CHICAGO — Houston Astros owner Jim Crane doesn’t want to hear Brian Cashman complain about the Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal anymore — and he has an odd reason why.
Earlier this spring, Cashman told The Athletic “the only thing that stopped us [in 2017] was something that was so illegal and horrific. … The only thing that derailed us was a cheating circumstance that threw us off.”
Crane told USA Today he disapproved of Cashman still criticizing the World Series-winning Astros team that used an illegal sign-stealing scheme during their championship run because the Yankees were found to have made transgressions in previous years.
“I found his comments to be extremely strange,’’ Crane told USA Today in a story published Wednesday. “There’s the letter, and you were doing it, too. You were there, dude. What are you talking about?”
Asked about Crane’s reaction on Thursday before the Yankees faced the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field, Cashman shot back at Crane.
“I don’t think anybody’s gonna dance to the tune he’s singing, to be quite honest,’’ Cashman said. “I’d say it’s called deflection, him trying to equate probably the equivalent of a parking ticket to maybe 162 felonies. I don’t think anybody’s gonna buy into that stuff.”
“The letter” Crane was referring to is the one MLB commissioner Rob Manfred sent to Cashman in 2017 which said the Yankees used their video replay room to decode signs and then relayed that information to the dugout.
Additionally, the letter laid out that when the Yankees were in certain road stadiums — where the video room was not close to the dugout — they also used the phone in the replay room “to provide real-time information” on their opponent’s signs to coaches on the bench.
The transgressions occurred during 2015 and the first half of the 2016 season, according to the letter, which was dated Sept. 14, 2017. And the Yankees were fined $100,000.
Cashman noted Thursday the difference in penalties between the two teams.
The Yankees were fined $100,000, while the Astros were hit with a $5 million fine — the maximum allowed by MLB — and lost their first- and second-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021.
General manager Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch were also suspended by the league for all of the 2020 season and, as Cashman pointed out, the Astros also fired Luhnow and Hinch.
The letter Crane referred to was recently unsealed after the Yankees spent nearly two years trying to keep its contents private, since it was a confidential letter that only came to light due to a dismissed lawsuit involving the Astros and Red Sox.
A day after writing the letter, Manfred established that future sign-stealing schemes would be met with harsher punishment, which was the case for the Astros’ infamous sign-stealing scheme that spanned from 2017-18 and included the use of technology and banging trash cans.
“If I was one of the teams, and I knew our team was doing it, I’d keep my mouth shut and just go about our business,’’ Crane said. “But listen, I can only control what’s going on here. I can’t control what the other guys do.’’
A day after the White Sox and Guardians had to postpone their game at Guaranteed Rate Field due to a COVID outbreak among the Cleveland coaching staff, the visiting clubhouse underwent a deep clean prior to the Yankees’ arrival. Additionally, the Yankees brought some of their own clubhouse attendants in case of any close contacts among the White Sox visiting clubbies.
Gleyber Torres started the game on the bench after driving in all five Yankee runs on Wednesday and still made his presence felt in Thursday’s 15-7 win over the White Sox. He drew a pinch-hit walk off Joe Kelly to extend the eighth inning, when the Yankees went on to score seven runs.
Aaron Boone called it “the at-bat of the game.”
Torres wasn’t done, as he was able to score from second on Aaron Judge’s infield hit that gave the Yankees the lead later in the inning.
“That was an unreal at-bat,” said Giancarlo Stanton.
The Yankees signed veteran righty Danny Salazar to a minor-league deal.