Former Yankees star Mark Teixeira on Monday called out Red Sox legends David Ortiz and Pedro Martinez after the two ripped Athletics pitcher Mike Fiers for exposing the Astros’ cheating ways.
In two separate interviews in the last few weeks, Ortiz labeled Fiers a “snitch,” while his former teammate Martinez said the former Houston righty was a “bad teammate” for waiting two years after he left the organization to come forward with what has become the biggest baseball story of the offseason.
“I just think there are very few people out there that really even use the word snitch or rat anymore anyway,” Teixeira said on ESPN. “This isn’t ‘Goodfellas.’ This is the real world. In the real world, you want bad things brought to light. You don’t want people cheating.”
For the most part, Fiers has been praised for blowing the whistle on the Astros, who were long suspected in baseball circles of cheating.
Teixeira retired a season before Houston began illegally stealing opponents’ signs in 2017, when the Astros beat the Yankees in the ALCS on their way to winning the World Series.
“Players that are clean, whether they are in the steroid era or anybody that wasn’t on the Astros, they want these guys outed, they want the Astros punished,” Teixeira said. “So for David Ortiz and Pedro Martinez or anybody, it’s interesting it’s two [ex-]Boston players and Boston is part of this investigation as well, so I think there’s some meaning behind what the two Red Sox players are saying.”
There also is the 2009 New York Times report, which said Ortiz was one of 104 players who tested positive for PEDs in 2003. The slugger never was punished as the test was administered one year before MLB implemented a new drug-testing program, and Ortiz repeatedly has denied cheating.
Nowadays, Ortiz and Hall of Famer Martinez are both special assistants for the Red Sox, who currently are awaiting commissioner Rob Manfred’s report on allegations that the 2018 champions also illegally stole signs.
But the lack of a whistleblower in the Red Sox case could make it difficult for MLB to levy similar punishments to what Houston faced.
In addition to the team losing draft picks and being fined $5 million, the league suspended Astros manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow for one year each, and Houston subsequently fired both.