The Houston Astros held their offseason fanfest Saturday at a somewhat awkward time, but it meant we got our first comments from a key player about the fallout from the team’s 2017 sign-stealing scandal.
Third baseman Alex Bregman declined to say much when he met the press. He denied that he and Jose Altuve had worn any electronic devices to aid them in stealing signs and refused to comment on the league investigation or the aftermath of it.
Bregman did, however, make something of a promise regarding the 2020 season.
The awkward reality is that the Astros still have a lot of talent and have every chance of being a playoff team again in 2020, even without stealing signs. They would probably love to respond by doing what the Patriots did after Deflategate and using it as motivation to beat everyone. That’ll be harder to do in MLB than the NFL, but this is a group of players whose talents and accomplishments are being questioned as illegitimate. Even if that’s a reasonable response, they won’t like it, and Bregman’s quote seems to illustrate that.
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