Dodgers: Cody Bellinger Speaks on Astros and Red Sox Cheating Allegations
Thus far, NL MVP Cody Bellinger has not spoken about the sign-stealing scandal of the Houston Astros or Boston Red Sox. While many of his Los Angeles Dodgers’ teammates have given their thoughts, Bellinger has remained silent. Remember, Bellinger was a member of both the 2017 and 2018 teams that lost in the World Series to the eventual and supposed sign-stealing opponents.
That is until Sunday, when Bellinger spoke to ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez on the subject.
I spoke with Cody Bellinger about the Dodgers’ quiet offseason, his fast friendship with Christian Yelich, and losing the World Series to a couple of alleged sign-stealing teams.
“It’s gotta come to an end unless it’s gonna be a disaster.” https://t.co/AWP2iW6gUu
— Alden González (@Alden_Gonzalez) January 13, 2020
First, Bellinger says that he and his teammates are just waiting to see the punishment that will be handed out from Major League Baseball. About a week ago, a report broke that ‘punishment was expected to be handed down within two weeks’.
“Honestly, we’re curious to see what happens,” Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger said Sunday. “It sucks, man. We were close, but we did it the right way.”
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It’s good to hear Bellinger say that he feels the Dodgers handled business with a bit of integrity. While they didn’t win a World Series Championship, he says they did things the honest way.
Furthermore, Bellinger feels that this is something that baseball has to handle. If not, it could be catastrophic for the sport.
“I think it’s gotta come to an end unless it’s gonna be a disaster. I think we have to do something about it.”
Finally, Bellinger alludes to the fact that the Dodgers came so close in back-to-back years. However, he says now there is no looking back; only moving forward.
“We could’ve won it if things could’ve gone our way,” Bellinger said of the 2017 and ’18 World Series. “But it is what it is, man. You really can’t look back on it anymore. We’ll see what happens, what Manfred wants to do. We’ll see.”
Already we can’t wait to see what Bellinger and the Dodgers do in 2020. Hopefully, all of this provides them with some added motivation to bring the first title back to Los Angeles since 1988.
NEXT: Cody Plays Softball for Charity
If it’s true that both the Astros and Red Sox cheated to win a championship, MLB should step and and show that cheating is not tolerated and strip them of the championship they got through cheating. Does a casino give a cheater their winnings, won because they cheated? No! The casino keeps the winnings AND the money the cheater used to bet with. It should be the same here. If you cheat to win, and you’re caught, you’re going to pay a very heavy penalty. not the least of which is losing the championship the got because you cheated.
Of course, baseball will never do that. But, it would be nice to see baseball stand up and make an example of them
Yeah, any fine by MLB won’t do much. Something that hurts like no draft picks or free agent signings for a year, something like that might have an effect.
Baseball is already so far from the game I knew as a youngster….. DH, zero pitch walks, time clock between pitches, etc. Now they’re talking about computerized balls and strikes.
It won’t take much more to completely wreck the game so the only thing that makes sense is in the player acquisition area.
IMHO anyway.
Hopefully Houston’s and Boston’s planes crash into each other then we don’t have to rely on Manfred who’ll do nothing but give a slap on the wrist
Don, this is what I posted in reply to Kirk about this punishment being handed down to the Astros:
Kirk, as I just said that punishment was weak IMHO. Astros are very lucky I am not the Commissioner. because not only would I have vacated their WS title but I would suspend any players involved besides the manager and GM, and I would have taken away ALL draft picks this year including the compensation pick for losing Cole to FA. Also all picks in June’s draft and also I would have taken away all the r international slot money for 2 years!
?
Exudes these teams many other teams were affected that lost in the playoffs both years like the Yankees and how about The Whole year or two or more? Did they only cheat for the playoffs he’ll no!
How can they say no p,Ayers were involved or be included, The players cheated , they weren’t just following the mgrs & bench coaches direction! Pete Rose still can’t get into the shall! He was certainly punished enough!
There are players and managers , dead beat dads , Steroid abusers all in the Hall of fame that went thru wife & girlfriend abuse & beatings! Today they severely punish the slightest infractions 80 days suspensions no pay minimum 80 days and more! Some of these wife beaters paid their spouses & girlfriends off big time to change their pleas! Like Football & Basketball are even worse! This cheating must stop & severe punishment taken, players included!
In addition to the above,
While I am glad to just read that both Hinch and GM Luhnow have been fired, i would have vacated the Astro’s WS title and made 2017 null and void of any winner. To me the punishment was not steep enough.
I was happy to hear the Houston Astros had fired both the field and general managers. The additional $5 million fine and the loss of their 2020 and 21 1st and 2nd round picks adds a possible additional impact moving forward. I admire Cody’s outlook in saying let’s move forward. I’m curious about what MLB finds out about the Red Sox and what their potential penalties will be.
I hope the investigation includes if the Astros & Red Sox were in ca-hoots, traded any pertinent info on how to do this electronic sign stealing.
Everyone directly involved should be suspended for 1 year minimum, World Series title stripped away, asterisk placed along side each team’s record for the year they cheated & for each players stats for the year.
Seems like I remember the Astros players boasting after game 7 of the 2017 World Series that Yu Darvish was tipping his pitches! Tipping? Probably not. Stolen? Most likely!!!
I feel bad for Kershaw and Darvish. The negative press they received for world series loss is undeserved. The wrist slap the Astros received is bad for baseball. Unfortunately, more cheating is going to happen with MLB’s decision.
I hadn’t thought about them but yes, it was a major slap in the face to those two. Remember how we wanted to run Darvish out of town on a rail even though we all liked him?
If MLB really wanted to put some teeth in this penalty everyone involved should just be flat banned for life. Cheating will continue and now be more sophisticated. A potential lifetime ban would maybe stop some of it…. maybe. There’s just too much money involved anymore.
They should also be fined any winnings they got for both playoffs and the WS.
As PaulDodgerFan1965 said, if I were the commissioner penalties would be exceedingly stiff. This type of behavior could potentially ruin the game entirely.
I’ve always admired the Dodger organization for the class and integrity they have shown. So very saddened to see those players who tried so admirably to win for not only LA but the franchise come up short over a rigged playing field. I would have liked to see something more than a Roger Maris asterisk next to those WS years for certain but what can you do. The punishment needs to drum all of them out of baseball forever, hell Rose can’t even get in to the hall of fame and they proved less about what he did than what Alex did. Cora has no place ever in baseball again a complete disgrace to the sport so anything short of total suspension and stripping him of his pension is a joke.
Honestly, baseball has to penalize the players or else the integrity of the game is in danger. Yes, the commissioner made took some action, but I feel its not enough.