The Houston Astros have been human punching bags for players around the league in recent weeks due in large part their sign-stealing scandal that won them the 2017 World Series over the Los Angeles Dodgers, but also responses since being caught.
Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred has not helped matters with some of his answers to questions from the media, including calling the World Series trophy a “piece of metal,” which he has since apologized for.
The main point of contention with the whole situation is that no Astros players were punished for their role despite it being described as a player-driven scheme. They were given immunity by MLB for cooperating with the investigation
“This investigation begins with the article Ken (Rosenthal) and Evan (Drellich) wrote (with Mike Fiers as the whistleblower). Immediately after the article, we launched an investigation. Our early efforts were not particularly successful in terms of making progress with the investigation,” Manfred began to explain for why players were not held accountable.
“My office then contacted the MLBPA to request player cooperation; we wanted players to submit to interviews. The MLBPA asked if we have a disciplinary intention. I think the response was that we could not rule that out.
“The union indicated to us that that would be a problem. We went back and suggested we would give them an initial list of players that we would grant immunity to — preserving our ability to discipline other players. And the union came back and said players would cooperate only if there was blanket community. And because we were in a bit of a stalemate — we knew we needed player witnesses — we agreed to that immunity agreement.”
While that is a tough pill to swallow for the players across the league that are angry about how everything went down, Manfred concluded that was the only way to get all the facts and figure out what actually took place.
“Let me be clear, we would not have gotten where we got in terms of understanding the facts, learning the facts, disclosing the facts, if we hadn’t reached that agreement,” he said. “So I’m not being critical of anyone, but the fact of the matter is the union wanted an immunity agreement to protect their members.”
However, hours after Manfred’s explanation, the MLBPA refuted the idea of players not cooperating unless specific demands were met, per Evan Drellich of The Athletic:
The MLBPA just released this statement regarding the Astros investigation: “Any suggestion that the Association failed to cooperate with the Commissioner’s investigation, obstructed the investigation, or otherwise took positions which led to a stalemate… is completely untrue.” pic.twitter.com/e0fhMnhiF6
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) February 19, 2020
Another part of the investigation that players have taken issue with is a perception MLB did not release all of their findings or available information. “Everything that we knew about, we have made public. We have been 100% transparent on this issue,” Manfred said.
This story seemingly takes twists and turns every day, so it will be interesting to see how the players react to the latest conflicting claims.
Regardless, the focus may soon shift back to the field as teams begin playing Spring Training games in preparation for the 2020 season.
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