Over the years, it seems like bad things have always happened to the Blue Jays at Tropicana Field, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays. No matter how good the Blue Jays are, things rarely go their way, even in seasons when the Rays have been pretty bad.
John Gibbons has called the Trop a “house of horrors.” The Blue Jays once spent seven years between series victories at St. Pete, while making three trips there each season.
However, none of the horror stories had involved spying. Until Monday night.
In the sixth inning of this final series opener, the Rays’ Kevin Kiermaier was eliminated at the plate. When Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk reached out to touch him, a folded sheet of paper detached from Kirk’s wristband and basically fell into Kiermaier’s lap. The Rays center fielder took it, walked to the dugout, and handed it to one of his coaches.
In a Tuesday chat with Sportsnet’s Arash Madani, Kiermaier gave his side of the story.
“I picked it up,” Kiermaier told Madani. “I didn’t know what it was, if it was mine or not, they all look quite alike. Then when I picked it up, I realized (what it was) … I wasn’t going to return it or return it. “
The sheet contained the Blue Jays’ game plan for pitching the Tampa Bay hitters, and they were understandably quite upset about losing it.
But the thing is, if you have documents that contain sensitive information, you’re just looking for trouble if you take them out into the field with you. This is why a quarterback does not bring their playbook to the group, why basketball coaches do not delay the play they had drawn up on the bench during a time out once play resumes to show the players in court.
That’s why catchers signal the pitcher instead of just yelling “Throw a curveball!”
In today’s major league baseball, everyone has a laminated card filled with information. Pitchers keep them under their caps, put players in their back pockets, catchers on their wrists. It is not that the modern player is not able to remember things like the players of years gone by. It’s just that there are too many things to keep track of right now, so they need help. Just another example of each team trying to find the smallest marginal advantage that they think can help them win a game.
However, taking those cards out onto the field with you gives them a chance to get lost.
It’s not like Kiermaier grabbed Kirk’s bracelet as he slid around, trying to pull out the data sheet, or, shall we say, grabbed the third baseman’s pocket as he ran alongside him. The sheet floated to the floor, Kirk didn’t notice and Kiermaier took it.
It’s similar to a quarterback not realizing that he dropped his playbook at the 55-yard line when the opposition goes out to practice. If you don’t want important information stolen, take better care of it. At the very least, encrypt it so that only those of you who know how to crack the code can figure out what it says.
Some would suggest that this situation is similar to the Houston Astros’ signal stealing scheme of 2017 that allowed them to cheat their way to a World Series championship, but that’s like comparing driving at 38 mph in a zone. 60 km / h. drive 130.
The Astros put together an elaborate scheme, using hidden video cameras and watching the monitors broadcast deep in the tunnel between the dugout and the clubhouse to feed hitters with real-time pitching information. Kiermaier picked up a piece of paper that fell into his lap and instead of saying “Hey, you dropped this,” he carried it to the dugout.
Was it the morally right thing to do? No. Everyone knows that they should not take things that do not belong to them.
Was Kiermaier completely full of shit when he told Madani he didn’t know what it was when he picked it up? More than likely.
Would every member of the Blue Jays, or any other team, have done the exact same thing in that situation? Absolutely.
The good news is that while the Rays may have access to the Jays’ state secrets, those are probably not their secrets anymore. The Blue Jays had plenty of time to change their game plan to deal with the Tampa Bay hitters before Tuesday night’s game. They could also have changed their signs or sequencing or whatever else was on that sheet.
If there was any advice for Kirk on hitting tendencies, well, it’s not like a hitter who has home straight issues doesn’t know he has home straight issues.
As easy as it would be to say that the answer to all of this is to go back to the old days, when receivers had to rely on their memories with the occasional nudge from the dugout, we know that’s not happening. Folders full of data will not disappear anytime soon, and the more information that is available to players, the better prepared they will be.
The solution, other than Krazy Stick the info sheet to a player’s wrist instead of using Velcro, which really doesn’t seem feasible, is to disguise it the same way a catcher disguises the signs shown to a pitcher. . Encrypt your data so that even if it falls into the wrong hands, you don’t know what it says or means.
Baseball in the 21st century is no longer “Moneyball.” It’s “Spy Game”.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Anyone can read Conversations, but to contribute, you must be a registered Torstar account holder. If you don’t have a Torstar account yet, you can create one now (it’s free)
Reference-www.thestar.com