Dodgers' Joe Kelly Calls Astros 'Rats' and 'Snitches' for Sign-Stealing Scandal

Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly's animosity toward Astros players stems from how they handled the sign-stealing scandal.

Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports

Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly's animosity toward the Astros doesn't appear to be dying down anytime soon.

Kelly appeared on The Big Swing podcast, which is hosted by his teammate Ross Stripling, and said he didn't like how Houston's players handled the sign-stealing investigation. 

"The people who took the fall for what happened is nonsense," Kelly said on the podcast. "Yes, everyone is involved. But the way that [sign-stealing system] was run over there was not from coaching staff. ...They're not the head boss in charge of that thing. It's the players. So now the players get the immunity, and all they do is go snitch like a little b----, and they don't have to get fined, they don't have to lose games."

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred gave Astros players immunity in exchange for their cooperation in the league's investigation of the incident. Manfred suspended manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow through the 2020 World Series, but owner Jim Crane subsequently fired them. The Red Sox and Mets later parted ways with managers Alex Cora and Carlos Beltrán after they were named in MLB's report as members of the 2017 Astros.

"When you take someone's livelihood...to save your own a--, that's what I don't like," Kelly said. "Cheating? They cheated. Everyone knows they're cheaters. They know they're cheaters. It's over. That's been there, done that. But now they mess it up by ruining other people's lives, so they f---ed it up twice. ...When you taint someone's name to save your own name, this is one of the worst things that you could probably do. ...That really friggin' bugs me. I think I'll be irritated forever."

Kelly did not play for the Dodgers in 2017, when the Astros beat them in seven games to win the World Series. However, the reliever pitched for Cora, who joined the Red Sox as manager in 2018 after serving as Houston's bench coach the previous season. 

Kelly's comments come after he was initially suspended eight games and fined for throwing balls near the heads of Astros batters Alex Bregman and Carlos Correa, which resulted in the benches clearing during the July 28 game. MLB reduced the suspension to five games on Wednesday following Kelly's appeal. His episode on Stripling's podcast was recorded earlier in August before MLB heard his appeal. 

While discussing his suspension, Kelly called it "crazy" and thought it was excessive. He also contended MLB's assertion that he incited the Astros to leave their dugout.

"I socially distanced. I walked away. I didn't get close, and I followed all the guidelines of the CDC, and people on the other side [the Astros] didn't," he said. "They walked out of their dugout, walked toward us. Carlos Correa f---ing spit at our team. I don't know if it was [at] me. He spit out of his mouth. ...This guy walks over to our dugout and then spits, while I follow all the rules, and I get eight games.

"They have a manager [Dusty Baker] on their side, verbatim, yelling at me, 'Get your little skinny a-- on the mound.' So my cuss words get eight games, and his cuss words get zero? That makes complete sense, right? Welcome to planet Earth. A debacle."