Major League Baseball's investigation into the Houston Astros alleged electronic sign-stealing scandal is still ongoing, but some current and former Astros players have started to share their thoughts on the situation. On Saturday at an autograph show, Astros shortstop Carlos Correa told The Houston Chronicle that he has cooperated with the league's investigation, and that he does not believe the scandal taints Houston's 2017 World Series title.
He also commented on his former teammate Mike Fiers, who acted as the whistleblower on the Astros actions, giving on-the-record comments in a bombshell report from The Athletic.
"He's a grown man, and he can do whatever he wants to do. It's a free country," Correa told the Chronicle. "Knowing [Mike] Fiers, it was surprising, because we were a team. We were a team. We were all together, and we had a bond, and we won a World Series championship. But this is America, the land of the free. You can say what you want to say."
Fiers, who departed with the Astros after the 2017 World Series via free agency, explained Houston's sign-stealing system at Minute Maid Park, which included a TV monitor with a feed from a center field camera near the dugout steps. Astros players would try to decode their opponents' signs and then alert hitters if an off-speed pitch was coming by banging on a dugout trash can, per the report.
Per the Chronicle, Correa was asked by reporters if the allegations were true, and he said he could not answer the question since he had already been interviewed by MLB.
Former Houston Astros right-hander Joe Musgrove also told reporters at an autograph show on Saturday that he doesn't believe the allegations taint the Astros 2017 title.
"Everyone is going to have thoughts on stuff regardless," Musgrove told reporters. "Everyone always accuses people of something. That stuff goes around the league all the time. Everyone is trying to get an advantage somewhere.
"But that doesn't affect me at all, I don't think that taints [the championship season]," Musgrove said. "...Everyone hears that we cheated, and they hear that there was the whole trash can deal going on, but no one sees the work that we were putting in every day to prepare ourselves and give ourselves an advantage."
Musgrove, who was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates following the 2017 season as part of the Gerrit Cole deal, added that the league has not interviewed him as part of their investigation.
Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch did not address questions regarding sign-stealing at last month's Winter Meetings in San Diego, and Astros owner Jim Crane denied to discuss the situation at MLB's Owners' Meetings last November.
According to a report released last December, Astros personnel admitted to MLB that the club used a center-field video camera to rely pitching signs in real time. They were interviewed by the league as part of the thorough investigation MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and his office are conducting. As of Dec. 11, Manfred said that the league had reviewed 76,000 emails and spoken to 60 witnesses, and expanded the inquiry to include the 2019 and 2018 seasons.
It has been nearly two months since the initial report came out in which Fiers detailed the team's sign-stealing scheme. The league has yet to announce any discipline against the Astros, but it's expected that the punishment will be severe, and could involve fines and/or other serious sanctions, including the possible loss of future draft picks.
