White Sox pitcher Dallas Keuchel, who won a World Series and earned an All-Star selection with the Houston Astros in 2017, offered a half-hearted apology for the team’s massive cheating scandal – but also hinted that the Astros were only doing what was customary across the league at the time. Keuchel addressed the media at a White Sox event on Friday and downplayed the Astros’ sign stealing, saying it was “it was never intended to be what it’s made to be” now – that the team has been caught and both the GM and manager have been fired.
According to Keuchel, the actions the Astros took were simply in line with “the state of baseball.”
“When there’s nobody on base, when in the history of Major League Baseball has there been multiple signs? You can go back and watch film of every team in the playoffs, there were probably six of eight teams using multiple signs. It’s just what the state of baseball was at that point in time. Was it against the rules? Yes it was. And I personally am sorry for what’s come about the whole situation. It is what it is and we’ve got to move past that. I never thought anything would have come like it did. I, myself, am sorry, but it’s we’ve just got to move on.”
Keuchel also claimed that the Astros weren’t always effective at the plate even when stealing signs, and there were some pitchers over the course of the year that the team couldn’t hit anyway. He confusingly described the system as something that “really works,” but only “a little bit.”
“So at that point that’s when the whole system, it really works, a little bit, but at the same time, there was a human element where some guys were better than our hitters.”
Keuchel also made it clear that he doesn’t approve of former Astros pitcher Mike Fiers acting as a whistleblower, citing the sanctity of the clubhouse.
Many baseball fans aren’t buying Keuchel’s attempt at an apology.
