Kansas City Royals: Whit Merrifield has every right to be mad at Astros

Houston Astros owner Jim Crane made an attempt to do damage control in the wake of his team’s sign stealing scandal. His attempt at an “apology” was hands down a disgrace and borderline hard to watch without being a bit angry.

Later on, Kansas City Royals utility man Whit Merrifield was questioned about the scandal and he addressed it only a way that someone who respects the game should; The All-Star second basemen ripped the Astros on MLB Network and he had every right to.

Jim Crane opened his mouth with the proclamation that their actions “didn’t impact the game, we had a good team, we won the World Series and we’ll leave it at that”. He also stated he shouldn’t be held accountable for the organization that he runs. Jeff Passan went so far as to say his words served as a “spade, digging a hole from which he couldn’t rescue himself”.

Who was he kidding with those comments? How is that not impacting the game?

Crane went on the record minutes after those comments to then say “I didn’t say it didn’t impact the game.” Well yes you did Mr. Crane! Even your own players have said it was an advantage.

Luckily there is a guy who plays for the Royals who stepped up and made some comments. Whit Merrifield has earned the right to be critical of the Astros players and the franchise. After all – he was snubbed by not being placed on the 2018 All-Star game, all because Jose Altuve took his spot and a silver slugger award by cheating that season.

Merrifield stated their actions were worse than the use of steroids. He broke it down into direct and indirect means of cheating in the world of baseball. He said that steroids “put your body in a better position to out and play the game”. This is in hopes of that is would turn you into a better player.

The sign stealing using the trash can bang, electronic buzzer, whistle and others means we’ll never hear about is a direct approach to cheating. According to Merrifield, it “directly affected that they had an advantage over everybody else”. It directly impacted the game in his opinion and it discredits everything the Astros have accomplished over the past few seasons.