Astros players will apologize publicly for sign-stealing scheme

Houston Astros owner Jim Crane said the team will apologize publicly for stealing opposing teams’ pitching signs.

“When we get down to spring training, we’ll all get them together and they’ll come out with a strong statement as a team and, I think, apologize for what happened and we’ll move forward,” Crane said prior to the Houston Sports Award on Tuesday.

Major League Baseball found the Astros illegally created a system that decoded and communicated the opposing teams’ pitching signs during their 2017 championship season. As a result, Astros manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow were fired.

“We’re going to sit in a room and talk about it, then we’ll come out and address the press,” Crane said. “All of them will address the press, either as a group or individually. Quite frankly, we’ll apologize for what happened, ask for forgiveness and move forward.”

Astros stars Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman did speak on the scandal this past weekend at the team’s annual fan fest event.

“This kind of situation will make you stronger for the future,” Altuve said. “Believe me, at the end of the year everything will be fine. We’re gonna be in the World Series again. People don’t believe it. We will.”

Bregman added, “the Commissioner and MLB did their report. The Astros cooperated with the report and they made their decisions. It’s time to move forward as a team.”

The investigation stemmed from a report in the sports news website The Athletic, where Astros pitcher Mike Fiers said that he warned his new teammates that at their home games Houston used an outfield camera fixed on the opposing catcher to steal signs and relay the information to hitters.

Astros’ pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training on Wednesday, February 12th. The first full squad workout is Monday, February 17th.