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Pitcher sues Astros

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nota bene

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From USA Today:

The Houston Astros wronged a lot of people, in a lot of ways.

But the damage they did to Mike Bolsinger – to his career and to his whole life – was particularly harsh, and the former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher wants them held accountable. Bolsinger filed a civil lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, accusing the Astros of unfair business practices, negligence and intentional interference with contractual and economic relations.

Yes, Bolsinger is seeking unspecified damages, but they’re not all for himself. He wants the Astros to forfeit the roughly $31 million in bonuses from their ill-gotten World Series title, and for the money to go to charities in Los Angeles focused on bettering kids’ lives, as well as to create a fund for retired baseball players who need financial assistance.
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/nancy-armour/2020/02/10/mike-bolsinger-sues-houston-astros-says-cheating-changed-his-career/4712164002/[/FONT]

An Astros fan wrote a web app to document the trash-can banging used to signal, and Bolsinger was the pitcher most affected. The lawsuit claims that there were bangs on 12 of his 29 pitches in one 2017 game. He may not have had the right stuff to pitch for the Majors, so do you think his lawsuit is legit?
 
Because Major League Baseball needed another fiasco to damage the brand for years to come...
 
Good for him.
 
OrphanSlug said:
Because Major League Baseball needed another fiasco to damage the brand for years to come...
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Its a dying sport anyway. 20-30 years it will be irrelevant unless they start making major changes to the sport.
 
Jack Hays said:
MLB will be around long after the NFL has become an artifact.
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I wouldn't be so sure of that. It doesn't seem to be a game that connects with the younger generations as much as other sports, no one wants to sit around for 3-4 hours anymore. Add that to the fact Baseball has very little "star power" anymore with only 40 percent of Americans even knowing who Mike trout is. For a comparison 91 percent knew who LeBron was, 88 percent Tom Brady and 75 percent knew who Messi was.
 
Higgins86 said:
I wouldn't be so sure of that. It doesn't seem to be a game that connects with the younger generations as much as other sports, no one wants to sit around for 3-4 hours anymore. Add that to the fact Baseball has very little "star power" anymore with only 40 percent of Americans even knowing who Mike trout is. For a comparison 91 percent knew who LeBron was, 88 percent Tom Brady and 75 percent knew who Messi was.
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Moonglow said:
I give them both one generation.
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The game has endured since before the Civil War because it can be played at a high level by people who are not physical outliers.
 
nota bene said:
From USA Today:

The Houston Astros wronged a lot of people, in a lot of ways.

But the damage they did to Mike Bolsinger – to his career and to his whole life – was particularly harsh, and the former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher wants them held accountable. Bolsinger filed a civil lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, accusing the Astros of unfair business practices, negligence and intentional interference with contractual and economic relations.

Yes, Bolsinger is seeking unspecified damages, but they’re not all for himself. He wants the Astros to forfeit the roughly $31 million in bonuses from their ill-gotten World Series title, and for the money to go to charities in Los Angeles focused on bettering kids’ lives, as well as to create a fund for retired baseball players who need financial assistance.
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/nancy-armour/2020/02/10/mike-bolsinger-sues-houston-astros-says-cheating-changed-his-career/4712164002/[/FONT]

An Astros fan wrote a web app to document the trash-can banging used to signal, and Bolsinger was the pitcher most affected. The lawsuit claims that there were bangs on 12 of his 29 pitches in one 2017 game. He may not have had the right stuff to pitch for the Majors, so do you think his lawsuit is legit?
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Somebody please tell me what exactly was stolen and how it "effected" the opposing team and how is it "illegal". I dont get it. If I was communicating in a game of any kind and they were in the open I would be changing what the signals mean. Hell I would be testing to see if they were being intercepted, and use them against them. The catcher is behind the batter how is the batter stealing signals or getting them? I wonder if this much ado about nothing?
 
