Oakland Athletics pitcher Mike Fiers, the whistleblower whose revelations about the Astros’ illegal sign-stealing rocked the sport, on Friday made his first public appearance since three managers and one general manager lost their jobs amid the scandal.
But the former Astros hurler doesn’t appear ready to discuss the fallout of his comments to The Athletic in November, which revealed Houston used a camera in center field to decipher opponents’ signs and gain an advantage while batting. It is against MLB rules for teams to steal signs electronically.
“I don’t want this to be a distraction to them (the Athletics), I want them to be ready for the season,” Fiers told reporters ahead of a fan event. “For me, it’s all about getting ready for the season, playing baseball and not being a distraction to this team.”
Fiers said he only would answer questions about the upcoming season and his current team.
While the Astros were long-suspected of cheating within baseball circles before Fiers went public, it was the 34-year-old’s comments that sparked public outrage and launched an investigation by MLB, which confirmed Houston cheated when they won the World Series in 2017 and in parts of 2018.
Commissioner Rob Mangred suspended Houston manager A.J. Hinch and GM Jeff Luhnow for one season, and both subsequently were fired. Houston was fined $5 million and stripped of their next two first- and second-round picks. Red Sox manager Alex Cora also was fired, as he was the Astros bench coach in 2017 and was found to have helped develop the scheme. Mets manager Carlos Beltran, on the job for all of three months, also was fired after being the only former player to be implicated in the report.
Fiers played for Houston from 2015-17, and his outing of the Astros has been applauded by many but criticized by others, such as legendary pitcher Pedro Martinez.
“If he was to do it when he was playing for the Houston Astros, I would say Mike Fiers has guts,” Martinez said this week. “But to go and do it after you leave the Houston Astros because they don’t have you anymore, that doesn’t show me anything. You’re just a bad teammate.”
Fiers’ current manager, Bob Melvin, came to his player’s defense.
“A lot was reported to the league, but it’s tough to get something done unless a player that was there comes out and says something. It wasn’t going to go down any other way,” Melvin said. “And this is significant enough that it needed to be addressed. And as time goes on, he’ll be revered for doing this, for making the game a better place.
A pair of Astros superstars, Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman, last week declined to apologize for their club’s cheating.
