Royals star Whit Merrifield: Astros scandal discredits everything they’ve done
The Houston Astros technology-aided sign-stealing scandal that dominated Major League’s Baseball’s offseason has carried over into spring training, and emotions remain high in some corners.
The Astros issued a public apology in a Thursday news conference at their spring training facility in West Palm Beach, Florida. But their words lacked a ring of sincerity in the view of many.
Team owner Jim Crane, a former pitcher at Central Missouri and member of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, tried to deflect blame away from the players, and he sought to downplay the role sign stealing played in their 2017 World Series championship.
“I used to really respect those guys and respect their games,” Kansas City Royals All-Star outfielder Whit Merrifield told The Star on Thursday. “For me, I have no interest in hearing about them, talking to them, interacting with them at all anymore. I have no respect for those guys anymore.”
MLB’s investigation found that the Astros used video cameras and television monitors to spy on the signals from the opposing catcher to the opposing pitcher. They then relayed which pitch was coming to the Astros batters during at-bats.
Merrifield, the reigning back-to-back major-league hits leader, described it as “one of the biggest advantages a player can have as a hitter” and went on to call it “blatant cheating.”
Astros star second baseman Jose Altuve and star third baseman Alex Bregman made statements of apology on Thursday. Altuve specified that he apologized for 2017 — the season he won the AL MVP — but Merrifield tossed cold water on the idea that their nefarious actions were limited to one season.
“I know what MLB’s report came out and said, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t doing it last year or 2018,” Merrifield said. “As baseball players, we’re a fraternity. We know people throughout the league. We talk. We know they’ve been doing it for years.
“The ripple effect of what they were doing is tremendous. It cost people jobs. It cost people opportunities in this game. It cost people millions of dollars, and it cost people a chance at experiencing world championships. It’s disgusting what they did. It discredits everything that those players have ever done in my opinion and in a lot of people’s opinion that I’ve talked to.”
Last week, former big-league pitcher Mike Bolsinger filed a civil lawsuit against the Astros for “unfair business practices.” Bolsinger wants the the Astros to forfeit $31 million in bonuses he says were gained when they won the 2017 World Series through their underhanded means.
Merrifield didn’t flinch in proclaiming that the Astros sign-stealing scandal tainted their championship.
“It definitely did because they didn’t feel like they could do it by going out and playing the game,” Merrifield said. “They felt like they had to get an advantage to win the championship. So if they don’t think they could have won it, why should we think they could’ve won it in 2017. It’s just next-level of conniving to go about it that way.”
Merrifield stands in favor of banning any player guilty of having used steroids, and he feels like the Astros’ actions were more heinous.
Steroids is an indirect way of cheating and enhancing your body, but you’ve still got to play the game. Meanwhile, the Astros actually made the game itself easier, Merrifield reasoned.
“Just talking to guys, it’s like, ‘Man if I could’ve known what pitches were coming even just like 20% of the time, it’s crazy to think what our numbers could be,’” Merrifield said. “I can’t believe the levels they went.”
Merrifield also said now that players are getting into camps and talking about it and hearing from other players, he believes there’s even more cheating by the Astros that still hasn’t come to light publicly.
“We have a responsibility to build this game, so any time the game gets a black eye it should affect all of us,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “This is not something that anybody is proud of. You talk to the people involved and the first thing you hear is regret. So with regret there were decisions made that didn’t promote this game and didn’t promote what they individually stand for.
“It’s a shame. I support what our commissioner is doing. It’s a big job, tough decisions on how to bring down the penalties — one I’m glad I didn’t have to make and one I know our commissioner is all over to make sure that something like this doesn’t happen again.”
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred suspended Astros general manager Jeff Lunhow and manager A.J. Hinch for one year, and Crane fired both in the aftermath of the commissioner’s findings. MLB’s penalties on the Astros also included a $5 million fine and loss of first- and second-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021.
Subsequently, former Astros bench coach Alex Cora lost his job as manager of the Boston Red Sox and former Astros player Carlos Beltran lost his job as New York Mets manager.
Beltran, a former Royals star player, didn’t even manage a spring training game before stepping down. The Red Sox and Cora’s actions in 2018 prompted a separate investigation which MLB still hasn’t concluded.
Manfred was on a plane to Kansas City when the Astros held Thursday’s news conference, but he called it an important step.
“I didn’t see the whole thing live, I read some reports about it,” Manfred said. “Look, I think it’s important for the front office, the players to take responsibility for what happened, and to express remorse to the fans, the other teams and people who are really invested in our great game.”
This story was originally published February 13, 2020 at 3:34 PM.
