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The Houston Astros did everything in their power to dig a deeper hole during a weird, wild and utterly absurd press conference Thursday ahead of spring training.
Astros owner Jim Crane opened up the proceedings with some absolutely baffling comments about the sign-stealing scandal. He said players shouldn’t be punished and that the sign-stealing scandal had no impact on the game.
As if that weren’t asinine enough, then Crane backtracked and said he didn’t say it didn’t impact the game.
"Our opinion is that this didn't impact the game." – Jim Crane
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) February 13, 2020
"I didn't say it didn't impact the game." – Jim Crane 55 seconds later pic.twitter.com/MnpPeeTUPL
Yeah, it was a wild scene.
Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman “apologized” afterward, too, in an incredibly short period of time at the podium. This sort-of apology was all the weirder considering their owner had literally said they did not deserve blame or punishment.
If you have seen the crazy evidence dug up showing the players’ involvement in the sign-stealing scheme they utilized during their World Series run, you’d certainly know why they needed to apologize.
Not surprisingly, the sports world had some strong reactions to the press conference.
Well I guess we see why the Astros organization has handled things so poorly, it starts at the top. Their owner Jim Crane is leading the way at embarrassing the organization with these answers.
— Mike Golic (@espngolic) February 13, 2020
It's shocking to hear Jim Crane say he didn't think the sign stealing impacting games. Of course, it did. Why else would the Astros have had such an elaborate system to cheat?
— Jack Curry (@JackCurryYES) February 13, 2020
Jim Crane sounds tone deaf. Jose Altuve and Alex Bergman spoke for less than a minute and a half combined. Dusty Baker, who has been Astros manager for two weeks, sounded the most sincere. What a mess.
— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) February 13, 2020
This is pathetic.
— Kyle ⚾️ (@KyleNYY) February 13, 2020
Astros owner Jim Crane will go down as one of the most hated individuals in the history of sports pic.twitter.com/RLLNe7vGe0
Jim Crane: "We're apologizing because we broke the rules." He won't concede breaking the rules gave the Astros an advantage.
— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) February 13, 2020
This press conference was an absolute disaster for the Astros.
This press conference with Astros owner Jim Crane is a joke. MLB should have stripped their 2017 World Series title and he should have been forced to sell the team. To only blame the fired GM and manager and to not hold the players accountable is A JOKE. #Embarassing #Cheaters
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) February 13, 2020
The Astros should have their title taken away just because of how poorly Jim Crane handled that
— Kevin Turner (@ktfuntweets) February 13, 2020
“What we didn’t expect is for Jim Crane to come out and treat us all like we are too stupid to ask the right questions.”
— Golic and Wingo (@GolicAndWingo) February 13, 2020
–@jasonfitz on the lack of accountability taken by the Astros today. pic.twitter.com/mMahpzKOrh
More must-reads:
- Baseball and Hollywood: A retrospective
- Alex Bregman, Jose Altuve apologize for Astros cheating in scripted presser
- The 'Every 20-game winner since 2000' quiz
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