Wait, Jerry Meals may have been right?

By Craig CalcaterraJul 27, 2011, 9:33 AM EDT
47 Comments

I love Rob Neyer. I’ve written thousands of words about my man-crush on him over the years. And there’s no one in this business whose intellect and judgment I trust more. Really, if the Martians flew here to annihilate civilization but offered us one chance to save ourselves, and that chance involved the analysis of a baseball issue, Rob would totally be my huckleberry.

But Rob, I don’t think I’m with you on this one.  Here’s his take on the Jerry Meals play:

Call me a sensationalist or an iconoclast if you like, but I just gotta say something this morning …

Jerry Meals might have been right.

I’m sorry, but I still have not seen a conclusive replay. I’ve read a lot of Tweets from people claiming the replays or screen-captures are conclusive, but I’m looking at the same things and I’m just not seeing it. I’m not seeing a for sure in any of them.

Can’t say I agree — it looks pretty plain to me that the tag was applied — but as Rob himself says sometimes, I link you decide.

Justin Turner rips Rob Manfred like no player has ripped him yet

Getty Images
By Craig CalcaterraFeb 17, 2020, 2:10 PM EST
1 Comment

Every day brings a new player showing up to camp, facing the media and offering their two cents about the Astros, the sign-stealing scandal and Major League Baseball’s handling of it.

Today Justin Turner of the Dodgers gave more than his two cents. He gave a few bucks worth.

Speaking to the Dodgers media contingent, Turner reacted most strongly to Commissioner Rob Manfred’s comments yesterday, in which he talked about why he chose not to force the Astros to vacate their 2017 World Series title, calling the World Series trophy, “a piece of metal.” From the L.A. Times:

“I don’t know if the commissioner has ever won anything in his life. Maybe he hasn’t. But the reason every guy’s in this room, the reason every guy is working out all offseason, and showing up to camp early and putting in all the time and effort is specifically for that trophy, which, by the way, is called the commissioner’s trophy.

“So for him to devalue it the way he did yesterday just tells me how out of touch he is with the players in this game. At this point the only thing devaluing that trophy is that it says ‘commissioner’ on it.”

Turner is also upset that Astros players were not disciplined, and basically implied that, to the Astros, manager A.J. Hinch and GM Jeff Luhnow losing their jobs over this was worth it:

“Now anyone who goes forward and cheats to win a World Series, they can live with themselves knowing that, ‘Oh, it’s OK. … We’ll cheat in the World Series and bring the title back to L.A. Screw Dave Roberts and screw Andrew [Friedman]. It’s just those guys losing their jobs. I still get to be called a champion the rest of my life.’ So the precedent was set by him yesterday in this case.”

Turner thinks the Astros should give their rings back and give back the trophy. Though, really, I’m not sure what the league would do with it. To them it’s just a piece of metal, right?