PirateMk1 said:
Somebody please tell me what exactly was stolen and how it "effected" the opposing team and how is it "illegal". I dont get it. If I was communicating in a game of any kind and they were in the open I would be changing what the signals mean. Hell I would be testing to see if they were being intercepted, and use them against them. The catcher is behind the batter how is the batter stealing signals or getting them? I wonder if this much ado about nothing?
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Centerfield camera, data relayed to clubhouse, then relayed to dugout, where batter was signaled.
 
Jack Hays said:
Centerfield camera, data relayed to clubhouse, then relayed to dugout, where batter was signaled.
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:lamo I am going to be honest. They have been stealing signs since signs have been baseball. This is much ado about nothing. The other teams should have paid more attention so they could take advantage of it. I admire the ingenuity. Clever.
 
PirateMk1 said:
:lamo I am going to be honest. They have been stealing signs since signs have been baseball. This is much ado about nothing. The other teams should have paid more attention so they could take advantage of it. I admire the ingenuity. Clever.
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I mostly agree with what you said, BUT the Commish did officially warn all teams NOT to use electronics to steal signs, and the Astros, and probably many other teams ignored his warning.. So for that, and that alone the teams that ignored him need to be punished.
 
The whole thing is crazy.

Just watching the manager/coach walk out to the mound and places his glove over his mouth to talk cracks me up.

Am just surprised someone hasn't made a comical commercial with everyone talking with their mitt over their faces.

th[6].webp
 
So did the Astros win the World Series or "win" it?
 
nota bene said:
So did the Astros win the World Series or "win" it?
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The signals have very little to do with the Asros winning. They won fair and square.
 
PirateMk1 said:
The signals have very little to do with the Asros winning. They won fair and square.
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I disagree. This brand of cheating goes well beyond the traditional baseball methods of stealing catcher signs.

Hell, Altuve had a sensor taped to his chest that vibrated if the catcher's sign was for a fastball and did nothing if the sign was for an off-speed pitch.

This information, known ahead of the pitch, is solid gold to any hitter in the bigs.
 
Maybe it's not the same guy, but on the radio I heard he sucked and was sent to the minors and never made it back to the majors because he sucked.

If that's true, we can't say it ended his career. If he was bound for the minors, never to return, then how much damage was done to him personally. He needs to prove damages.
 
PirateMk1 said:
:lamo I am going to be honest. They have been stealing signs since signs have been baseball. This is much ado about nothing. The other teams should have paid more attention so they could take advantage of it. I admire the ingenuity. Clever.
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Sign stealing by players has always been allowed. Sign stealing by technology has always been against the rules.
 
Jack Hays said:
Sign stealing by players has always been allowed. Sign stealing by technology has always been against the rules.
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How do they stop it? Will they start wearing ear pieces?
 
Higgins86 said:
How do they stop it? Will they start wearing ear pieces?
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The MLB deserves some of the blame in all of this. They KNEW this was going on for years, before 2017. Hell they were warned once they put in 'replay' monitors in the dugouts/clubhouses that they were going to be used to cheat. MLB did nothing.

With steroids MLB knew what was going on but did nothing until the US Congress got involved. With this sign stealing they again knew what was going on but did nothing until Fiers blew the whistle to the press and the press got involved..

Ear pieces, radios, etc. like what the NFL has been doing for many years should have been put in place by MLB at least 5 years ago. But no, someone had to hold their feet to the fire before anything got done.
 
Jack Hays said:
Sign stealing by players has always been allowed. Sign stealing by technology has always been against the rules.
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Not much difference. Much ado about nothing.
 
Rogue Valley said:
I disagree. This brand of cheating goes well beyond the traditional baseball methods of stealing catcher signs.

Hell, Altuve had a sensor taped to his chest that vibrated if the catcher's sign was for a fastball and did nothing if the sign was for an off-speed pitch.

This information, known ahead of the pitch, is solid gold to any hitter in the bigs.
Click to expand...

Here's the thing. If you can steal signs at all, then you need to presume your signs are being stolen. That gives sign maker the advantage because they can test if your stealing the sign, and they can switch up the signs. Quite frankly the whole bruhaha is about nothing. The world series is seven games. You mean to tell me the losing team lost because they were too stupid to change their signs.
 
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