Every-Thing Sports

How I feel about the Astros’ haters

Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve of the Astros
www.mlb.com/astros

Last Thursday, the Astros got to Spring Training and held a press conference to apologize for their sign stealing scandal. Getting out in front of something with an apology is ideal, but this was foreshadowed by team owner Jim Crane weeks in advance. It seemed as if Alex Bregman didn't want to be there, Jim Crane was uncomfortable, Dusty Baker was being Dusty, and Jose Altuve looked like he was held hostage. I wrote about them going full heel turn Thursday night and leaning into the bad guy role this season. The apologies didn't fair well with the public or some members of the media. That's when the fake outrage began.

I say fake outrage because most of the coverage of this has been strictly geared towards the Astro. Meanwhile, there are other teams (namely the Red Sox) who are also under investigation. Tea leaves are out there of the about other teams cheating as well (namely the Yankees). Why are they so riled up? Why do they care so deeply? Here's how I feel about the Astro haters:

Fake Outrage

The Red Sox investigation and report will be dropping any day now. They parted ways with manager Alex Cora. The Mets fired their manager Carlos Beltran as well. Both guys were with the Astros in 2017 and spearheaded the sign stealing. Beltran was with the Yankees before coming to the Astros. He told them they were behind the times when it came to sign stealing. Chris Young admitted he brought the use of an Apple Watch to the Red Sox after learn after learning it from the Yankees. Both teams were fined an undisclosed amount in 2017. That info was totally lost on me. I needed to use my Google machine. Why? Because there was very little to no coverage of it. The media, and MLB, probably didn't want to expose the two most popular teams in the league for cheating. Where was all this energy back then?

Extensive History of Cheating

MLB has had a storied history of cheating. For just about the entire 117 year history of the league, there's been cheating in one way shape form or another. Spitballs, corked bats, Vaseline, pine tar, sandpaper, greenies, steroids, Black Sox, and yes, sign stealing. I'm not even listing everything, just the things off the top of my head. The steroid scandal rocked MLB to its core. However, it's gotten to the point now where some of those guys are eligible for the Hall of Fame and are gaining more support every year. I heard some calling for bans for those guys, but it's largely died out. This too shall pass, but the extent of the vitriol seems to be much more aggressive now than in the heat of the steroid scandal.

Glass Houses

When you throw rocks at glass, it typically shatters. That's how I feel about a lot of these players going so hard at the Astros. Some of them more than likely have benefitted from some form of cheating. Maybe not to the extent the Astros have, but literally everyone steals signs in some form. The members of the media are just as bad. Some of them are hot take click-baiting to boost their following and ratings, especially that one crybaby punk from New York who's curiously ignored the teams from the Northeast and their parts in the cheating, but has a hard-on for the Astros. Keep that same energy when the Red Sox are exposed. I highly doubt Manfred has the balls to investigate the Yankees, so I won't hold my breathe.

Tomfoolery and Stupidity

From the frivilous lawsuits to the hot takes to the regurgitation of misinformation as fact, the tomfoolery and stupidity is in rare form. Social media has been a major platform for all the idiots out there who want to clout chase by jumping on the anti-Astro bandwagon. When I saw a season ticket holder filed a lawsuit against the team, I knew it was a clout chase. How can you sue the team you've given money to? People will often put things out there like this to draw to themselves. Media members and outlets do it for the clicks and ratings. But average people do it for other reasons. I need Raheel to do a "Follow The Money" segment on the people filing these lawsuits, the ones spewing misinformation, and especially the hot take media members.

To all the Astro haters out there: I got two words for ya...I'm so sick of the way people are responding to this as if they've lived guilt-free lives of perfect virtue. We all have done wrong and have all done things we regret. So who made us judge, jury, and executioner to those we attempt to pass judgement on? Look in the mirror before you criticize others and be willing to take your medicine when you do wrong. The Astros appear ready to take what's coming to them. They see the ravenous crowd with their pitchforks and torches coming. They know what they'll be facing. That's why I said embrace it. Relish in the role of the bad guys and become the cool heels that the crowd eventually has no choice but to cheer when they win the World Series this year.

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Vegas likes Houston. Composite Getty Image.

Bruce Bochy doesn’t ever want the Texas Rangers to let go of those memories of their first World Series title.

“We just don’t want to lean on them,” said Bochy, whose first season with the Rangers ended with the first World Series championship for the 63-year-old franchise, and his fourth as a big league manager.

While Texas has the opportunity to be the first team in a quarter-century to win back-to-back world championships — the New York Yankees were the last, with three in a row from 1998-2000 — the Rangers aren’t even defending champs in their own division.

And they aren’t favored to win the AL West this season.

Houston is again the odds-on favorite in the division it has won each of the last six full MLB seasons since the Rangers finished on top in 2016. The Astros won their regular season finale last Oct. 1, matched Texas at 90-72 and won the AL West since they were 9-4 head-to-head.

