On Thursday night, Joe Torre was in attendance for his Safe At Home annual gala.
The former Yankees and Mets manager, and now Chief Baseball Officer for all of Major League Baseball, was asked to weigh in on the current sign-stealing accusations against the Astros, and while Torre oversees league operations and on-field discipline, he said that this topic doesn't fall under his umbrella.
"That's the other side of the office, and I'm not copping a plea, but it's disturbing to me," Torre said. "I don't think there's any secret. Sign-stealing has always been a part of our game, but in the legitimate way. If you're at second base and you see something the catcher's doing, you try to let the hitter know."
"But to use the technology, which you can't get away from, to get a leg up, I always want the ability on the field to determine who the winner is. I just don't think it's a level playing field and it's not good for our game."
The Astros have had accusations of sign-stealing multiple times over the past few seasons, but now former players like Mike Fiers have confirmed that the team is using technology, including cameras in center field, to tip off batters of what pitches are coming their way.
Reports surfaced during this past October during the ALCS against the Yankees that the Astros were stealing signs, much to the outrage of the Yankees' dugout. Manager AJ Hinch spoke out on the accusations during the series, calling them "a joke."
"We talked about this the other day, and in reality, it's a joke, but Major League Baseball does a lot to ensure the fairness of the game," Hinch said at the time. "There's people everywhere, if you go through the dugouts and the clubhouses and the hallways, there's like so many people around that are doing this. Then when I get contacted about some questions about whistling, it made me laugh because it's ridiculous. Had I known that it would take something like that to set off the Yankees or any other team, we would have practiced it in spring training, because apparently it works even when it doesn't happen."
SNY's Andy Martino has reported that although Major League Baseball will interview Carlos Beltran and Alex Cora about sign-stealing allegations involving the Astros, since both were on the team in 2017, the league does not have either accusations or evidence that would point to severe discipline for either.