Agent Scott Boras does not believe the Astros’ players should apologize, not when their superiors promoted the team’s illegal use of electronics to steal signs.
“I’m doing what my organization is telling me to do,” Boras said on Wednesday, describing the hypothetical mindset of a player. “You installed this. You put this in front of us. Coaches and managers encourage you to use the information. It is not coming from the player individually. It is coming from the team. In my stadium. Installed. With authority.”
The analogy Boras used was the speed limit.
A man driving 55 mph in a 35-mph zone only believes he is speeding if the limit is clearly posted. Likewise, Boras said Astros’ players who committed infractions only should apologize if they were properly informed of their boundaries.
Boras, citing commissioner Rob Manfred’s statement announcing the Astros’ discipline on Jan. 13, said the players were not.
“Players were not given the latest state of the rules,” said Boras, who represents two current Astros — second baseman José Altuve and right-hander Lance McCullers. “To suggest players violated rules that were withheld from them is a false incrimination of players.”
Opposing players certainly seem to disagree, expressing their disgust with the Astros’ actions through various outlets. Many fans also believe the players should take responsibility for their conduct. While players avoided discipline from Manfred, and might not be culpable by the letter of the law, they still could apologize for their roles in damaging the sport.
The Astros declined to comment on Boras’ remarks, which came in response to Astros owner Jim Crane saying on Tuesday that the players might issue “a strong statement of apology” during spring training. Altuve and third baseman Alex Bregman spoke with reporters on Saturday, but drew criticism for failing to show contrition.
“Quite frankly, we’ll apologize for what happened, ask forgiveness and move forward,” Crane said.
The question of accountability continues to fester with the Astros, who received unprecedented penalties for illegally using electronics to steal signs in both 2017, when they won the World Series, and 2018.
Though Manfred said the Astros’ schemes were “player-driven,” he also placed blame on general manager Jeff Luhnow for failing to ensure that his team complied with two memos baseball issued in September 2017 and March 2018.
The Astros fired both Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch after Manfred suspended them for the 2020 season on Jan. 13. No player was disciplined; Manfred previously had determined he would hold a club’s GM and manager responsible for sign-stealing violations.
In that sense, Manfred’s assessment of culpability is not all that different than Boras’.
“Luhnow did not forward the memoranda and did not confirm that the players and field staff were in compliance with MLB rules and the memoranda,” Manfred wrote. “Had Luhnow taken those steps in September 2017, it is clear to me that the Astros would have ceased” their illegal sign stealing.
In Boras’ view, the Astros not only neglected to provide the players with limits, but also gave tacit approval of their misconduct, which broke norms established by the long-accepted practice of players using their own wits to identify and relay an opponents’ signs.
Manfred’s report states that former bench coach Alex Cora arranged for a video room technician to install a monitor displaying the center field camera feed immediately outside of the Astros’ dugout.
The operation, Boras said, left players with the perception that the form of sign stealing employed by the Astros was permissible.
“Why would a player think that the organization is setting up a system that is violating MLB rules?” Boras said. “That’s the first question every fan should ask.”
Manfred, however, did not completely exonerate the players of responsibility. His report identified only one player: Carlos Beltrán, who apologized in a statement released to multiple news outlets after the Mets announced on Thursday he no longer would be their manager. But even while acknowledging the lack of oversight by club officials, Manfred cites numerous examples to show the players understood — or should have understood — they were breaking rules:
• The “panic” in the Astros’ dugout after White Sox pitcher Danny Farquhar appeared to notice the banging trash-can sound the Astros used to identify the coming pitch to their hitters.
• The players’ removal of the monitor from the wall in the tunnel and the hiding of it in an office before the end of each game.
• Hinch’s damage to the monitor on two occasions, which signaled his disapproval of the system even though he admitted he did not stop it or notify players that he wanted them to stop.
“Many of the players who were interviewed admitted that they knew the scheme was wrong because it crossed the line from what the player believed was fair competition and/or violated MLB rules,” Manfred said. “Players stated that if manager AJ Hinch told them to stop engaging in the conduct, they would have immediately stopped.”
To Boras, therein lies the problem.
Players, Boras said, “follow the authority given from their managers, coaches, general managers and the organization. If the perception was that it was disallowed, then the players clearly would not have done it because they would have understood the rule.
“This is no different than PEDs,” Boras continued, referring to baseball’s crackdown on performance-enhancing drugs. “The minute we legislated a compendium of specificity, players were on notice. And then the accountability went directly to them. And it should.”
So, should the Astros’ players apologize?
The issue is complicated by the passage of time. Some members of the rule-breaking Astros teams — including three of Boras’ clients, left-hander Dallas Keuchel and super-utility man Marwin González (2017-18; hired Boras after ’17) and right-hander Gerrit Cole (’18) — are now with other clubs.
Boras said the accountability should extend beyond the players.
“This is a general baseball apology,” he said. “There are failures at every level for not understanding that this process was a violation of the integrity of the game, (not) making sure rules are posted in the locker room, making sure that all of this is communicated to the players. And it was clear — and the fans need to understand — that this specific ruling and guideline was an action from MLB, but not communicated to the players. Therefore, their perception was that there was no specific rule or guideline, that this gray area existed.
“Players need to apologize for what they had notice of. Their perception of this process is that when an organization sets up a system and directs them to use the information, (then) coaches and managers are directing them to use this information. There are many players who rejected it outright. I’m not going to speak specifically. They did not use it. They were uncomfortable with it (some players prefer not to receive such information).”
“But to suggest players make a team apology … the reality of it is that the apology from the people who had notice, not from the people who didn’t have notice. And the people who are responsible for providing notice. That’s who the apology should come from.”
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