MLB News: Josh Reddick implies Yankees cheated, slams ex-Astros teammate

The Houston Astros’ pursuit of a World Series title in 2017 is still tainted in the eyes of many fans.

This week we learned how polarizing a topic it is among some of the clients involved.

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The Astros’ hitters used an illegal system to steal opposing boards in real time during the 2017 and 2018 games. This is evident from a report by The Athletic and further elaborated in a Major League Baseball study. Players and staff used a camera in center field to capture opponents’ signals and relay them to hitters via a series of loud bangs on a trash can.

Six years later, New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is still bitter about losing to the Astros in the 2017 American League Championship Series.

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In an interview with High Heat’s Christopher Russo MLB Network on Wednesday, Cashman launched into an unprompted tangent about the Astros’ misdeeds of 2017.

“I hate that 15-year thing,” Cashman said of the Yankees’ time between World Series appearances, “because it completely forgets and disregards the fact that another organization cheated us when we were finally all the way around If you knew what that was If we continued, I don’t think they would have made any progress in that time.

“I hate that 15-year-old thing because I don’t think it accurately reflects history.”

Retired Major League outfielder Josh Reddick, a member of the 2017 and 2018 Astros teams, did not accept Cashman’s comments.

“Hey Brian,” Reddick asked rhetorically on his Twitter/X account, “why did your team score fewer than five runs at Minute Maid, but all those runs in New York?”

The implication of Reddick’s comment is clear.

The Yankees scored three runs combined in four games in Houston during the 2017 ALCS. They scored 19 points in three games at Yankee Stadium during the same series. Why? It’s pretty much canon among Astros followers that the Yankees had their own sign-stealing system that they used in their home park.

The Yankees were fined $100,000 by commissioner Rob Manfred for using their dugout phone to relay information about opponents’ signs during the 2015 season. and part of 2016. The fine was disclosed in a September 14, 2017 letter from Manfred to Cashman, which was to be unsealed by the US District Court in New York in 2022.

While no plans involving the 2017 Yankees have ever been discovered, Reddick is hardly the only one fueling suspicion.

“Beyond nonsense,” Astros podcaster Walt Penberthy said of Cashman’s comments. “And while he’s at it, he can explain their own sign-stealing plan.”

Beyond nonsense. And while he’s at it, he can explain their own sign-stealing plan.

He had virtually unlimited resources and is back in the WS for the first time in 15 years.

It must be the Astros’ fault.

— Walt Penberthy (@TErnestos) October 24, 2024

Reddick wasn’t done pointing fingers yet.

When a Twitter/X user responded to his original post by asking him to explain how “every other team” cheated, Reddick responded, “No, I’m not a traitor.”

The same user pointed out that a tip from former Astros pitcher Mike Fiers led to the original report in The Athletic accusing the team of illegally stealing signs — a tip that was anonymously confirmed by other Astros teammates. Reddick then said Fiers “was a teammate even before he snitched.”

That’s because he was already a teammate before he betrayed.

— Josh Reddick (@JRedDubDeuce) October 23, 2024

These types of exchanges between athletes and fans typically do not take place in public. Without details, fans are left to speculate about the content of Reddick’s comments.

Still, it’s further evidence of how deep the feelings run about what happened in the dugouts of the 2017 postseason participants, and how difficult it is for principals on both sides to simply “move on.”

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