Astros’ Dusty Baker begs MLB to protect players from cheating retaliation

Interim Astros manager Dusty Baker is pleading MLB to protect his team from beanballs and other forms of retaliation this season, in wake of the team’s cheating scandal.

“I’m depending on the league to try to put a stop to this seemingly premeditated retaliation that I’m hearing about,” Baker told reporters Saturday. “And in most instances in life, you get kind of reprimanded when you have premeditated anything. I’m just hoping that the league puts a stop to this before somebody gets hurt.”

Baker, the 70-year-old baseball lifer, was named interim manager after Houston fired A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow. Both were suspended one year each by commissioner Rob Manfred after MLB confirmed Houston electronically stole opponents’ signs during the 2017 championship season and parts of 2018.

No players were penalized for their roles in the scandal, though former designated hitter Carlos Beltran was implicated in the commissioner’s report, leading to his firing as Mets manager two months after taking the job.

It was expected pitchers would intentionally throw at Astros batters this season as payback not only for the cheating, but also for what many around baseball have labeled weak apologies from members of the Astros since the scandal became public.

Asked this week whether he would throw at an Astros player, Dodgers pitcher Ross Stripling told reporters, “I would lean towards yes. In the right time and the right place.”

Even Yankees GM Brian Cashman clapped back at Houston owner Jim Crane, who said this week that the sign-stealing program “didn’t impact the game.” The Astros beat the Yankees in the ’17 ALCS en route to beating Stripling’s Dodgers in the World Series.

“I definitely think it had an effect on things, without question,” Cashman said Friday at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa Bay, Fla. “Certainly the Houston Astros were dealing with a distinct advantage more so than their opponents. That’s a fact. I don’t think anybody can disagree with that, even though they may try.”

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