Trevor Bauer had been publicly suspicious of the Houston Astros for years prior to MLB’s investigation into the team’s sign-stealing operation. Now Bauer knows he was very much onto something, and isn’t afraid to talk about it.
The Cincinnati Reds pitcher was asked about the Astros on Friday and offered a nearly 10-minute answer, with numerous highlights. He was particularly aggrieved that Astros players, notably Alex Bregman, ripped into Bauer for insinuating that Houston was somehow cheating.
“I try not to interfere or interject myself into anyone else’s affairs, but if you come at me, I feel like I have every right to defend myself,” Bauer said, via C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic. “Now they’ve chosen to make it about me and attack my character, I’m not going to let them forget the fact that they are hypocrites, they are cheaters, they’ve stolen from a lot of other people and the game itself was completely unfair. They’ve negatively affected the fans, they’ve negatively affected players, they’ve negatively affected kids and the future of baseball – which is what I’m most upset about. Now all the things they do really well as an organization are going to get completely washed away and forgotten about so the next generation of kids gets set back five or 10 years on the analytics, training and health and all the different stuff they do really well.
“Whit Merrifield was not an All-Star because Jose Altuve was. Aaron Judge did not win the MVP because Jose Altuve did and things like this. So now Whit Merrifield, when he goes to sign his long-term extension, doesn’t have ‘All-Star’ next to his name. ‘All-Star’ probably makes him a lot more valuable in arbitration which perhaps makes him not sign that deal or maybe sign the deal for that many more million dollars. Aaron Judge doesn’t have MVP next to his name. What is he worth in his first year of arbitration? That’s millions of dollars.”
Bauer did much more. He called out Justin Verlander and A.J. Hinch for hypocrisy, ripped Astros players for consistently lying about their involvement, said he had been told by three sources that the Astros were involved in more than has been reported, and reaffirmed his belief that commissioner Rob Manfred is “a joke” for various reasons. The comments are well worth a read in their entirety.
However, Bauer saved some of his harshest words for Astros owner Jim Crane, who said Thursday that he did not think the team’s sign-stealing impacted the game.
“‘We don’t think it affected the game.’ You’re either lying or you’re a f—ing idiot. And you don’t become a billionaire owner of a team by being a f—ing idiot. So, you’re lying,” Bauer said. “I don’t know. How can you not think that affected the game when you know what pitches, that’s just so ridiculous. That take, that quote, then basically the entire thing was like, ‘Oh, I’m sorry we got caught.’ Not like, ‘Hey, we did this.'”
You should read the entire thing if you haven’t yet.
Bauer has been vocally suspicious of the Astros since some suspicious activity during the 2018 ALDS, and he has never really let up since. It turns out he was right — and is right to be mad as well.
The Houston Astros are confirmed cheaters and deserve an asterisk. Send that message by wearing our Houston Asterisks T-shirt! You can buy it here:
