ARLINGTON, Texas — Major League Baseball has widened its investigation of alleged sign stealing by the Houston Astros and will probe activity by the team over the past three seasons.
After the conclusion of owners meetings Thursday, baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said MLB will “investigate the Astros situation as thoroughly as humanly possible.” The probe includes the team’s firing of an assistant general manager during the World Series for clubhouse comments directed at female reporters, behavior the club at first accused Sports Illustrated of fabricating.
“That investigation is going to encompass not only what we know about ‘17, but also ‘18 and ’19,” Manfred said. “To the extent we are talking to people all over the industry, former employees, competitors, whatever. To the extent that we find other leads, we’re going to follow these leads.”
Manfred has said for now the Astros are the only team being investigated for cheating allegations.
“Our clubs, all 30 of them, recognize that the integrity of the competition on the field is crucial to what we do every day,” he said. “I think that there’s wide support across the industry for the idea that when we have a problem in this area, there should be firm, serious disciplinary action that discourages people from engaging in this type of behavior.”
Oakland pitcher Mike Fiers told The Athletic in a story last week that while he was playing with the Astros during their 2017 World Series championship season the team stole signs during home games by using a camera positioned in center field. During this year’s playoffs, Houston players were suspected of whistling in the dugout to communicate pitch selection to batters.
Asked if he wished more had been done before Fiers spoke out publicly, Manfred said baseball has chased every lead it has received to the “the extent that we felt was investigatively possible.”
“Obviously, an individual breaking what is a pretty firm commitment to silence about what goes on in dugouts and in clubhouses is a big break in an investigation, provides an opportunity to push forward that we haven’t had previously,” Manfred said.
• Owners voted to have digital streaming rights within a team’s broadcast market revert to each team from Baseball Advanced Media starting with next season. That could lead to the Yankees’ YES Network being streamed on Amazon Prime and similar deals. Amazon bought an equity stake in YES this year.
• Greg Johnson was approved by the major league clubs as the new controlling owner of San Francisco.
Following the decision Thursday at the owners meetings in Arlington, Texas, Giants president and CEO Larry Baer still will represent the club at the meetings, along with Johnson and Rob Dean, who had been handling leadership duties since March. Baer was suspended without pay from March 4 through July 1 after a video showed him in a physical altercation with his wife. Baer and president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi will report to Johnson and Dean.
• John Sherman was approved as the new controlling owner of the Royals, and his group plans to close its deal to purchase the team from David Glass and his family next week.
WHITE SOX: Yasmani Grandal saw a young team stocked with promising pitchers and hitters. He envisioned a bright future, and he chose to be part of it.
No longer burdened by draft-pick compensation, Grandal found the multiyear contract he failed to get last offseason. The All-Star catcher agreed Thursday to a $73 million, four-year contract with the White Sox.
Grandal turned down a $17.9 million qualifying offer from the Los Angeles Dodgers last November. A team signing him during the 2018-19 offseason would have lost a top amateur draft pick and he found a slow market. He agreed in January to a deal with Milwaukee that guaranteed $18.25 million: a $16 million salary for 2019 and a $16 million mutual option for 2020 with a $2.25 million buyout.
PHILLIES: Joe Dillon has been hired as hitting coach in Philadelphia. Dillon served as assistant hitting coach for the Washington Nationals for the past two seasons and previously spent two seasons as the minor league hitting coordinator for the Miami Marlins. He began his coaching career with the Nationals in 2014 as hitting coach for Triple-A Syracuse for two seasons.
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