Joe Torre Reportedly Warned Astros and Red Sox About Sign-Stealing Consequences in 2018
By Jerry Trotta
As further developments continue to emerge surrounding the Houston Astros' -- and, to a lesser extent, the Boston Red Sox' -- sign-stealing operations, baseball fans have almost grown numb to the shocking headlines. But guess what?! There's more.
Per ESPN's Karl Ravech, Joe Torre, the MLB's Chief Baseball Officer at the time, met with Houston and Boston before they squared off in the 2018 ALCS to caution them that any cheating efforts would "no longer remain a secret."
The report claims that Torre met with both the skippers and general managers from both clubs: AJ Hinch, Alex Cora, Jeff Luhnow and Dave Dombrowski.
‘We’re dead’: The ominous ALCS meeting that foretold Astros cheating doom https://t.co/AK7aCa3nPd via @nypostsports
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) February 29, 2020
Ironically enough, all four of those individuals are no longer employed by the MLB, and three of them lost their jobs in the fallout of the league's investigation into their team's sign-stealing scandals.
"Torre basically said to the teams, both of them and those people and anyone else that was in the room, look, if you’re inclined or have gotten away with or are doing anything that would violate the rules that you are all aware of or should be aware of, you’re gonna have to understand at some point, there’s going to be a player, or players or a front office person that’s going to leave your team, go to another team and basically rat you guys out," Ravech said on ESPN's Baseball Tonight podcast.
Ravech continued to note he was told that specific message from Torre -- that someone would eventually spill the beans -- scared the living daylights out of Cora, Hinch, Luhnow and Dombrowski.
At the 10:50 mark, Karl Ravech drops a HUGE bombshell: Joe Torre met with Hinch, Luhnow, Dombrowski, and Cora before the ALCS and said that if they got away with anything or were doing anything to violate the rules, players or FO people that go to other teams might rat them out. https://t.co/5rLavqd4RI
— Sean James (@SeanJ8) February 28, 2020
This is simply another awful look for the MLB. A simple interpretation of Ravech's quotes essentially says that the league knew that the Astros and Red Sox were cheating, and its settlement was not to get to the bottom of it. Torre practically admitted that the league knew, but could only neglect it for so long because eventually someone would blow the whistle.
Everything coming to light now truly uncovers the dishonestly and secrecy on so many levels.