Dallas Keuchel is no longer a member of the Houston Astros, but that didn’t stop media and fans from asking him about the sign-stealing scandal at SoxFest, the annual White Sox fan event.
“That’s a tough subject because it’s such a tight-knit community in the clubhouse,”said Keuchel on Mike Fiers coming clean and exposing the Astros.
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“It sucks to the extent of....the clubhouse rule was broken, and that’s where I’ll go with that,” Keuchel said. “I don’t really have much else to say about Mike.”
Keuchel apologized, but also insisted the Astros were not the only team to steal signs.
“There was probably six out of eight teams using multiple signs. It’s just what the state of baseball was at that point and time.... and was it against the rules? Yes it was, and I personally am sorry for what has come about the whole situation.”
And when asked if the Astros cheated every game?
“I could tell you, not every game there was signs being stolen,” he said. “Some guys did a really good job. Sometimes, we did, as a group, have signs, but we still couldn’t hit the pitcher. So, it wasn’t like every game we had everything going on. The whole system works a little bit, but at the same time, there is a human element."
Keuchel essentially became the first player from the World Series team to truly apologize, while explaining details of the grey areas that came with the territory. Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve dodged questions about the scandal at Astros FanFest.
“When stuff comes out over the course of a big-league ball season, it is always blown up to the point of ‘Oh my gosh this has never happened before.’”
So if other teams were stealing signs, will that information come out?
“I don’t think anyone else from the other teams will come out and say something.. they’ve seen what happens now," said Keuchel.