Ryan Spaeder Calls Out More Cheaters in Baseball

Update: Spaeder is retracting his statement

There were a lot of people calling out Spaeder as a liar and it appears they were correct; this will probably end his reporting days. He made some serious allegations and continued into this morning (pulling in the Minnesota Twins), but has pulled down all of the Tweets.

Original Article: Ryan Spaeder, an MLB Analyst who has worked for NBC Sports and The Sporting News, jumped on twitter this morning to call out Major League Baseball with some serious allegations. The co-host of “The Walk-Off” names the Dodgers, Yankees, Royals, Chase Utley, Adrian Beltre, and more as “sourced” cheaters.

Here is the Twitter thread:

I want to say this one is surprising, but the Royals really came out of nowhere in 2014 to get to the World Series, then win it the next year. A 30 year drought would make a team do almost anything to win.

The Yankees had already been caught, but the splits of Aaron Judge show the impact of what stealing signs can do. The grip is an interesting tactic though.

What’s more surprising: The Dodgers cheating or the MLB covering it up? At this point, I’m not surprised either way. The MLB has been covering up these things – like steroids and sticky stuff – for years.

Calling out a player like Chase Utley is bold. Not as bold as…

…calling out a sure fire Hall of Famer who was considered one of the good guys in the game. This will need some definite proof for people to believe Adrian Beltre did anything.

I trust players coming out with this stuff. Mike Fiers called out the Astros and got some people temporarily kicked out of the game. I’m guessing Erik Kratz is telling the truth too.

Not surprising, since Carlos Beltran and Alex Cora were the 2 guys implicated in the Banging Scheme. Beltran played for both the Yankees and Rangers prior to joining the Astros.

This might be common practice, and might have been at the time, but I think we really need proof of what the video department was getting shots of; if it’s like the Yankees and getting pics/video of opposing pitcher’s grip or catcher signs, then we have an issue.

Baseball is pretty much known as a dirty sports – sign stealing, steroids, greenies, sticky stuff. The problem isn’t that the stuff is in the game, it’s that Major League Baseball has a history of turning it’s head until the public gets wind of the problem. Then they back peddle and try to overcorrect.

Look at the issue right now with foreign substances for pitcher grip. They implement checking mid-season and suspensions. You can’t do that. Tyler Glasnow believes that’s the reason he’s done for the next 15 months for Tommy John Surgery; he stopped using sunscreen on his hand, which altered his grip and mechanics, leading to a damaged UCL ligament. I get he shouldn’t have been using a foreign substance, but the MLB didn’t do anything to stop him (or any other player).

There is a part of me that wishes Spaeder’s comments are proven true; until we get some players to back them up, like Fiers and Kratz, most people will dismiss them. Hell, even when some of the players do it, they are deemed pariahs.

Bottom line, the game needs to be cleaned up.

And at least the Cardinals were not named, as of right now.