IT'S JUST NOT ENOUGH

Source: NJ.com

It's just not enough.  As our fearless leader said so comprehensively on Tuesday in HAMMER HITS CHEATING ASTROS HARD, BUT WE WANT MORE!, it is simply not enough. If I am being honest, I am having trouble sleeping over all of this.  Baseball has been a mainstay in my life and the lives of my family.  When one of my childhood heroes, Pete Rose, was found betting on games and later banned from baseball, that hurt.  This is in a whole other league.  As much as I hate the Astros for their cockiness and of course for beating the Yankees, I hate what they did to baseball more.  The penalties they received are simply not enough for the damage they did to the sport we love.

The Houston Astros hurt a lot of people when they chose to cheat.  They hurt their own players, they hurt their peer players on other teams, they hurt little leaguers, they hurt their own fans, and baseball fans everywhere.

Source: Bergen Record

"As everything’s been coming out, and the more facts that we get, it’s getting frustrating...to sit here and know that late in my career I could’ve had a title, maybe (in 2017) or maybe ’18, but we got cheated out (by) a team kind of doing something that’s not within the rules of the game,” said CC Sabathia on Showtime's "Inside the NFL'' as reported by NJ.com.  The Yankees lost out, the Dodgers lost out and consider all the other players who lost to the Astros because they chose to cheat.

A small fine given their net worth, suspensions for their general manager and manager for a year instead of for life and loss of first and second round draft picks for 2020 and 2021 are just not enough.  The Astros did too much.  They hurt baseball and I am not entirely sure it can recover.

Source: AP

I feel like they should have sanctions like other sports do, for wrongdoings, illegal recruiting and misuse of funds.  Penn State, University of Louisville, Syracuse University all received more serious penalties for their inappropriate behavior that tarnished their school's reputation and sport.  On the contrary, the New England Patriots have spygate and deflategate in their wheelhouse, with very little penalty.  It is just not right.  It is just not fair.  You need to work for your victories, not cheat for them.

Minimally, they should be kept from the post season in 2020.  They should not be able to compete, despite their record.  Should they be stripped of their championships? Some say yes.  “Maybe, yeah. I mean, why not?'' Sabathia said. "Vacate it. I wouldn’t be mad at that.”  I liked what Jack Curry posted on Twitter on Tuesday.  It softened the blow, a bit.

"Curious to see how Hinch and Luhnow are treated in baseball once suspensions end. All it takes is one friend/one connection to get a job. But there’ll be other qualified candidates who don’t have “suspended one year for cheating” on their resumes. Any path back could be blocked."

Source: The Boston Globe

It has been hard to watch what has been happening to baseball over the past several weeks since the early onset of these allegations.  And now with the first round of decisions in, it is equally disheartening and baseball is not done.  Alex Cora, also part of the 2017 Astros also has a price to pay.  He likely brought his bad habits to the 2018 Red Sox, leading them to a World Series the very next year.  He's another criminal, who will pay.

As much as I want this forgotten and we go back to the way things used to be, that is not going to happen.  What has happened won't go away.  Between analytics, sabermetrics, replay, bat speed, arm speed to automation within the game that could include replace home plate umpires with technology, baseball has changed.  When will it be enough?  Enough change.  Enough punishment.  Hopefully after winter there will be a spring, as always and time will wash away some of the pain.  But for now, the pain is here and nothing can stop the bleeding.

--Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @suzieprof