The Houston Astros are now facing even more criticism for their sign-stealing scandal after their latest attempt at damage control did everything but that. Owner Jim Crane spent 27 minutes of a news conference flip-flopping points and arguments about the claim that his team cheated during their 2017 championship season.
One of the more concerning moments in the apology was when Crane contradicted himself within a span of 60 seconds.
“Our opinion is that this didn’t impact the game.” he said with a straight face.
When pressed further on what he meant, Crane said, “I didn’t say it didn’t impact the game.”
In attempts to clean up the intended apology, Crane sought further explanations and solutions.
“I’ll make sure I have someone that’s accountable moving forward and will be checking constantly,” he said. “We’ll have controls in place to make sure it doesn’t happen again. And again, if I’d have known about it, I’d have done something about it. But I’m not in the locker room. I’m not down in the dugout. So it was very difficult, and I didn’t know about it until November, just like you guys.”
Star players Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve spoke for a combined 90 seconds.
Bregman did not take questions, but expressed his regret and apologized for the choices he and his teammates made.
Altuve spoke for about 38 seconds and although an apology was there, some have expressed the lack of sincerity as empty.
The entire team met Wednesday night to discuss their message to the media and many players have spoken to express their remorse.
“That was the first time we’ve all been together since the season ended,” outfielder George Springer said. “It was a productive meeting. The amount of remorse and regret was very obvious to us… There is no real way to express how much regret we have, how much remorse we have.”
Crane added that he doesn’t think he should be held accountable and said, “I don’t feel it’s necessary to reach out specifically to the Dodgers.”
