Overview
During the 2017 MLB season the Houston Astros conducted a series of cheating events that were discovered in late 2019 and early 2020. These of course are the scandals of sign stealing. As most are aware the scandal was investigated by the MLB and the Astros were pay a five million dollar fine and give up their first and second round pick for the upcoming draft. The Astros also fired GM Jeff Luhnow and skipper A.J. Hinch on their own consensus. The punishment was controversial among MLB fans. In this article we review the addressing of the sign stealing nearly a year later.
Breakdown
The press conference begins with owner Jim Crane who gives a basic opening statement explaining how the press conference will be conducted. He also provides us with an apology which we will see is a common theme in this press conference, more on that later. The important part that Crane mentions is that he believes that none of the players should be held accountable for the scandal but rather the people in charge (A.J. Hinch and Jeff Luhnow). This came to the dismay of MLB fans as they wanted to see some sort of repercussions to the players of the organization.
Next Alex Cora welcomed third baseman Alex Bregman and second baseman Jose Altuve to the podium. They both gave brief apologies which essentially contained the same statements explaining that they were sorry to all fans and they hoped to move past this incident and look forward to a successful season. This continues the topic of their sincerity in these apologies. Through the course of apology history we have learned that the only thing that makes an audience more furious than the action made is a half ass apology written by an HR team. However you can make a case for both the audience and the players. On one hand the players may or may not be sincere in their apology however, they are given a script in order to prevent the media from provoking them even more and saying the wrong thing. This is for the good of the team. Meanwhile you have the audience who is desperately searching for some sort of reassurance or something to get this scandal of their chest but realistically the only thing that can come from these apologies is more fury.
Lastly new GM Dusty Baker says a few words, and frankly I liked how he conducted the conference. He begins by acknowledging the fact that the Astros organization throughout is sorry for their actions and speaks on the fact that most are good guys. He seems the most sincere out of everyone and is also aware that he was not involved in the organization while the scandal was occurring. Nevertheless he does not announce this as he knows this would only sound like an excuse and would make him seem like a poor leader being one of the most important positions on the team. He closes with the acknowledgement that he’s been trough situations and is prepared for the obstacles of the upcoming season. Lastly, I would like to restate that I was satisfied with his statement as it seemed the most sincere and optimistic of all.
David Castaneda 