“It’s pretty evident to me that it wasn’t earned,” Justin Turner said to reporters about the Astros’ 2017 World Series title. “It’s not something that a banner should be hung in their stadium, a trophy should be put up wherever their trophies go. They shouldn’t have a ring.”
Turner didn’t hold back on Monday morning at Camelback Ranch when speaking to reporters about the Astros cheating scandal.
Last week, we saw how vocal Cody Bellinger was when he was asked to give his thoughts on the situation. Today it was Turner’s turn to speak, clearly showing how frustrated he was with not only what the Astros did, but also with how MLB commissioner Rob Manfred handled the situation.
Justin Turner on Rob Manfred’s handling of the #Astros scandal: “He set a weak precedent.”
— Jorge Castillo (@jorgecastillo) February 17, 2020
On Sunday, Manfred held a press conference in which he discussed the Houston cheating scandal. Obviously, it didn’t sit well with players. According to Jorge Castillo of the LA Times, here’s what else Turner had to say.
“It all comes down to everyone keeps saying, ‘The facts, the facts. You don’t know the facts.’ ... I don’t think anyone knows the facts. I think everyone just wants to hear all the facts. And I think that the commissioner didn’t do a good job of revealing all the facts.”
In didn’t stop there. Here’s what else he had to say, according to Bill Plunkett of the OC Register.
The more that comes out and the more that’s been said the more frustrating it gets for us. ... It’s snowballing. I think it’s pretty obvious whatever the commissioner thought he did, he didn’t do it very well.
Listening to the commissioner’s interview yesterday talking about precedent, talking about there’s never been a precedent — that’s because it’s never happened before. It’s the first time in the game to my knowledge that this happened and he just set the precedent. He set a weak precedent. So now anyone who goes forward and cheats to win a World Series they can live with themselves knowing that, ‘Oh, it’s okay.’ We’ll cheat to win a World Series and bring the title back to LA and screw Dave Roberts and screw Andrew (Friedman) it’s just those guys losing their job. I still get to be called a champion the rest of my life. The precedent was set by him in this case and it was, as Cody said, a pretty weak precedent.
He was also upset at Manfred referring to the World Series trophy as just a ‘piece of metal’.
I don’t know if the commissioner has won anything in his life. Maybe he hasn’t. But the reason every guy in this room is working out all offseason and showing up to camp early and putting in all the time and effort is specifically for that trophy — which is, by the way, called the Commissioner’s Trophy. For him to devalue it, the way he did yesterday just tells me how out of touch he is with the players in this game. At this point, the only thing devaluing that trophy is that it says ‘Commissioner’ on it.
Speaking of Bellinger, here’s what he had to say following Carlos Correa’s rant from this weekend.
Cody Bellinger's response to Carlos Correa this morning:
— David Vassegh (@THEREAL_DV) February 17, 2020
"I said what was on my mind and that's how I feel and I don't regret anything I said." #Dodgers #Astros