Far too many questions remain in MLB giving the Astros a free pass on their dugout surveillance

[Eugene]

Source: Yahoo! Sports

Far too many questions remain in MLB giving the Astros a free pass on their dugout surveillance

Jeff Passan
MLB columnist
Yahoo Sports Oct 18, 2018, 1:22 AM

HOUSTON – Of all the ways for the Houston Astros to talk themselves out of a penalty, a fine, even a reprimand for deploying a man to illicitly monitor the dugouts of two playoff opponents using a cellphone, they did it with the Chris Correa defense. Correa is the former St. Louis Cardinals scouting director who went to federal prison after habitually, unlawfully accessing an Astros database filled with scouting information and trade talks. His excuse: He believed the former Cardinals employees running the Astros had stolen proprietary materials and wanted to prove it. In other words: He was making sure the Astros weren’t doing something wrong.

Major League Baseball cleared the Astros of wrongdoing Wednesday after Yahoo Sports and the Metro newspaper reported that Kyle McLaughlin, a man with ties to Astros owner Jim Crane, had been removed from the photographers’ well in Cleveland during Game 3 of the American League Division Series and in Boston during Game 1 of the AL Championship Series. Houston argued that it directed McLaughlin to surveil the opposing dugouts to ensure their opponents weren’t using any illegal tactics to steal the Astros’ signs. In other words: The Astros were making sure the Indians and Red Sox weren’t doing something wrong.

“We were playing defense,” Astros president of baseball operations Jeff Luhnow said. “We were not playing offense. We want to make sure it’s an even playing field.”

The league offering Houston the free pass enraged executives around baseball, who reached out to Yahoo Sports trying to understand the rationale. If the Astros were allowed to monitor another team’s dugout in-game without penalty, one wondered, shouldn’t every team be allowed to do the same? If the Astros were so concerned with opponents’ nefariousness, another said, why did they send a kid in his early 20s whose role with the team is opaque and not simply request MLB send a security professional to examine the dugout from the same spot and ensure everything is above board? Most of all, taking at face value the Astros’ explanation for using McLaughlin, if there is a rule forbidding in-game technology to help steal signs, why is a team allowed to use in-game technology to investigate whether its opponent is illegally stealing signs?

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Read more: https://sports.yahoo.com/far-many-questions-remain-mlb-giving-astros-free-pass-dugout-surveillance-052243047.html

[Ohiogal]

1. If there is

"....if there is a rule forbidding in-game technology to help steal signs, why is a team allowed to use in-game technology to investigate whether its opponent is illegally stealing signs?"

Bottom line, they shouldn't be allowed. Lame excuse by the Astros. If that's indeed what this guy was doing.

[Iggo]

2. "We weren't cheating. We were trying to make sure THEY weren't cheating."

[Auggie]

3. Damn right. They were called out by Oakland a few months ago.

MLB is covering it up.

[ProfessorGAC]

4. What I Think They're Covering Up, Auggie. . .

. . .is that everyone is doing it and that can't drop the hammer on Houston otherwise the Astros let the cat out of the bag.

[Brother Buzz]

5. Leo Durocher perfected the art of stealing signs, and didn't even use the dugout

Telescope man (Herman Franks) in center field relayed the signs to the bull pen with a buzzer, and then with a towel signaling system relayed them to the batter.

Everyone does it, some better then others. All you need is a Herman Franks, a former catcher with some insight on hand signs, to decipher the signals. Franks, as a SF Giants manager, schooled Willie Mays on the art and Willie 'Had' the signals in like three minutes if he landed on second base in the top of the 1st. The rest of the scheme is pure speculation, but you can bet every team is doing it with varying degrees of success.

[ProfessorGAC]

6. Cubs Have Been Accused Of Having A Binocular Guy. . .

. . .in the scoreboard, on and off, since i was a kid.

I'm 62 and we KNOW it's been going on long before i was just a little kid.

[Brother Buzz]

7. Elwood Blues did it for years. Free lodging, Baby!