Good. Lots of Mets fans whining about it, and the timing sucks, but it's much better not to have a cloud over the club before pitchers and catchers even get to camp.
If they are whining about BVW making a bad hire to start with that is understandable. If they are whining about a cheater being let go, that is ridiculous.
This is about to get reeeeally interesting.
This is a good time to root for our boys and our IRL friends' boys' & HSBBWEB friends' boys' college baseball teams and stop paying very much attention to MLB.
HSHULER that's nuts. I can't seem to find anywhere what the buzzer did. Were they pushing it for certain pitches? Was it a microphone? Man, this is going to get MUCH worse before it blows over. Vacating the championships has to be coming next. Now we will see the Gibbons, Matheny Showalter and the like get jobs again. I hope our kids learn something from it one way or another. Work so hard and then have something like this derail your career.....
1st thought: 
2nd: The fact no one mentioned these charges during the recent investigation (assuming they did not do so) makes me skeptical. This seems calculated to stir the pot, not to lead to any resolution.
3rd: But the Altuve shirt-ripping thing is kind of odd...
4th: Can there be any doubt that it's time for MLB to move to encrypted communications links between players and the dugout? No usable system of relaying signs in the old way is going to be secure given 2020 technology.
Kimb27 posted:HSHULER that's nuts. I can't seem to find anywhere what the buzzer did. Were they pushing it for certain pitches? Was it a microphone? Man, this is going to get MUCH worse before it blows over. Vacating the championships has to be coming next. Now we will see the Gibbons, Matheny Showalter and the like get jobs again. I hope our kids learn something from it one way or another. Work so hard and then have something like this derail your career.....
Not sure of the details but you I’m sure there’s more to come.
hshuler posted:Kimb27 posted:HSHULER that's nuts. I can't seem to find anywhere what the buzzer did. Were they pushing it for certain pitches? Was it a microphone? Man, this is going to get MUCH worse before it blows over. Vacating the championships has to be coming next. Now we will see the Gibbons, Matheny Showalter and the like get jobs again. I hope our kids learn something from it one way or another. Work so hard and then have something like this derail your career.....
Not sure of the details but you I’m sure there’s more to come.
Wow.... Altuve does seem really, ummm, interested in taking care of that jersey.
A prosecutor in a criminal case would start offering plea bargains to try to "flip" a witness. What happens if Manfred calls Hinch, Cora, Luhnow and Beltran and says "the first one of you to tell me the entire truth can avoid a lifetime ban"?
Chico Escuela posted:hshuler posted:Kimb27 posted:HSHULER that's nuts. I can't seem to find anywhere what the buzzer did. Were they pushing it for certain pitches? Was it a microphone? Man, this is going to get MUCH worse before it blows over. Vacating the championships has to be coming next. Now we will see the Gibbons, Matheny Showalter and the like get jobs again. I hope our kids learn something from it one way or another. Work so hard and then have something like this derail your career.....
Not sure of the details but you I’m sure there’s more to come.
Wow.... Altuve does seem really, ummm, interested in taking care of that jersey.
A prosecutor in a criminal case would start offering plea bargains to try to "flip" a witness. What happens if Manfred calls Hinch, Cora, Luhnow and Beltran and says "the first one of you to tell me the entire truth can avoid a lifetime ban"?
The owner of this twitter account says that she’s Beltran’s niece The Beltran family has said that she isn’t a relative.
This person may not be Beltran’s niece but it’s ironic that they posted Beltran has steeped down last night but the announcement wasn’t made until today. My guess is that it’s a ghost account but the owner has an ax to grind. The most interesting comment is that they have locker room pics for a rainy day.
hshuler posted:This is about to get reeeeally interesting.
Wow. That is crazy.
I'm not sure what MLB can do to discipline the players due to the Players Association. Management has been made the scapegoats, and the players will be able to say that Hinch/Cora pressured them to it.
K9 posted:I'm not sure what MLB can do to discipline the players due to the Players Association. Management has been made the scapegoats, and the players will be able to say that Hinch/Cora pressured them to it.
Maybe. But Altuve is a former MVP, and Bregman, Springer and others weren't going to be benched without the matter attracting a lot of notice. I wouldn't buy that they could be coerced into cheating. There is also the fact that the players may have lied to MLB's investigators--I thought they received immunity at least in part in exchange for providing information. I don't pretend to know the details of the union's contract, but if MLB can't discipline players in circumstances like those alleged here, then that's a critical problem.
IMO, wearable buzzers take the scandal to another level, because it requires a different degree of coordination among multiple people on and off the field. It also seems likely to be much more effective than trying to pick out the sound of a trash can banging in a crowded stadium.
