Houston Astros: Was Justin Verlander kidding around in dubious timing?
By Jeff Kallman
Picking up his Cy Young Award Saturday night, Verlander got laughs praising the Houston Astros technological and analytic advancement – but what kind?
In ancient times, a lady named Jane Ace purred on the radio, “There’s a time to joke and a time to not.” Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander might or might not have benefitted from such counsel before traveling to New York, to accept his 2019 Cy Young Award from the Baseball Writers Association of America Saturday night.
As New York Times sportswriter-turned-YES Network pre- and post-game analyst Jack Curry tweeted, Verlander “noted how the Astros were ‘technologically and analytically advanced’ as a way to praise the organization. But that phrase caused some in the audience to guffaw. Verlander waited until noise subsided before resuming.”
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If Verlander was joking, as some seemed to think, he might have wanted to turn over his comedy writing staff. Now-retired pitcher CC Sabathia happened to be among the gathering and, according to several reports, was distinctly unamused. “Freakin’ pissed” was one of the more polite descriptions of Sabathia’s mood at the moment.
“I’d like to think Verlander was just trying to take a stab at a joke here,” writes NBC Sports’s Craig Calcaterra, “because Verlander is the wrong guy to be sending to be sending any kind of messages diminishing the cheating given that he has a pretty solid track record of holding other players’ feet to the fire when they get busted.” Calcaterra yields a perfect example to follow.
This was Justin Verlander in June 2017, when he was still with the Detroit Tigers and sitting for an interview with MLive.com, during which the question of pace of game arose and Verlander had a very pronounced idea about how to fix that just a bit:
"We don’t have somebody, but I’m sure teams have a person that can break down signals and codes and they’ll have the signs before you even get out there on the mound. It’s not about gamesmanship anymore. It used to be, ‘Hey, if you can get my signs, good for you.’ In the past, if a guy on second (base) was able to decipher it on a few pitches, I guess that was kind of part of the game. I think it’s a different level now. It’s not good."
Verlander the Tiger suspected a little high-tech, extralegal espionage and suggested commissioner Rob Manfred give it a better, longer look. Verlander the Astro jokes about their “technological and analytical advancement” in the immediate wake of the Astrogate nuke being dropped on their now-former manager and general manager and affirming the Houston Astros as extralegal, electronic espionage, sign-stealing cheaters.
Calcaterra has a point when he observes that absent video it’s tough to read the complete context of Verlander’s remark. A photograph attached to the story shows Verlander at the podium, a jovial smile on his face above his natty tuxedo, gesturing with his hands, the BBWAA logo on the podium front the giveaway that this wasn’t just a trade show being entertained by a keynote speech.
But hours before Justin Verlander hit the stage, Atlanta Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman had Astrogate on his mind in a more personal vein, remembering his friend and former teammate Kris Medlen, a pitcher whose comeback attempt with the Arizona Diamondbacks ended after the Astros ripped him for seven earned in a May 4, 2018 start.
The injury-plagued Medlen missed 2014 and 2017 with injuries and worked in only 21 games in 2015 and 2016 because of similar issues, before working his way to the Diamondbacks and facing Gerrit Cole that day. Medlen ran into trouble right out of the chute: leadoff single, wild pitch to set up a man on second, then an RBI double and a one-out RBI single. He got torn for a two-run double in the second and two RBI singles plus an RBI double in the fourth.
Almost two years later, at the Braves’ ChopFest weekend, and with Astrogate’s ramifications continuing to swell, Freeman spoke of the scandal in personal terms remembering Medlen’s disaster.
“He retired about a week after that game,” Freeman told a small gathering. “That’s the hard stuff for me. People’s careers could have been over because of that. It’s kind of emotional for me, because I really think about Kris and he worked so hard to get back to the big leagues. So that’s what hits me. Cheating is cheating, but when you mess with people’s lives and careers, it’s hard to take.”