On more than one occassion in his Major League Baseball career, Astros pitcher Justin Verlander has complained loudly and in one case, profanely, about there not being a level playing field for himself, gave the most hypocritical interview on Thursday when asked about Houston’s cheating scnadal.
Following Alex Bregman, Jose Altuve, Astros owner Jim Crane, and new manager Dusty Baker’s non-apology apologies Thursday morning the Houston clubhouse was open for business and, as would be expected, the media had a whole bunch of questions.
Some Astros players like Carlos Correa and Yuli Gurriel actually sacked up and admitted that they did it, they were sorry, and they are not proud of themselves.
"If I'm lying here I'll lose credibility, I want to speak the truth. It's straight up false" pic.twitter.com/o3LVPJMr2i
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) February 13, 2020
Springer: "We are ALL responsible. Carlos and Alex were great to us."
Bregman: "No one put us up to this. We did… https://t.co/WJQCtHcwy5
— Marly Rivera (@MarlyRiveraESPN) February 13, 2020
Others, like Astros owner Jim Crane and his pitcher Justin Verlander, who just last summer went on a profane rant claiming the league and MLB commissioner Rob Manfred were turning the league into a “fucking joke” by juicing the baseballs, decided to dig their holes a little deeper with their responses to the sign-stealing scandal.
“It’s been difficult,” said Verlander. “Showing up in 2017. Once I spent some time there and understood what was happening. I didn’t. I wish I had said more. Looking back, I can’t go back. I can’t reverse my decision. I wish I had said more, and I didn’t, and for that I’m sorry.”
Verlander refused to answer questions about what he did discuss with his teammates when he found out about the cheating, and claimed that he had no suspicions that the Astros were illegally stealing signs before he joined the team in 2017.
— SportsTalk 790 (@SportsTalk790) February 13, 2020
Interesting response, because that same year while he was still on the Detroit Tigers, Verlander complained to the media about, wait for it… sign-stealing.
“It’s not about gamesmanship anymore,” Verlander complained in 2017. “It used to be, ‘Hey, if you can get my signs, good for you.’ In the past, if a guy on second (base) was able to decipher it on a few pitches, I guess that was kind of part of the game. I think it’s a different level now. It’s not good.”
When asked if the cheating changed his opinion of his teammates when he found out, Verlander replied, “Again, I think as a team we’ve expressed our remorse, myself included, and I’ll leave it at that.”
And when asked if he believes the Astros 2017 World Series title is now tainted, Verlander once again gave a very bad answer.
“Personally, I don’t. I think everyone can draw their own conclusions and have their own opinions, though,” he replied. “I think we had an extremely talented ball club. In my opinion we had the best team in baseball.”
As happened earlier on Thursday when the Astros held a press conference to address the sign-stealing scandal, all Verlander’s comments did was make fans even more angry.
The joke pretty much writes itself.
— Chris Dixon (@cdixon25) February 13, 2020
— LoveDoctor (@Hitch_Atl) February 13, 2020
@SportsTalk790 @JustinVerlander @karbachbrewing @JustinVerlander wish you had said more? You were outspoken until y… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
"I don't have a problem with steroids . . I have a problem with cheating."
Verlander now:
— The Thought Leader (@yagottagotomo) February 13, 2020
@brianmctaggart He always said plenty about other cheaters. I guess it was easier to shout things from his high horse.
You ******* Coward you run your mouth about everything that happens in baseball until you got that RING on false pretenses @JustinVerlander pic.twitter.com/EUTRuXCwHq
— IB 🔌 24 (@incarceratedbob) February 13, 2020
— Chris Towers (@CTowersCBS) February 13, 2020
— Nick Kostos (@TheKostos) February 13, 2020
Oh well, at least Dallas Kuechel who was a pitcher on the 2017 Astros team apologized. What’s that?
— Daryl Van Schouwen (@CST_soxvan) February 13, 2020
Astros hitters might want to go up to the plate wearing armor this year.
