AG
Cubs= last true (honest) MLB champs!
the last of the bohemians
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Going to be great when the Astros lead the league in offense this year
AggieBaseball06
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AG
the last of the bohemians said:

Going to be great when the Astros lead the league in offense this year
Are you willing to put a $100 to charity on that?
PlaneCrashGuy
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AG
Flexbone said:

lda6339 said:

First Lawsuit has been filed. Since MLB has an official partnership with DraftKings I wonder if this could actually turn into something, guess we'll wait and see. Any lawyers have an preliminary opinion/comment?


I'm an attorney, and my comment is that you might be the biggest moron on this board. The Cardinals had employees GO TO JAIL and yet here you are, running your mouth about something that a TON of teams were doing. Just how big of a tool are you?

A CARDINALS fan. What are you, 95 years old?
Neat deflection!
Danny Vermin
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Astros will be a dumpster fire and wont win the west.
tjack16
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AG
Danny Vermin said:

Astros will be a dumpster fire and wont win the west.


Nah they will still win the west.
Bobby Petrino`s Neckbrace
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Hinch interviewed by Tom Verducci at SI:

https://www.si.com/mlb/2020/02/07/aj-hinch-houston-astros-sign-stealing
. . .
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Quote:

Former big-league pitcher Mike Bolsinger filed a civil lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against the Houston Astros on Monday, accusing the franchise of unfair business practices and negligence, among other charges, stemming from their sign-stealing operation, per Nancy Armour of USA Today.

Bolsinger is said to be seeking "unspecified damages," but not just for his own benefit. Per Armour, Bolsinger wants the Astros to forfeit $31 million in bonuses they received from winning the 2017 World Series, with that money being donated to Los Angeles-based charities for children and used to create a fund for "retired baseball players who need financial assistance."

Bolsinger, 32, accumulated 48 appearances in the majors over the course of the 2014-17 seasons, primarily with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He last pitched in the majors for the Toronto Blue Jays on Aug. 4, 2017 against the Astros. Bolsinger didn't fare well: he faced eight batters and permitted four hits and three walks.

Bolsinger believes that performance cost him any chance at a prolonged big-league career. "I was an older guy. They had younger guys to call up," he told Armour. "Let's say that (Astros game) doesn't happen I probably don't get sent down. But at that point, they probably lost faith in me and were over it."
Hershey97
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Flexbone
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lda6339 said:

Flexbone said:

lda6339 said:

First Lawsuit has been filed. Since MLB has an official partnership with DraftKings I wonder if this could actually turn into something, guess we'll wait and see. Any lawyers have an preliminary opinion/comment?


I'm an attorney, and my comment is that you might be the biggest moron on this board. The Cardinals had employees GO TO JAIL and yet here you are, running your mouth about something that a TON of teams were doing. Just how big of a tool are you?

A CARDINALS fan. What are you, 95 years old?
Neat deflection!


I've never seen anything stranger than this weird guy hanging out on every Astros thread, bitter because "his Cardinals" aren't good at baseball.
AustinAg2K
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. . . said:


Quote:

Former big-league pitcher Mike Bolsinger filed a civil lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against the Houston Astros on Monday, accusing the franchise of unfair business practices and negligence, among other charges, stemming from their sign-stealing operation, per Nancy Armour of USA Today.

Bolsinger is said to be seeking "unspecified damages," but not just for his own benefit. Per Armour, Bolsinger wants the Astros to forfeit $31 million in bonuses they received from winning the 2017 World Series, with that money being donated to Los Angeles-based charities for children and used to create a fund for "retired baseball players who need financial assistance."

Bolsinger, 32, accumulated 48 appearances in the majors over the course of the 2014-17 seasons, primarily with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He last pitched in the majors for the Toronto Blue Jays on Aug. 4, 2017 against the Astros. Bolsinger didn't fare well: he faced eight batters and permitted four hits and three walks.

Bolsinger believes that performance cost him any chance at a prolonged big-league career. "I was an older guy. They had younger guys to call up," he told Armour. "Let's say that (Astros game) doesn't happen I probably don't get sent down. But at that point, they probably lost faith in me and were over it."

I'm curious how he's going to explain his 6.83 ERA in 2016 or his 5.48 ERA against teams other than the Astros in 2017.
Deluxe
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AG
I don't think the courts are going to want to set a precedent that any athlete who thinks their career was deterred by another athlete who broke the rules is entitled to damages. That sounds like a can of worms.
PlaneCrashGuy
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AG
Flexbone said:

lda6339 said:

Flexbone said:

lda6339 said:

First Lawsuit has been filed. Since MLB has an official partnership with DraftKings I wonder if this could actually turn into something, guess we'll wait and see. Any lawyers have an preliminary opinion/comment?


I'm an attorney, and my comment is that you might be the biggest moron on this board. The Cardinals had employees GO TO JAIL and yet here you are, running your mouth about something that a TON of teams were doing. Just how big of a tool are you?

A CARDINALS fan. What are you, 95 years old?
Neat deflection!


I've never seen anything stranger than this weird guy hanging out on every Astros thread, bitter because "his Cardinals" aren't good at baseball.
Flexbone, a guy who has been hanging out on every thread about the biggest story in baseball:

"I've never seen anything stranger than a guy who has been hanging out on every thread about the biggest story in baseball"
Cromagnum
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AG
While we are at it, allow me to stir the pot more by reminding folks that the Astros also stole the Roughneck's slogan for 2020.
 
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