Mike Fiers was the First to Speak-up but not the Last

Posted on by Charlie Ricker

Unless you have been living under a rock since mid-November, you have heard about the 2017 Houston Astros using technology to steal signs to gain an unfair advantage over their opponents.

When former Astro and current Oakland A’s staring pitcher Mike Fiers went on record with The Athletic’s Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal, speaking out on how his former team stole catchers’s signs, it turned the baseball world on it’s ear (the Drellich/Rosenthal piece can be read here).

Needless to say, Fiers’s former teammates are upset that he broke an unwritten code of clubhouse culture. Major league clubhouses are sacred. What goes on in a clubhouse is supposed to stay in a clubhouse. Fiers may never be fully trusted again by some current and future teammates because he went against the grain, letting team doings become public.

On social media, the reaction has been mixed. Many folks are calling Fiers a hero (including this writer), and many are destroying him, calling him a rat, a bad teammate and many words unsuitable to repeat here. Reactions from many ex-players, including Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez had this to say:

 

Mike Fiers was the first former Astros player to speak out, but I don’t think he will be the last. Players are human beings, and many human beings have consciences. Fiers proved he has one by going public. But he can’t be the only one who feels the same way about his team’s cheating. Immediately after Game 7 of the 2019 World Series, former Astro Gerrit Cole distanced himself from the team.

This is certainly not to say Cole will say anything at all regarding the Astros’s indiscretions, but it makes me question whether he agreed with what his former teammates were doing.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said the current Houston squad was cleared of any wrongdoing, but let’s remember how Jose Altuve jumped all over a slider thrown by New York Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman to end the ALCS, and had a look of terror on his face as he told his team not to rip off his jersey. He did that for a reason.

Two days ago, Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel, a member of the Astros from 2012-18, gave something of an apology, saying he is “sorry for the situation”, but also pointed out they didn’t cheat every game.

But make no mistake, Keuchel wasn’t happy the aforementioned “clubhouse code of silence” was broken.

 

This isn’t over by any stretch, and I think as time goes by, more people will shed light on what really happened. It’s just a matter of how long and how many people have a conscious. Stay tuned.

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Red Sox entertaining trade offers for Betts

Posted on by Charlie Ricker

The Boston Red Sox and San Diego Padres are discussing a trade that could send center-fielder Mookie Betts to the west coast, according to The Athletic’s Dennis Lin.

The trade would potentially send Betts, a free agent after 2020, to San Diego in exchange for 1B/OF Wil Myers and a number of prospects (reportedly MacKenzie Gore and CJ Abrams are not a part of the deal).

With the Red Sox expected to decrease payroll, enticing Betts to stay in Boston could be an uphill battle. It is not known at this time if the Padres are willing to offset some of the remaining 67.5 million owed Wil Myers through 2022. Myers’s contract also has a 20M option for 2023 with a buyout of a dollar. Although it is reported a deal isn’t likely as it is, Lin’s story says there is “legitimate interest” on both sides. My guess is San Diego might eat a little of his contract if Boston will accept “less than blue-chip prospects”.

Updates: It’s reported by Dennis Lin and Jon Heyman the Red Sox are interested in Padres prospects Luis Campusano and Luis Patiño in a potential trade for Mookie Betts.

This is a developing story and will be updated as things progress.