Retired Gattis: '17 Astros 'cheated baseball, fans'

Looking back, it feels like he lost.

Gattis was with the Astros for their historic run, which since has been
disgraced by revelations of a sign-stealing scheme that cost general manager
Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch their jobs and a one-year ban from baseball.
The repercussions swept up two other managers -- the New York Mets fired
Carlos Beltran and the Boston Red Sox parted with Alex Cora -- who were part
of the scheme in Houston in 2017.

"Everybody wants to be the best player in the (expletive) world, man," Gattis
told The Athletic's "755 Is Real" podcast. "And we cheated that, for sure. And
we obviously cheated baseball and cheated fans. Fans felt duped. I feel bad
for fans.

"I'm not asking for sympathy or anything like that. If our punishment is being
hated by everybody forever, just like, whatever. I don't know what should be
done, but something had to (expletive) be done. I do agree with that,
big-time. I do think it's good for baseball that we're cleaning it up. ... And
I understand that it's not (expletive) good enough to say sorry. I get it."

Astros All-Stars Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve apologized publicly in brief
statements at the start of spring training in February.

Gattis, who retired after the 2018 season, isn't the first member of the 2017
team to air a guilty conscience. Blue Jays reliever Ken Giles, the Astros'
closer in 2017, said he would give his World Series ring back if asked.

Baseball launched an investigation after former Astros pitcher Mike Fiers, now
with the Oakland Athletics, told The Athletic details of the sign-stealing
operation, which included reviewing signs from a digital replay room and
banging a garbage can a certain number of times based on the pitch that was
coming.

The Astros were stripped of first- and second-round draft picks in 2020 and
2021 and were fined $5 million, but MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said the team
would not lose its World Series title.

The 33-year-old Gattis said he didn't think Hinch liked the team cheating by
stealing signs and said Beltran and others didn't put pressure on players to
participate.

"Nobody made us do (expletive). You know what I'm saying? People saying this
guy made us, that guy made us, that's not it. But you have to understand the
situation was powerful," he said. "You work your whole life to try to
(expletive) hit a ball, and you mean you can tell me what's coming? It was
like, 'What?' It's a powerful thing, and there's millions of dollars on the
line and (expletive). And that's the bad of it, too, that's where people got
hurt. And that's not right. That's not playing the game right."

Former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Mike Bolsinger filed a civil lawsuit against
the Astros, alleging the sign-stealing caused a four-run, 29-pitch outing that
effectively ended his career.

--Field Level Media