Joe Girardi Seemingly Admits To Yankees Sign Stealing
Joe Girardi seemingly admitted to Yankees sign stealing in a newly-surfaced video that has gone viral over the past week.
In the clip, Girardi can be heard apparently describing the process of stolen signs being delivered to batters.
“I was part of a system where [the signs] came from upstairs, to someone in the dugout, to the guy at second base,” he said in the video.
— Joshstros (@Joshstros) February 19, 2020
Girardi, for his part, says what he is trying to say in the video is obvious – and that it is not particularly controversial.
“If people listen to the whole video, you can put 2 and 2 together and know what I’m talking about,” he said this week. “We caught them.”
Caught who, precisely?
“Put 2 and 2 together,” he replied.
The topic of sign stealing and cheating has been at the forefront of all baseball conversations as of late following the revelation that the Houston Astros cheated their way to a 2017 World Series.
Although commissioner Rob Manfred and his office confirmed Houston’s illicit practices, the team’s championship has yet to be vacated.
This past week, Girardi did an interview where he was asked about whether the commissioner handled the cheating scandal correctly.
“If there’s no punishment for them, I’m not sure that it stops.”
– Joe Girardi on not punishing the Astros players… pic.twitter.com/Vjw8YkG0VV
— Golic and Wingo (@GolicAndWingo) February 19, 2020
“There are some people that lost their jobs that really were the people that had to pay for it, but there were a lot more people involved,” Girardi said.
“The financial gain for the players is substantial if they have big seasons because of this, so if there’s no punishment for them, I’m not sure that it stops.
“I’m really not sure. Because the financial gain, similar to the steroid era, is very similar. If you know it’s coming and you have a big year and you’re a free agent, there’s a lot (of money) to be made there and players want to take care of their families,” he continued.
“I’m not exactly sure what the right answer is, but I don’t know how much of a deterrent it is for players right now.
“There’s not a huge deterrent for the players and I think there has to be to make sure that it stops.”
People will likely continue digging into Girardi’s comments for a little while longer, but is unlikely that any negative consequences will come from them.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