Obviously we need more facts. But just having these new allegations surface is bad. MLB will have to investigate and can't say "well, that's all behind us now." I assume people are already scrutinizing game films to look for Astros players suspiciously tugging at their collars. That footage of Altuve homering off Chapman does look awfully odd now.
"MLB explored wearable devices during the investigation but found no evidence to substantiate it.” (from Joel Sherman, NY Post)
I am not defending the Astros players and maybe the claimed locker room photos will come out but this theory raises a couple of questions:
If you are going to blow this thing open by tweeting about it and claim to have addition proof....why not just blow it open with the proof right now? If you have pics post 'em up.
Also, if he has to protect himself from teammates ripping his shirt off to hide the cheating device does that mean they don't know?
22and25 posted:I am not defending the Astros players and maybe the claimed locker room photos will come out but this theory raises a couple of questions:
If you are going to blow this thing open by tweeting about it and claim to have addition proof....why not just blow it open with the proof right now? If you have pics post 'em up.
Also, if he has to protect himself from teammates ripping his shirt off to hide the cheating device does that mean they don't know?
Fortunes are made tweeting, posting, alleging innuendo and unsubstantiated accusations.
Whatever is true or not no longer matters. Astros and any position player on the 2017/18 roster have a red "C" stamped on their forehead. It will be there for a lifetime.
If inside the game it was known that signs were being stolen and relayed in real time, why didn't teams change to a different sign system? The yell out of apparently random numbers/color with a wristband a 12U softball team uses would suffice.
Go44dad posted:22and25 posted:I am not defending the Astros players and maybe the claimed locker room photos will come out but this theory raises a couple of questions:
If you are going to blow this thing open by tweeting about it and claim to have addition proof....why not just blow it open with the proof right now? If you have pics post 'em up.
Also, if he has to protect himself from teammates ripping his shirt off to hide the cheating device does that mean they don't know?
Fortunes are made tweeting, posting, alleging innuendo and unsubstantiated accusations.
Whatever is true or not no longer matters. Astros and any position player on the 2017/18 roster have a red "C" stamped on their forehead. It will be there for a lifetime.
If inside the game it was known that signs were being stolen and relayed in real time, why didn't teams change to a different sign system? The yell out of apparently random numbers/color with a wristband a 12U softball team uses would suffice.
I think it was reported that the Nationals went to extreme measures to protect their signs during the World Series.
Go44dad posted:22and25 posted:I am not defending the Astros players and maybe the claimed locker room photos will come out but this theory raises a couple of questions:
If you are going to blow this thing open by tweeting about it and claim to have addition proof....why not just blow it open with the proof right now? If you have pics post 'em up.
Also, if he has to protect himself from teammates ripping his shirt off to hide the cheating device does that mean they don't know?
Fortunes are made tweeting, posting, alleging innuendo and unsubstantiated accusations.
Whatever is true or not no longer matters. Astros and any position player on the 2017/18 roster have a red "C" stamped on their forehead. It will be there for a lifetime.
If inside the game it was known that signs were being stolen and relayed in real time, why didn't teams change to a different sign system? The yell out of apparently random numbers/color with a wristband a 12U softball team uses would suffice.
The buzzer allegations, and Altuve video posted above are from the 2019 ALCS. In game 2 of the series Corea hit a walk off bomb in the 11th. After he crossed the plate another player ripped his jersey open and eventually off. No wires or bulges seen under his compression layer.
Kimb27 posted:HSHULER that's nuts. I can't seem to find anywhere what the buzzer did. Were they pushing it for certain pitches? Was it a microphone? Man, this is going to get MUCH worse before it blows over. Vacating the championships has to be coming next. Now we will see the Gibbons, Matheny Showalter and the like get jobs again. I hope our kids learn something from it one way or another. Work so hard and then have something like this derail your career.....
Vacating championships? That will happen right after all steroid era statistics are erased.
And one more thought.....if the buzzer was an escalation for 2019, over banging drums and then whistling, how would Beltran's niece know anything about it or have Astros locker room access.....he wasn't with the Astros in 2018 or 2019. In fact, Beltran worked for the Yankees in 2018 and 2019 as a special advisor. Did he advise the Yankees on the same things he taught the Astros?
22and25 posted:And one more thought.....if the buzzer was an escalation for 2019, over banging drums and then whistling, how would Beltran's niece know anything about it or have Astros locker room access.....he wasn't with the Astros in 2018 or 2019. In fact, Beltran worked for the Yankees in 2018 and 2019 as a special advisor. Did he advise the Yankees on the same things he taught the Astros?
I don’t think anyone believes that it’s Beltran’s niece but it’s clearly someone with an axe to grind.
This is interesting if you zoom in.
https://twitter.com/stephenjne...907336418877443?s=12