Outspoken Cincinnati Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer didn't mince words when asked his opinion Friday about the Houston Astros' sign-stealing scandal.
"I'm not going to let them forget the fact that they are hypocrites, they are cheaters, they've stolen from a lot of other people and the game itself," Bauer told reporters at Reds spring training camp in Goodyear, Arizona.
Bauer's impassioned response was part of a more than eight-minute monologue to a question asking why he felt it was important to speak out.
The fallout from the Astros' scheme, in which they used live video to capture catchers' signs and signaled upcoming pitches to batters by banging on a trash can in real time en route to a 2017 World Series title, was a key topic as training camps opened this week. Seemingly everyone has been asked for an opinion on the severity of the actions and how Houston has handled the self-made crisis.
Bauer was among those to take a less-diplomatic approach.
"What did you expect from them?" he said. "The entire time they had been super dismissive, and it's very obvious that they don't think it affected the game. They feel like they were in the right."
Bauer has previously addressed his thoughts on what the Astros did, including writing in The Players' Tribune earlier this month that he thought the actions were akin to the 1919 Black Sox scandal.
The Astros and Bauer have been antagonists for years, ever since the then-Cleveland Indians pitcher suggested that Houston pitchers were doing something illegal to improve the spin rate of their pitches.
"They mocked everything about everyone who said they were doing something under the table or illegal or whatever," Bauer told reporters. "Cheating is one thing -- it's not OK -- but at least if you cheat and you come out and you get caught and you're like, 'Look, I did this and it wasn't right. This is why I did it. I'm not going to do it again, I learned my lesson.'
"Whatever, you can be contrite about it, speak honestly about it, but even now, we don't even have a freakin' apology that means anything from any of them."
In his response, Bauer also explained why it mattered for him and others to openly address what the Astros did.
"I'm probably going to get myself in trouble for saying all of this different stuff, but it's how I feel," he said. "I think it's important to stand up and say something because I'm not afraid of the backlash. ... We're all pissed. If no one ever comes out and says anything, then nothing gets done."