This Whole Thing is Stupid
Well,
this little article by Amy K Nelson and Peter Keating that appeared on ESPN got a lot of people going.
That's just gold.
"From the batter's box, it was clear the man in white had been perfectly positioned just above the pitcher's head so that the batter would not need to move his own head, or even alter his gaze, in order to see his signal."
Stoeten
here, Parkes
here and
The Mighty Tao here got their hacks in and knocked a few out of the park. With evidence and logical conclusions, instead of the "WTF?" incoherent feelings I had when reading it.
First, my views on stealing signs.
Teams stealing signs, using eyes, ears and observation, is totally cool. Don't like it? Change your signs.
Stealing signs, using blue tooth technology, mysterious men in white t-shirts, the stadium hotel and waving arms is not as cool. Hysterically funny, but not on the level.
Keith Law disappointed me on the Baseball Today podcast. I enjoyed it so much when he ripped into Tony LaRussa's incoherent ramblings.
I know I shouldn't have expected anything more. He works for ESPN. Instead of driving his crab mobile trough the holes in this article, he just called it well-written and said it reflects whispers he heard when he worked for the Jays. But what about the circumstantial evidence?! Law said people accused Cito Gaston of using the hotel in the early 90s.
Wait a second. The early 90s? When the Jays won it all? Of course they were cheating. There is no way this Toronto team was the best in baseball.
Jose Bautista told Jays' reporters that the dude who accused him and threatened him was with the White Sox and it happened in spring 2010. Spring 2010 aka the time when Bautista was that former Pirate who had a hot September in 2009. Bautista was hitting .161/.325/.323 and 1 home run when the pitcher threatened to bean him.
If the White Sox truly thought the Jays were stealing signals, why would they do business with AA at all? Those two teams were involved in trades 2 weeks ago. Teahen, who is sitting on the Jays bench, was a member of that team last year and most of this year. Why didn't Ozzie Guillen, whose mouth has no off switch, bitch about this at the time? I don't think the White Sox are the main players in this story. I think the Yankees are the actual accusers, just based on what Russell Martin said about changing his signs and then Joe Girardi's passive aggressive comments about outside equipment.
If any other team in the league had any sort of actual proof, why haven't they filed complaints with MLB?
I remember reading somewhere that the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry, after 2004, was mostly a product of the press. The real heated rivalry the Red Sox had in recent years has been with Tampa Bay. I would make the argument that the Yankees most heated rivalry is with the Jays.
A lot of people on Twitter joined Law in commending the piece as good, quality journalism. I have no problem with the style of the piece. I don't think either Keating or Nelson are bad writers. I just don't think you can have unnamed sources and circumstantial evidence and just go with that. Why didn't they go ask a former Jay about it?
It's completely unfair to say that Nelson writes for ESPN because she slept her way to the top, but that is just the sort of bullshit female sportswriters put up with.
Besides, everyone knows that Keating is the slut in this equation. I found some statistics, cirumstantial evidence and unnamed sources to prove it.
Keating, the slut, was on Sid and Tim of Score Radio to talk about the article. Keating stood behind his article, said he has "Canadian friends", there is no bias against the Jays on ESPN, said his "unnamed sources"' stories were backed up with compelling statistical evidence (which Parkes did a pretty good job of debunking) and was pretty insulted by the accusation of cherry picking stats to tell the story.
Not a single player in this whole drama asked what I think is the ultimate question: if the Jays are stealing signs, why the hell are they not better? The article claimed that the Jays stole signs all through 2010. So apparently the Jays stole signs to hit a crap load of homers, finish 4th in the AL East and once again come up short in their goal of making the playoffs.
The Jays are starting to show signs that they are going to be good in the next few years. I guarantee this shit is going to come up again if the Jays actually start challenging the beasts of the East.
Henderson Alvarez, with his plus fastball and his plus change, makes his ML debut.