It's the annual rite of spring for baseball fans. Pitchers and catchers have reported to Astros spring training in Florida. The first workout is scheduled for today. But, this is not your typical year for the Astros. Not by any stretch of the imagination.
You can expect the national media to bear down on the complex in West Palm Beach today, because the Astros have scheduled their first media availability of spring training. It is expected that some sort of apology would be coming from the Astros following the report that detailed the sign stealing scandal of 2017. What form that takes remains to be seen. One thing is for sure. Richard Justice of MLB.com says this won't be in the rear view mirror for the Astros after today.
"These questions will go on and on and on," Justice said.
Justice says the players have to be prepared to deal with the scrutiny throughout the 2020 season.
"They have to understand today doesn't end all the questions, because as you have seen, there are more layers to the onion that are being peeled away," Justice explained.
Dusty Baker and James Click replaced A.J. Hinch and Jeff Luhnow following the findings from Major League Baseball, but Justice says that doesn't change some other things.
"You can't change all of the players. The cloud is going to exist," Justice stated.
The Astros have scheduled their first full team workout for Monday. The first exhibition season game is on February 22nd, against Washington.