The Houston Astros' Apologies Are Weak, But the Damage Was Always Irreparable
By Kyle Koster
The Houston Astros have finally formally addressed the cheating scandal that's rocked baseball in person. Jim Crane, Alex Bregman, and Jose Altuve shuffled up to microphones to give brief and insincere apologies in the hopes this will all go away. It was the type of weak crisis response we've come to expect and, really, largely accept in sports.
Bregman and Altuve in particular seemed concerned about exceeding a word limit and kept things neat, tidy, and vacuous.
Crane continues to proudly skirt responsibility and deny the reality that cheating was a huge factor in the Astros' success.
Not surprisingly, Jim Crane agrees with MLB’s decision not to punish him. “Clearly, the report states I didn’t know about it.... I don’t feel I should be held accountable.”
— Gabe Lacques (@GabeLacques) February 13, 2020
Jim Crane: “Our opinion is this didn’t impact the game. We had a good team. We won the World Series and we’ll leave it at that.”
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) February 13, 2020
It was tough to make this whole mess worse, yet the Astros somehow succeeded. One wonders why Crane even bothered to say anything if this is how he was going to say it. One wonders if Bregman and Altuve going through the motions without any human emotion will satisfying anyone.
But here's the question we should be asking. Is there anything this trio of contrition could have done to fix the situation? Whose mind is being changed with even a real apology? Outside of checking off a box, what's the practical import of this morning's press conference?
The damage is already done. It isn't repairable. This isn't an episode of Lost. The past can't be changed. The sorries can be stuffed in a sack, packed next to an ill-gotten trophy.
Giant waste of time and energy all-around, so in a way, it's refreshing to see the Astros not expend much of either trying to sell it.