Houston Astros: The next sign-stealing casualties

The 2020 MLB season

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Begin with the Houston Astros, whose continued success already faced challenges even before the news broke about their use of illegal sign-stealing methods. They were already entering 2020 without their best pitcher, Gerrit Cole, and with their putative ace, Justin Verlander, entering an age 37 season that is a classic point of decline at his position.

Now, on top of that, their core players face a season in which the dominant storyline will not involve their on-field performance, during which all of their moves will occur under a cloud of suspicion, and during which the more they posture and preen —  attitudes that have given them strength – the more they will remind the public that they cheated.

And they’ll do it all under the direction of a new manager, who in turn is taking orders from a new general manager, and the one thing they can be sure of is that if any of them so much as look cross-eyed at a TV monitor they’ll be slapped.

The position of Red Sox players may, if anything, be even worse because a commissioner’s hammer continues to hang over them due to suspicions about the 2018 season. When it falls – and it will – they’ll face the same public scrutiny that will dog the Houston Astros all summer.

And they, too will do it under the direction of a new field manager operating under the aegis of Chaim Bloom, a new front office boss. Will Bloom require far greater adherence to the rules and far greater transparency in that adherence? You can bet on it.

Will that create a distraction among the Red Sox players? You can bet on that, too.