Astros Won’t Get Benefit of the Doubt, Happ the Golfer, and Other Cubs Bullets

The thermostat – really, the whole heating system – in our house is not great. The interface is so old and clunky, and completely not intuitive. It does not read your clicks well, and, worst of all, it seems to have a mind of its own when it comes to scheduled temperature changes in the house.

For the last couple weeks in this cold snap, when I would find that the temperature setting had changed dramatically overnight, I wasn’t necessarily shocked, although I was annoyed. The ghost in the machine and all that. But the last few times it has happened, the way the temperature had changed was even whackier – the temp had been cranked way too far up, and then specifically selected to hold on that temperature. I knew that the device was effed, and we had an expensive problem on our hands.

So, I’m telling The Wife all about it this morning, perturbed and explaining how something was seriously wrong this time, because the temperature is cranking way up and then somehow being instructed (by itself?) to hold at that temperature. I’m starting to ruminate openly about what we need to do, because this is a serious problem and we’ve gotta get this fixed before we get too deep into winter and so on … when a small voice pipes up in the background.

It was The Littlest Girl, looking sheepishly at the two of us from beneath a blanket, and eyeing over toward the thermostat.

“Oh. I was cold.”

To be sure, THE WIFE doesn’t even know exactly how to change the settings on this thing, and The Little Girl, it turns out, had been getting up early in the morning to adjust the temperature to suit her fancy. And her fancy was “extremely hot.” Kids.

OK, sports …

If you missed the latest bombshell last night, the Astros were so ingrained in stealing signs that they actually had an exec instructing scouts in an email to figure out the best ways they could steal signs (including cameras) going forward. Now Jeff Passan reports that the executive at issue was Kevin Goldstein, who joined the Astros from BP as one of Jeff Luhnow’s first hires as GM:

In the first link of the Astros' front office to the sign-stealing scandal, Kevin Goldstein, a special assistant to Houston GM Jeff Luhnow, suggested in an email scouts spy on dugouts before the playoffs — and potentially use cameras to get signs. News: https://t.co/fmr3kB1KhQ

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 17, 2019

Given how brazen the Astros apparently were about all of this, it’s really galling that it’s taken more than two years for this conversation to spill into the open. Not only does this, in isolation, taint what the Astros have accomplished, but it makes you wonder just how far they were willing to go in other areas. I’m immediately thinking about the huge spikes in spin rate and velocity pitchers see upon joining their org, I’m thinking about several of their pitching prospects getting popped for PEDs, and I’m thinking about the reports of the work they did to try to figure out when pitchers are tipping pitches (which is not illegal at all, but now I’m suspicious as to the lengths they went to accomplish it). Why would you give the Astros the benefit of the doubt on any of this now?

As for the punishment, Rob Manfred told Yahoo that the focus has to be in preserving trust among the fans: “Fans are always the first thing in the front of our minds. And when we discipline in a situation like this, we discipline with a view towards it having a prophylactic effect on the behavior going forward, so that we maintain the trust of our fans.” In other words, the league needs to hammer the Astros so that teams know this shit cannot continue, and fans (and the future gambling public, I would add) know they can trust that teams aren’t cheating.

I laughed:

AN ASTROS SCOUT: the Dodgers are a strong team

JEFF LUHNOW: then I will have to do a crime

SCOUT: I mean we have a good team too

LUHNOW: a crime I shall do

SCOUT: let’s just play the games and see what happens

LUHNOW: crime time

— Mike Gianella (@MikeGianella) November 17, 2019

Ian Happ is a pretty good golfer, it turns out:

Right in the mix! Big push for Sunday https://t.co/5t9nht4tJm

— Ian Happ (@ihapp_1) November 17, 2019

But his Iowa Cubs mates are still gonna give him grief:

Maybe with the wind behind him

— Duncan Robinson (@Duncan_Robiso) November 17, 2019

Christmas lights, cookbooks, vacuums, and much more are your Deals of the Day at Amazon today. #ad

Javy would never:

tired: stealing signs

wired: stealing home pic.twitter.com/2OMCRZRb8A

— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) November 17, 2019

Watched Episode 2 yesterday also, and I am very hooked on this show:

Got to watch Ep. 1 of Mandalorian last night – definitely as good as people've said. Felt very "in the Star Wars world," high production value for TV. Lots of questions. Interesting characters. Hooked.

Sign up for Disney+ here & support BN in the process: https://t.co/lxPMIH3tjp pic.twitter.com/ERgHnDixVZ

— Brett Taylor (@Brett_A_Taylor) November 16, 2019