The Astros have made the AL Championship Series the past seven seasons, even when not division champs in the 2020 season shortened to 60 games because of the pandemic. They made four trips to the Fall Classic and won two titles in that span.

Dusty Baker retired days after Houston lost ALCS Game 7 at home to the Rangers last fall, finishing with 2,183 wins over 26 seasons as a big league manager with five teams.

New Astros manager Joe Espada, their bench coach for six seasons, is certainly familiar with a lineup that has big hitters Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez, Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker, and a loaded starting rotation.

Espada isn't the division's only new manager. Ron Washington, who took the Rangers to their previous World Series in 2010 and 2011, was hired by the Angels, who still have Mike Trout but not two-way star Shohei Ohtani, now with the other team in Los Angeles.

Seattle again revamped its roster without big spending in free agency and hopes for a quicker return to the playoffs. The Mariners missed by one game last season, a year after its first postseason appearance since 2001.

And just like last year, the Athletics go into another season not knowing if it will be their last in Oakland.

HOW THEY PROJECT

1. Houston Astros. Three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander, reacquired in a deadline trade last July, will start this season on the injured list. But the 41-year-old’s IL stint is expected to be a short one. The Astros still have lefty Framber Valdez (12-11, 2.45 ERA, 200 strikeouts and a no-hitter) and right-hander Cristian Javier. Eight-time All-Star second baseman Altuve signed a new $125 million, five-year contract that goes through 2029. But two-time All-Star third baseman Bregman, the only other position player to make all seven ALCS trips, is at the end of a $100 million deal.

2. Texas Rangers. After going from six losing seasons in a row to a World Series title, the Rangers should be playoff contenders again. They return ALCS MVP Adolis García and most of the lineup that hit 233 homers and scored an AL-high 5.4 runs per game. But World Series MVP and AL MVP runner-up shortstop Corey Seager (sports hernia), Gold Glove first baseman Nathaniel Lowe (oblique strain) and All-Star third baseman Josh Jung (calf) missed significant time in the spring. All-Star right-hander Nathan Eovaldi tops a rotation still missing injured multiple Cy Young Award winners Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom.

3. Seattle Mariners. The front office put together a roster that might be better than last year, but everybody has to stay healthy. Seattle should be better offensively with the additions of Mitch Garver, Mitch Haniger, Jorge Polanco and Luke Raley to go with young superstar Julio Rodriguez. If J.P. Crawford can replicate last season at the plate and Ty France returns to his 2021-22 form, the lineup will be deeper. Couple a better offense with one of the best rotations in baseball led by Luis Castillo, George Kirby and Logan Gilbert, the Mariners should once again contend in the division.

4. Los Angeles Angels. They feel like they’re starting over yet again and still haven't been to the playoffs since 2014. Ohtani left after six seasons for a record $700 million with the perennially contending Dodgers. The Halos added almost nothing in free agency, only revamping their bullpen again and taking low-cost flyers on Aaron Hicks and Miguel Sano. Trout and Anthony Rendon are back, and an open DH spot will allow them to rest their injury-prone bodies more regularly. Their rotation is last year’s group minus Ohtani. The 71-year-old Washington brings a unique blend of expertise and enthusiasm, which should benefit an exciting crop of young talent ready to break through in the majors.

5. Oakland Athletics. This could be the final season playing at the Coliseum with a lease set to expire. So the A's are still trying to figure out where they will play beyond this year with a new ballpark and move to Las Vegas scheduled for 2028. Manager Mark Kotsay has been committed to keeping his team focused on what it can do to be better on the field after two years with a combined 214 losses (112 last season). The A’s acquired Ross Stripling from the San Francisco Giants and added Alex Wood to the rotation.

OLD SKIPPERS

When the 74-year-old Baker retired, Bochy became the oldest manager in the majors. That lasted only a few weeks until the Angels hired Washington. Bochy will turn 69 on April 16, just 13 days before Washington turns 72. Bochy, with 2,093 wins going into his 27th season, is one of six managers with four World Series titles, his first three coming in San Francisco (2010, 2012 and 2014). Washington won a franchise-record 664 games in eight seasons with Texas from 2007-14. He was on Atlanta's staff the past seven years, and part of the Braves' 2021 World Series title.

RELIEF HELP

Several new relievers are in the AL West, including hard-throwing lefty Josh Hader with the Astros, veteran right-hander David Robertson and former All-Star closer Kirby Yates in Texas, Gregory Santos and Ryne Stanek in Seattle and Robert Stephenson with the Angels.

Hader's $95 million, five-year deal was the biggest after becoming a first-time free agent. The 29-year-old, once in the Astros' minor league system, turned down a $20,325,000 qualifying offer from San Diego.

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