Astros’ strongest buzzer denial doesn’t come from Jose Altuve

At least one player on the Astros was willing to risk whatever remains of his reputation.

While most teammates shared few details regarding Houston’s sign-stealing scheme during the team’s first media availability this season, Carlos Correa strongly denied reports that the Astros ever wore electronic devices.

“That’s a lie. Nobody wore buzzers. Nobody wore devices. That story should be killed already,” Correa told reporters in West Palm Beach, Fla.

“We know for sure, for a fact, 100 percent, as a team … If I’m lying here, I’ll lose credibility if something like that comes out and that’s not what I want to do. I want to speak the truth. It’s just straight-up false. Nobody wore anything. In 2018, nothing. 2019, nothing. 2017, nobody wore devices either.”

Jose Altuve was given the opportunity to share his side of the story, to strongly deny reports he wore a buzzer when he hit the pennant-winning home run against the Yankees in October. Instead, he leaned on the findings of the commissioner’s report, which found no evidence the Astros wore electronic devices.

“MLB did their investigation and they didn’t find anything,” Altuve said. “They found what they found in 2017, a really good investigation obviously. They did an investigation on the buzzer and didn’t find anything. When you say you don’t believe that I didn’t have a buzzer, you don’t believe what MLB investigated.”

Even without the aid of buzzers, Correa couldn’t defend the team’s actions during their World Series title run.

“There’s no excuse. We were wrong for everything we did in 2017,” Correa said. “It’s not what we stand for and it’s not what we want to portray as an organization. We feel really sorry. We affected careers. We affected the game in some way. It was just bad.”

Justin Verlander, who was traded to Houston near the end of the 2017 season, shared regret, too.

“I wish I had said more,” Verlander said. “I can’t go back. I can’t reverse my decision. For that I’m sorry.”

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