Houston Astros’ misdeeds, apologies fall flat with division-rival Texas Rangers
Shin-Soo Choo is a mild-mannered, soft-spoken MLB veteran.
Only once in his time with the Texas Rangers has he said anything to the media that was construed as unpleasant.
That’s was in 2015, two years before the Houston Astros cheated their way to the World Series and four years after their sign-stealing scheme was hatched.
Choo had some pointed words for them Thursday, as they apologized for the cheating while clinging to the belief that it didn’t help them win the franchise’s first world title.
“They won like that ... that’s bull---- for a lot of players,” Choo said. “I always respected every one of them, but I’ll be honest with you, I don’t feel like that anymore. It’s hard to take.”
The Rangers who spoke about the Astros’ sign stealing acknowledge that stealing signs from second base or picking up on a pitcher tipping his pitches are part of the game. That’s never been disputed.
But the Astros were found to have tipped hitters via a replay room and someone banging a trash can if an off-speed pitch was coming. When third baseman Alex Bregman and second baseman Jose Altuve apologized Wednesday, they were admitting to the scheme.
Choo said that the Rangers openly discussed their suspicions as they watched Astros hitters take pitches or put the right swing on pitches.
“Now we’re 100 percent sure they were using technology,” he said. “In between pitching changes, we always talked about in 2017 the Astros hitters, ‘They know what’s coming.’ They did their A swing with two strikes.”
Choo also believes the drastic swing in Astros strikeout totals in 2017 from 2015 and 2016 is a giveaway. No team struck out more than Houston, but suddenly no team was striking out less.
“I know they added a couple players, but that’s not possible,” Choo said.
Robinson Chirinos, who played for the Astros last season, said he saw nothing amiss last season. He also denied claims that he was wearing a device last year in the World Series, which the Astros lost in seven games.
Chirinos watched the Thursday news conference in Florida.
“Everyone knows what happened in ‘17 and how they cheated the game, and I feel shame for them,” he said. “I believe they can learn from their mistake. Not only Houston but everyone around the game, and we can take sign-stealing away from the game.
“In my mind I feel good because I didn’t do anything wrong.”
The Rangers, though, suspected the Astros were doing something illegal last season. The Rangers went 0-9 last season at Minute Maid Park, and Lance Lynn, who finished fifth in the American League Cy Young voting, allowed eight of his 21 home runs in three starts at Minute Maid.
Lynn, though, took a more politically correct approach to the scandal.
“You have bad sequences where they can pick it up easily. That’s on the pitcher,” he said. “But when you are able to do stuff in real time before the pitch is even thrown, where they can even get you with no one on, that’s a little too much.
“It happened, you’ve got to move on, but it gives us pitcher an idea that we have to know to be careful no matter what. You can’t just sit there and say it’s just one team. It’s one team that got caught. They did it a little different, they made some noises and got caught.”
Rangers legend Michael Young took exception to Astros owner Jim Crane’s suggestion that the cheating didn’t aid the Astros’ ability to win the World Series.
“Right ... they did it because trash can acoustics are good for the soul,” tweeted Young, a special assistant to general manager Jon Daniels. “Yes, they had a good team. But of course it impacted the game. If it didn’t impact the game, why continue it? Don’t play the public for fools. Just apologize, be accountable, and move forward.”
