How deep has the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing endeavor affected Major League Baseball? The rippling effects are endless, it seems. The New York Mets’ 2020 season has already been disrupted as their newly hired manager, Carlos Beltran, was let go after being identified as the ‘Godfather’ of the scheme.
The Met shave replaced Beltran with Luis Rojas, an up-and-coming managerial candidate but not the one they had hoped to compete with this season and beyond.
But there are others who have felt the sting of the cheating scandal. Mets’ reliever Seth Lugo claims that the Astros scam during a game in 2017 cost him a potential role in the Mets’ 2018 starting rotation.
Lugo’s cameo in this saga came on Sept. 2, 2017, in the second game of a doubleheader in Houston. As the Mets limped to the end of a losing season, Lugo was in the rotation, a de facto audition for 2018 — invaluable reps for a second-year player trying to establish himself in the majors.
For five innings, Lugo managed to shut out the Astros, scattering five hits and a walk. Then came the bottom of the sixth: single, walk, single, single. Just like that, one of the best starts of Lugo’s young career was over after 75 pitches.
“I remember pitching really good the first half of the game, and then I don’t know why, they knocked me out of the game in one inning,†Lugo said. “I pitched that inning. I was making good pitches. And when you execute a pitch, you shouldn’t give up good hits. Maybe a little bloop or a ground ball up the middle or something. But their whole approach changed.â€
Hansel Robles entered and allowed both inherited runners to score, including one on a sacrifice fly by J.D. Davis, now with the Mets. Lugo’s final line wasn’t pretty: five innings, eight hits, four runs (all earned), two walks, six strikeouts.
The next spring, Lugo was back in contention for a starting role, but the dearth of effective pitchers in the bullpen forced the Mets’ hand and Lugo was banished. He appeared in 54 games in 2018 but started only five. In 2019, Lugo was used strictly as a bullpen option, pitching 80 innings over 61 appearances.
He is no longer in their plans as a starter. Lugo can only watch as the Mets traded for Marcus Stroman last summer and signed Michael Wacha and Rick Porcello this winter to seal the back end of their rotation.
“It doesn’t feel good thinking about the Astros situation, but it’s in the past, honestly,†Lugo said. “If I could’ve finished a shutout against the Astros that game…who knows where I could be?â€
True. Just one of the many side stories of this devastating saga that has altered the game of baseball for the foreseeable future and perhaps beyond.