SEVERE PUNISHMENT COMING FOR MUM ASTROS FRANCHISE

The silence from the Astros and everyone in their front office is very telling. It tells me that they realize now that there is no excuse for the way they behaved. You want to figure out pitch selection as a player and reveal your findings to a teammate, you can do that.  That's on the level.  You wanna be smug, brazen and come up with plots to use electronic devices and slick maneuvering to become a dominant force in your league? You better make sure it's legal.  Otherwise it's against the rules and there should be harsh punishments for it.  Like being banned from baseball. That's at the top of my list.  What a bunch of assholes.

Yup, I'm rooting for it.  I want the punishment to be so severe for this team that it scares the living shit out of everyone in baseball.  I want players to not be allowed to play the game on a professional level again. I want the Astros championship to be stripped from them.

I want reporters lined up outside of AJ Hinch's house for months after he sat at a press conference back in 2018 and acted like his team was on the straight and narrow and challenged haters to come clean and "not to be anonymous and use your name when accusing" his team of wrongdoing.

Mike Fiers is my hero.  AJ Hinch forgot that players don't stay on teams for decades anymore.  He lost his game of chicken against Fiers and I love it.  God I hate liars. Have you figured that out yet?

The latest is this. ESPN has the story:

Manfred called the allegations of technology-driven sign-stealing by the Astros "the most serious matter." 

He said "it relates to the integrity of the sport" and promised "a really, really thorough investigation." "I'm not going to speculate on what the appropriate discipline is," Manfred said. "That depends on how the facts are established at the end of the investigation. The general warning I issued to the clubs, I stand by. It certainly could be all of those [past disciplinary actions], but my authority under the major league constitution would be broader than those things as well." 

Manfred said he does not have a timeline for the investigation, but "I certainly would hope that we would be done before we start playing baseball again." Any allegations that relate to a rule violation that could affect the outcome of a game or games is the most serious matter," Manfred said. "It relates to the integrity of the sport. In terms of where we are, we have a very active -- what is going to be a really, really thorough investigation ongoing. But beyond that, I can't tell you how close we are to done."

Hmm. Integrity.

A big, important word when it comes to humanity.  If you have none, how do you get through life as a well respected, person? You can't be trusted if you don't have integrity. The Astros team was fun to watch until this dark cloud came over them. Now they are just pathetic.

And here's the biggest part of it.  It probably didn't start with the players themselves.  It started with their front office.  The Astros brass.  THEY SHOULD ALL BE WIPED OUT.  They have failed their fans. No doubt they dragged their team into something so unethical it needs to be addressed HARD!

And the team's not innocent either. They are all adults. They know the rules... they know right from wrong, but they also felt protected by the people that pay them... Astros brass and they went along with it, because it helped them.

But this goes back to the silence.  No one in the Astros organization has said a thing about this.  Not a denial, not an apology. Nothing.  And that usually means something...

They are caught.

The Houston Astros are a disgrace to the sport.  Guys like Pete Rose should be out there barking and complaining if things do not get handled harshly for this terrible team of losers.

And this is a test for the commissioner. Manfred can finally redeem himself as not being a terrible commissioner and actually do something noble here. He needs to crush this team. Make the punishment as harsh as possible. Make this team an example. No fines... make it really hurt.  Ban someone, fire many of them... and act like you actually care about saving the game of baseball.

Because we do enough with steroids... but not enough for something like this... and we should, we really should.

Do it Manfred. Do it.