3 OF A KIND?
How Jose Altuve, Roger Clemens, and Shohei Ohtani’s legacies now share shocking parallel
Mar 27, 2024, 12:48 pm
How will baseball fans treat Ohtani moving forward? Composite Getty Image.
After a trial that lasted 10 weeks in 2012, a federal jury found Astros legend Roger Clemens not guilty of lying to Congress when the fire-balling pitcher swore that he never used performance enhancing drugs. The jury also found Clemens not guilty of making false statements and obstruction of justice.
Clemens, the only seven-time winner of baseball’s Cy Young Award, including one with the Astros in 2004, never tested positive for steroids or any other PED during his 24-years in the big leagues. During his career, he won seven earned run average titles, led the American League in strikeouts five times, won an American League MVP and helped two teams win the World Series.
It’s an easy argument that he is the greatest pitcher of baseball’s modern era.
Roger Clemens is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame. In fact, after 10 years of failing to be voted in, Clemens name won’t be on the ballot this year when baseball writers consider future Hall of Fame candidates.
Why? Because despite his not guilty verdict and never flunking a drug test, Clemens has the stink of steroids on him. Perception is reality.
This week the greatest player in baseball today swore that he has never bet on sports and the only reason that $4.5 million from his bank account wound up in the hands of a bookie is because his friend secretly stole the money.
Two investigations, by Major League Baseball and the U.S. government, will get to the bottom of whether Shohei Ohtani is telling the truth or he was somehow involved in betting on sports
If it’s discovered that Ohtani, the reigning American League MVP who now plays for the Dodgers, bet on baseball, he could be banished from the game. He would join a list of some of the greatest players in history who live in the dark shadow of baseball. Barry Bonds, the single-season and all-time home run leader, is not in the Hall of Fame. Pete Rose, the all-time hits king, is not in the Hall of Fame. Roger Clemens, the all-time leader in Cy Young Awards, is not in the Hall of Fame.
The jury in the court of public opinion is in deliberations already. Is it believable that someone could have $4.5 million stolen from his bank account and not know it? Will Ohtani, whose image was squeaky clean until recent developments, be jeered when he comes to bat in Houston, in New York, and every stadium on the road where fans despise the Dodgers? And that’s all of them.
Before now, Houston fans treated Ohtani with respect and quiet awe for a couple of reasons. One, of course he’s an unbelievable talent, possibly baseball’s best pitcher and best hitter at the same time. But two, until this season he played for the Los Angeles Angels. The Angels weren’t a threat to the Astros domination of the American League West, so it didn’t matter how many homers he hit in Minute Maid Park. The Astros still were going to win.
Now it’s different. When Ohtani steps to the plate wearing a Dodgers uniform he represents the armed and dangerous enemy, a team that is the favorite to win the World Series. The Dodgers could claim the mantle as the best team with the best lineup in baseball. You can practically hear Minute Maid Park fans booing Ohtani now. Innocent or guilty, Ohtani could have the stink of illegal gambling on him.
But let’s assume that Ohtani was telling the truth when he said he has never bet on sports.
Ask Jose Altuve what it feels like to be unfairly painted a cheater. According to his teammates, Altuve was one of a few Astros who refused to participate in the team’s sign-stealing scandal in 2017 when the Astros won their first World Series and Altuve was named Most Valuable Player.
Altuve steadfastly will not proclaim his innocence, though. Altuve has said that he is part of the team and accepts whatever judgment was handed to the team. He metaphorically went down with the ship.
Seven years later, more than any other player, Altuve receives the loudest jeers and insults from fans in every stadium other than Minute Maid Park. He has the stink of a cheater. I was in Yankee Stadium the first time the Astros visited the Yankees after the scandal broke. You should have heard the stadium shake with howls of “F--- Altuve.” I heard small children cursing out Altuve at the top of their lungs. It’s become a thing around the league – fans boo Altuve.
During the Astros-Phillies World Series in 2022, I was talking to my friend Glen Macnow, a prominent sports media personality in Philadelphia. I got the feeling that Macnow believed that the Astros were still up to something fishy. Macnow is a smart guy, not some conspiracy nut job. In fact, up in Philly, he’s known as “The Professor.” I asked him, “do you think the 2022 Astros are cheaters?”
His answer: “Do I think they’re currently cheating? I don’t know. But we all know they got caught cheating before, and that stink will stick to them through the ages. Always and forever, when people look at this franchise they’ll think of cameras and buzzers and using trash cans as bass drums.”
We will get a glimpse of whether Ohtani reeks of illegal gambling next week when the Dodgers play on the road in Chicago and Minnesota.
