Jim Gray slams MLB's 'ridiculous' response to Astros sign-stealing scandal, calls for player suspensions
Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred is making the situation much worse, says veteran sportscaster and Fox News contributor Jim Gray.
David Ortiz ripped Oakland Athletics pitcher Mike Fiers on Thursday, saying he looked like a “snitch” for blowing the whistle on the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scheme late last year.
The former Boston Red Sox great made the remarks at the team’s spring training facility in Florida. He said Fiers should have said something during the 2017 season when he and the Astros won the World Series instead of waiting until he was off the team.
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“I'm mad at this guy, the pitcher who came out talking about it,” Ortiz said, according to ESPN. “And let me tell you why. Oh, after you make your money, after you get your ring, you decide to talk about it. Why don't you talk about it during the season when it was going on? Why didn't you say, 'I don't want to be no part of it?' So you look like you're a snitch. Why you gotta talk about it after? That's my problem. Why nobody said anything while it was going on?”
Ortiz was also bewildered by the fact that no one came out about the sign-stealing scheme before Fiers talked to The Athletic.
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Former Boston Red Sox's David Ortiz comes onto the field to throw out a ceremonial first pitch before a baseball game against the New York Yankees in Boston, Monday, Sept. 9, 2019. (AP)
“The Houston Astros, I know they put themselves in a situation and I just still don't know how come nobody was like, 'That is wrong.' I just don't know how no one say something about it,” Ortiz said. “During, not after. I was in the clubhouse for a long time and never anything like that comes up. Now, they're going to have to deal with that for a long time because it's not only a situation that involves players. You're talking about the whole franchise.”
While Ortiz picked apart Fiers, the current Athletics pitcher revealed he had been receiving death threats over the sign-stealing scandal but said he’s gotten used to it.
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“Whatever, I don't care. I've dealt with a lot of death threats before. It's just another thing on my plate,” Fiers told The San Francisco Chronicle.
He told the newspaper he can’t prepare for whatever is going to happen during the 2020 season, but he was aware he was a part of the problem.
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“I said from the beginning, ‘I'm not away from this. I was part of that team, I was one of those guys,’” he told the Chronicle. “Suspensions, fines -- I'm willing to take as much punishment as they do. If they ask me to [return the World Series ring], it's not the end of the world.”