Front Page: Have the Twins Been Getting Beaten by Cheaters?

[SwainZag]

They got caught cheating and got a slap on the wrist. Should of banned them from post season for 2 years.

I'm pretty certain a post season ban in professional sports could even work.

[akmanak]

I'm pretty certain a post season ban in professional sports could even work.

I believe that would be a much bigger punishment than any type of fine.

[Vanimal46]

Also, this was the most amazing combination of high and low tech ever to accomplish a task.

 

They banged on a trash can with a stick.

 

Unbelievable.

To be clear, this wasn’t the only way they communicated the signs to the batter. Jomboy on Twitter has been following this story since it broke in November and is an excellent follow.

 

They used trash cans against lesser teams because they could be heard in smaller crowds. They also used buzzers that were strapped to the player’s chest which was controlled by the hallway video guy.

[h2oface]

 

To be clear, this wasn’t the only way they communicated the signs to the batter. Jomboy on Twitter has been following this story since it broke in November and is an excellent follow.

They used trash cans against lesser teams because they could be heard in smaller crowds. They also used buzzers that were strapped to the player’s chest which was controlled by the hallway video guy.

 

Seriously? Is there a report on that I can read?

[howeda7]

It seems one of the punishments should be that the Astros get no video replay access for 2-10 years. Want to challenge? Take your chances.

[Possumlad]

 

Seriously? Is there a report on that I can read?

I'm not sure of corroboration, but Beltran's supposed niece tweeted about the buzzer scheme today, saying that Altuve & Bregman had buzzers on their right shoulders tipping them to pitches. This would make a lot more sense of Altuve's very odd behavior after his walk-off HR against Chapman in the ALCS.

 

On his way to home-plate, he instructs teammates not to rip his shirt off & holds his jersey closed. And then he runs straight in to the dugout and changes in to a tshirt.

 

Here's some of the video:

 

https://twitter.com/MarcFarzetta/status/1217897217584963584

 

and to the dugout:

 

https://twitter.com/RealShelfy/status/1217908818190962693

 

Trevor Bauer chimed in today as well, saying he heard from "multiple sources" the Astros players wore buzzers in 2017:

 

https://www.wkyc.com/article/sports/mlb/trevor-bauer-says-he-heard-astros-players-wore-buzzers-to-tip-off-pitches/95-1cddd342-5cdb-42d9-b311-493bccaa47d6

[Possumlad]

This is another crazy video, given everything that's recently come to light.
 

Here is Alex Cora, talking about a series against the Yankees. His discussion of Beltran & his "contributions" to the Yanks is pretty damning:

 

https://twitter.com/JackFritzWIP/status/1217444224377008129

[Vanimal46]

Seriously? Is there a report on that I can read?

Nothing outside of the Twitter world or reported on The Athletic... The buzzer was a theory to support why Altuve was so prepared to not have his teammates rip off his jersey after his game winning HR. Now I’m reading this conflicting tweet, and I am most likely wrong.

 

https://twitter.com/joelsherman1/status/1217918038961467400?s=21

[Possumlad]

 

Nothing outside of the Twitter world or reported on The Athletic... The buzzer was a theory to support why Altuve was so prepared to not have his teammates rip off his jersey after his game winning HR. Now I’m reading this conflicting tweet, and I am most likely wrong.

https://twitter.com/joelsherman1/status/1217918038961467400?s=21

Oh I think it's very much real, but the MLB has no interest in the scandal getting any bigger than it already is.

[cmoss84]

Can you imagine if this was true, and Altuve got hit jersey ripped off?? wow. 

[BHtwins]

Shrink their roster from 40 to 35 and let the other teams in their division expand theirs to 41 for a minimum of 2 years. 

 

It has some ring of restoring some balance to the division teams that were most harmed by this and it will have some long term competitive effect on their franchise. It will hurt.

 

[Monkeypaws]

I like the idea of stripping them of their ill-gotten gains, just like fellow Texan Lance Armstrong lost 7 Tour de France titles. 

 

Sure, everybody cheats or tries to game the system, but you got caught!

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Couple of highlights from a KFAN interview with Tim Tschida this afternoon:

 

1) Sign stealing—beyond just the runner on second base watching for the catcher to put down ones or twos—goes back a long time;

 

2) Teams policed this themselves without outside help, and sign stealing was the cause of lots of the beanballs, brushback pitches, and onfield brawls that occurred when it wasn’t otherwise apparent what was going on;

 

3) Tschida thinks MLB should indeed take back those Astros World Series rings. Another poster somewhere alluded to those rings as being the most important possession those players have, and Tschida kind of confirmed that. Even removing the Astros as 2017 champions should be up for discussion.

 

4) the technology is so good and so pervasive that a sign steal scandal like this is bound to happen again.

[Sam Morley]

Cheating is grey zone. It's unfair and that's on the wrong side of the spectrum. But it helps your team win, and that's on the right side of the spectrum. It's absolutely bad for the game and the people who regulate the game have a responsibility to prevent cheating and ensure fairness. Because of the greyness, and the inability of the regulators to take preventative measures, I don't think the players or coaches should be punished heavy-handedly. 

 

Fortunately, in this case, the specific form of cheating is incredibly easy and inexpensive to prevent. 

 

Rule: No screens, monitors, computers, cameras, personal tech, or communication devices of any type are allowed in the dugout or in the clubhouse.

 

Exception: a rotodial landline to the bullpen.