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The Astros have already been swept in four series this season. They were swept in four series all of last season. As Mexico City says bienvenidos to the Astros this weekend, there are certainly more than a few folks fretting that the Astros are already close to saying adios to playoff hopes. The Astros are not at the point of no return, though one can see it out there on the horizon. It wouldn’t take another month of their garbage level 7-19 performance for the season to be essentially down the drain.
If the Astros were in the American League East, they’d already be ten games out of second place. But they’re not! If in the AL Central they’d be eleven and a half games back of Cleveland. But they’re not! Dozens of teams have rebounded to win divisions from larger deficits much later in the season than the Astros face presently. The Seattle Mariners lead the thus far weak AL West at 13-12. The Astros being six and a half games in arrears of the M’s and six back of the Texas Rangers in late April is far from optimal but nowhere near devastating.
Multiple media outlets have noted how few teams historically have started a season in as stumblebum a fashion as the 2024 Astros and wound up making the playoffs. What every outlet I have seen noting that failed to include: this is just the third season since Major League Baseball added a third Wild Card to each league’s postseason field. So, while 7-19 out of the gate is indisputably awful, it is not the death knell to the extent it has been over generations of MLB.
The issue isn’t where the Astros sit in the standings, it’s that they have played atrocious baseball and aren’t providing reason for optimism that a stark turnaround is imminent. The starting rotation is the best hope. Justin Verlander has made two starts. Framber Valdez rejoins the rotation Sunday. Cristian Javier should be a week or so away. Obviously, Ronel Blanco isn’t going to continue pitching as well as he has through his first four starts. But if he is a good number four starter, that’s fine if the top three coming into the season pitch to reasonably hoped for form.
Hunter Brown simply is not a good big league pitcher. Maybe he someday fulfills his potential, but the data at this point are clear. What can Brown do for you? Not much. Spencer Arrighetti needs better command to be a good big league starter. J.P. France was a revelation over his first 17 starts last season, but since has looked like the guy who posted underwhelming numbers when in the minor leagues. If the Astros wind up with 50-plus starts from Brown/Arrighetti/France their goose will probably be cooked.
The only MLB teams with worse staff earned run averages than the Astros’ horrific 5.07 are the Chicago White Sox (Wait! They have Martin Maldonado!) and Colorado Rockies. At 3-22 the White Sox are on an early pace to post the worst record in the history of Major League Baseball. The Rockies never have a chance to post good pitching stats because of the mile high offensive freak show environment in Denver.
Way to go, Joe
Props to Joe Espada for his conviction in making what he believed to be the right call in pulling Verlander after four and a third innings Thursday at Wrigley Field. Verlander allowed no runs but had reached 95 pitches in just the second outing of the injury-delayed start to his season. Not easy for a rookie manager skippering what has been a Titanic journey thus far to pull a surefire Hall of Famer who was two outs away from qualifying for a win. Many were no doubt poised to destroy Espada had Rafael Montero given up the lead in the fifth. Verlander was angry at being pulled from any chance at his 259th career win. Understood, but the manager’s job is to make the decisions he thinks are in the ballclub’s overall best interest. That Montero and Bryan Abreu combined to blow the lead in the sixth is immaterial.
Then there's the offense…
Six runs total the last four games. Scored more than four runs in just one of the last nine games. Timely hitting largely non-existent.
At last check Alex Bregman still hawks that “Breggy Bomb” salsa. At the plate, he’s been mostly stuck in “Breggy Bum” mode, including zero bombs (home runs). 23 games played without a homer is Bregman’s longest drought since 2017 when he had separate 35 and 27 game stretches between dingers. Bregman has a history of slow first months of the season, but never anything as inept as he’s posted thus far. A litany of lazy fly balls, infield pops, and routine grounders add up to a .216 batting average and feeble .566 OPS. Reference point: Martin Maldonado’s worst OPS season with the Astros was .573. If Bregman was a young guy handed a starting job coming out of spring training, if a viable alternative were available, there’s a chance he’d be a Sugar Land Space Cowboy right now. Bregman’s track record makes it a decent bet that he winds up with decent numbers, but nothing special. Certainly nothing remotely worth the 10 years 300 million dollars or whatever Bregman and agent Scott Boras intend(ed) to seek on the free agent market this coming offseason. Two hits Thursday did get Bregman to the 1000 hit plateau for his career.
Despite arriving south of the border with his batting average at .346, even Jose Altuve has his warts. With runners in scoring position, Altuve has one hit this season. One. In 16 at bats. Small sample size, but it counts. That’s .063. Yordan Alvarez has been no great shakes either, five for 24 (.208) with RISP.
One wonders what would happen if the Astros got a hold of and “lost” Jose Abreu’s passport/visa this weekend in Mexico City and Abreu couldn’t get back into the U.S. after the two-game set with the Rockies.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.