Why Jose Altuve NEVER Deserved As Much Hate For The Astros Cheating Scandal

something that I feel like many people including me didn't know or realize was the fact that Jose Altuve was just 10 months away from free agency their current contract he was on with the Astros expires after this upcoming 2024 season I feel like most of us didn't realize this because the thought of Jose Altuve on another team sounds absurd it's just not going to happen and in the most non- shocking fashion ever Altuve just agreed to a contract extension with Houston for 5 years worth $125 million it doesn't include 2024 it starts in 2025 so Altuve will be 39 when the extension ends which will also likely be the end of his career or at least extremely close to it Jose Altuve is and has always been bound to be an astro for his entire career one that will likely end up getting Jose inducted into the Hall of Fame and it really is special to see what the little man has been able to do all these years altu was first called up to the big leagues during the Astros abysmal 2011 season where they were in the middle of a dreadful rebuild and according to Altuve the Astros told him that being the team's second baseman would only be temporary until they found another second baseman ski ah had eight All-Star appearances three batting titles six silver Sluggers an MVP award and two championships later all in the span of 13 years and yeah Jose altu is still playing second base with the Houston Astros it's been a successful ride up until this point and although that is true altu unfortunately got caught up in and was a part of one of the biggest scandals in baseball history and sports history actually well he was kind of a part of it before I get any further make sure to hit that subscribe button if you haven't already over 78% of my watch time is from people who aren't subscribe so hit that button along with the bell for post notifications thank you Jose Altuve was a part of the Scandal simply because of the fact that he was on the Houston Astros in 2017 when they were stealing signs of the illegal system but Altuve actually never played a part in that scheme by the team at least not willingly something all the evidence points toward right when the Scandal dropped one of the biggest controversies regarding it became Jose Altuve which was inevitable because he was one of the veterans on that team but also more vitally he happened to win the MVP award in 2017 beating out Aaron judge and this started a whole backlash with fans and even some players saying that Altuve stole the MVP award from Judge now first things first that I have to make clear even if Jose Altuve did willingly cheat say he went out of his way to not only use the trash can bangging and whistling system to know what pitches were coming but say he was also the biggest cheater on the team even if that was the case which it wasn't but even if it was Altuve still didn't even have better stats than judge the only thing Altuve did better than judge in 2017 was batting at average and he struck out way less times judges on base percentage was better his slugging percentage was better his Ops was better he hit more home runs I mean judge pretty obviously had better numbers overall yet the voters just gave it to Altuve basically because of the batting average thing and limiting his strikeouts so there's that and then there's also the evidence that altu never cheated and if anything did happen it was without his consent there's a site called sign stealing scandal.com which was done by a fan who recorded as many trash can bangs as he could it was also clapping whistling and yelling that helped the Astros steal signs but this fan was only only able to really detect the trash can bangs and when logging them Altuve is at the bottom he's not remotely close to how many trash can bangs some of his teammates got Carlos karea specifically said that Altuve did not like getting the trash can bangs and would get angry about it to the team if they did it while he was up to bat multiple players told MLB investigators the same thing during their investigative interviews and there's even video footage of a particular instance where Altuve glares into the Astros Dugout after hearing a trash can bang that proceeded with a curveball First Strike then the next thing the buzzers did the Astros use buzzers in particular did Jose Altuve use a buzzer to help him hit his game winning Homer against Chapman and win Houston the pennant although I will admit that altuve's seemingly lack of excitement when hitting the Home Run and Vibe of being worried while rounding the bases before telling his teammates to not rip his shirt off was weird to this day there's no evidence really at all that shows that Altuve in that moment or any Astros player at any moment use buzzers and I think one of the biggest things that bothers me about why Altuve ended up getting seemingly the most hate on the Astros for the cheat in Scandal and continues to was the fact that he was very clearly the nicest and most humble guy regarding the whole thing if anyone should have gotten the most hate it should have been Carlos kareah by far and kareah got hate don't get me wrong and still does a little bit at least now but kareah fully embraced the villain Persona going up in front of a camera telling Cody Bellinger to shut the f up among other things that really rub people the wrong way especially his tone he didn't seem too remorseful basically the vibe that he was only sorry because he got caught now whether that's true only he knows how he truly felt in that moment but Altuve was the furthest thing from a controversial figure Altuve has never trash talked anyone he's never played dirty he's always been one of the most humble people in baseball that's just a fact does he deserve to be blamed a little bit for being on that team and of course knowing the illegal stuff that was going on and not saying anything of course Justin Verlander is a guy in particular that I've been pretty hard on about that Verlander being a pitcher of course literally never had anything directly to do with stealing signs to hit better obviously but the fact that he never said anything while also complaining about signs stealing in the past is just very hypocritical in that same year Verlander while with the Tigers complained about the very thing he ended up becoming quiet on you have become the very thing you swore to destroy saying that it's not about gamesmanship anymore that it used to be hey if you can get my signs good for you in the past if a guy on second base was able to decipher it on a few pitches he was saying that that was kind of part of the game with Verlander adding on that he thinks sign stealing is at a different level now and that it isn't good several months later he's traded to Houston the rest is history and he of course really looks like a hypocrite not that Altuve ever spoke out against sign stealing beforehand but him being on the team and staying silent definitely earns him some of the blame but for him to basically be the face of the Scandal was just wrong it's not an accurate representation of who should have been at the Forefront of getting all the hate marwin Gonzales is the most obvious benefiter of the sign stealing having by far his best season ever in 2017 the dude went off his Ops was over 900 That season other than 2017 his Ops had never been above 800 in only one of those years his Ops was over 750 like come on that's almost too obvious yet nobody ever seems to point that out we all know why it's because it's marwin Gonzalez and Jose Altuve is way more popular of a player and figure to hate on but it just goes to show how misplaced a lot of this hatred was for multiple reasons marwin Gonzalez ironically actually eventually became a Yankee for a little bit in 2022 but nobody cares again because it's marwi Gonzalez Yankees fans put so much of their hatred toward Altuve specifically they had an F Altuve chance that they sometimes chant even when the team isn't playing the Astros I get being upset but again and this goes for every fan base that has hatred for Altuve you can hate on him for being on that team and saying nothing that's valid but it's not valid enough to hate on him for anything else George Springer used the system and benefited from it a lot in 2017 he gets virtually no hate now as a blue jay Alex bregman who is also at the top of the recorded trash can bang users doesn't really get called out often either even though he's still with Houston Altuve didn't steal the MVP from Judge blame the voters who clearly didn't understand that batting averages and all that matters it has nothing to do with cheating cheating that Altuve didn't even do there's no evidence that points toward that he remained humble not rude or anything once the Scandal broke out unlike a guy like kareah who really embraced being a villain and had to come out and make it clear that Altuve specifically didn't cheat instead of Altuve doing it himself because he wanted to be humble and on top of all of this Jose Altuve continues to be one of the best hitters in overall players in baseball he had a really rough 2020 regular season and 48 games but went on to become a moner in the postseason that year and from 2021 through 2023 so where we now stand heading into 2024 as he signs this extension Altuve is at almost 300 with an Ops around 890 and 377 games while helping the Astros win another ring in 2022 so Altuve has proven just like the rest of that Astros team or at least most of them that they never needed to cheat to begin with so although yeah Altuve was on that Astros team that cheated so putting some blame his way is warranted just for simply being there not putting an end to it but there's no doubt in my mind that he got way more hate than he should have gotten compared to guys like Marvin Gonzalez George Springer Alex bregman and of course Carlos kareah let me know what you think thank you for watching and I'll see you soon