The Houston Astros sign-stealing saga is still raging as members of the team met in front of media on Thursday to apologize for their wrongdoings. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred handed out multiple punishments for Houston's actions in the 2017 season last month after an investigation. Now, the Astros must face the media and the fans, in hopes of earning their trust back.
Fans are not to keen on forgiving an opposing player for something that likely impacted the outcome of entire series, including playoffs and World Series games, so the Astros needed to come prepared with a heartfelt, sincere apology to have a chance.
Narrator: Readers, they did not come prepared with a heartfelt, sincere apology.
Despite having quite some time to get ready for the questions that would follow the statements so they could come out swinging (no pun intended) with a well-prepared message, the Astros instead took a rather interesting approach.
Team owner Jim Crane flip-flopped on his statements and players Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve spoke for about a combined 90 seconds, not taking any questions from the media at the podium.
Here is Crane's message... though it's not exactly clear what his message is:
"Our opinion is that this didn't impact the game." - Jim Crane
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) February 13, 2020
"I didn't say it didn't impact the game." - Jim Crane 55 seconds later pic.twitter.com/MnpPeeTUPL
Bregman kept his speech very short.
"I'm really sorry about the choices that were made by my team, by the organization, and by me." - Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve speak about the Astros cheating scandal pic.twitter.com/al5dtaHtEg
— CBS Sports HQ (@CBSSportsHQ) February 13, 2020
Altuve spoke for about 38 seconds.
Jose Altuve apology pic.twitter.com/iq624uF11Q
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) February 13, 2020
And then there was this, rather odd, moment.
Why walk around the bushes when you can just jump over them?
The Astros PR guy makes a statement and immediately walks through a bush.
— Savage Boston Sports 🇺🇸🍀❄️☃️ (@SavageBoston) February 13, 2020
Bush league organization pic.twitter.com/ekP2xjsXTF
The baseball world did not love the efforts by Houston and were quite perplexed at the notion that Crane believes the sign stealing did not necessarily give the team any advantage. Current MLB players, former players and fans headed to Twitter to crack jokes, air their grievances and roast the team.
Here are some of the best reactions:
Los Angeles Angels outfielder Michael Hermosillo is not buying what these guys are selling.
Didn’t impact the game lol
— Michael Hermosillo (@mhermosillo10) February 13, 2020
Cincinnati Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer is "asking a question for a friend" in regards to the situation.
Let’s say someone messes up. Messes up bigly, even. And the truth is that they really don’t care about messing up. At all. In fact, they would do it all over again, and you know this. Asking for a friend, would you rather receive:
— Trevor Bauer (@BauerOutage) February 13, 2020
Former MLB infielder Michael Young made some good points. There is absolutely no evidence that trash can acoustics are good for the soul.
Right...they did it because trash can acoustics are good for the soul.
— Michael Young (@MikeyY626) February 13, 2020
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. https://t.co/Hf7iFL7FRz
The Astros' PR department is not being applauded lately.
This #Astros press conference was embarrassing. Totally unprepared. Who did Jim Crane use for PR help...Enron? #mlb
— David P. Samson (@DavidPSamson) February 13, 2020
Pro tip: Don't bring a piece of paper with you if you're statement is two sentences long, make it seem from the heart. Look sad. Appear heartbroken. Fans want the theatrics!
The Astros, basically pic.twitter.com/UZ6rWhMKxZ
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) February 13, 2020
An Astros' PR person should've slammed a trash can when a question was on it's way to Crane so he could prepare.
I mean, they need to know what's coming their way before it happens, right?
Understanding what is coming is kinda their whole thing. https://t.co/9GslXtAZdt
— Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich) February 13, 2020
If you didn't watch the videos above, here is a summary of the whole press conference.
The Astros “apology” this morning pic.twitter.com/hp85dfRPfJ
— Jack (@MidwestDodger_) February 13, 2020
Here is another summary:
Summary of what Bregman and Altuve said pic.twitter.com/NiBlyYmLEg
— D.J. Short (@djshort) February 13, 2020
And now we go to a live look at Houston:
that Astros press conference pic.twitter.com/y0m2G0Lggf
— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) February 13, 2020
"If it didn't give you an advantage why did you do it?" -Every baseball fan on Twitter right now
The illegal stealing of signs had no effect on the games pic.twitter.com/eHQT7xztCN
— Joe Giza (@JoeGiza) February 13, 2020
Bold strategy Cotton, let's see if it pays off.
Trying to claim that knowing exactly what pitch is coming “didn’t impact the game” is an absolutely absurd public stance. https://t.co/cGQgvapNvd
— Joon Lee (@joonlee) February 13, 2020
We have somehow found a way this could have been worse.
The only way this could've been worse is if the Astros team twitter account posted a screenshot of an apology from their Notes app https://t.co/Tf568mviKZ
— Jeremy Frank (@MLBRandomStats) February 13, 2020
Let's not play down the horrors of a party with no dessert, but the point stands.
Gotta love how everyone in the Astros organization is saying, "okay, we made a mistake, we're sorry."
— Dan Federico (@DanJFederico) February 13, 2020
A mistake is forgetting to bring dessert to a family party. A mistake is not a multi-year, secretive, elaborate sign stealing system
This is not the time to start bragging about wins, James. Read the room.
Jim Crane bragging about the Astros being the first team to win 100 games in 3 consecutive seasons at a press conference about how they cheated to win is the weirdest flex of all time.
— Gabrielle (@gfstarr1) February 13, 2020
Sorry MLB, people are going to keep talking about this for a while.
A live look at the executives at @mlb HQ while watching the #astros press conference after thinkin we can finally just get to baseball pic.twitter.com/kBviaUTepL
— JoezMcfly🇩🇴 (@JoezMcfLy) February 13, 2020