'It Sucks That We Were Right:' Mike Clevinger Details Frustrations About Astros' Sign-Stealing Scheme

Mike Clevinger became one of the first players to voice his frustrations after MLB punished Houston in the sign-stealing scandal. He expounded on those thoughts on Friday night.

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Mike Clevinger didn't want to be right. He wished the subtle -- or not so subtle -- remarks made by himself or Trevor Bauer about Astros related funny business over the past few years later proved to be foolish and unfounded. But Major League Baseball, as we know, went on to confirm suspicions about that Astros, and Houston's banging scheme was officially revealed this winter.

Finally, Clevinger could remove the tinfoil hat.

"I'd rather me be the hippie conspiracy theorist and (Bauer) be the a******," Clevinger said. "I'd totally rather it went that way, man, 100 percent."

The Indians' hard-throwing righty became one of the first players to voice his frustrations after MLB punished Houston in the sign-stealing scandal, sending out several Tweets and later recording a video, all of which expressed his anger over the revelation. He elaborated on those thoughts on Friday night when meeting with reporters prior to a season ticket holder event in Cleveland.

"It sucks that we were right," said Clevinger, who made some cryptic comments about the Indians having their "backs to the wall" before their 2018 ALDS series against the Astros because of the "analytical side." At the time, fans and media were left to speculate about the nature of the quote. Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, Clevinger's words make far more sense today.

"It wasn't like we were just throwing stuff at a wall," he said. "There was a lot of stuff we knew that other people didn't know we knew."

Clevinger noted that other pitchers on the staff, including Corey Kluber, had an inkling that something nefarious was taking place.

"He’s like 'I feel cornered. I’ve got stuff working and I just feel like they’re on it and they shouldn’t be.' That’s when stuff started picking up for us and we started changing stuff around," Clevinger said.

Clevinger felt news of the Astros' cheating in some capacity would eventually come to light. But why not just come out and say it himself?

"We didn't have a smoking gun," Clevinger said.

"Can I just come out and say that? Just look like a guy that got beat in the ALDS like, 'Oh, you got beat, now you're saying this?' It's hard to do that until (you have proof). I mean, me and Trevor Bauer, since 2017, have been waiting. (We thought) there's no way they can keep this glued together. There's no way everyone's going to keep their mouth shut. There's no way they can keep not picking up contracts, not giving free agents money and no one is going to say anything. We knew something was going to happen and sure enough, it did."

That something was former Astros pitcher Mike Fiers speaking out about the depth and complexity of the scheme in an article for The Athletic. Clevinger defended Fiers' timing, simply thankful to finally have the truth out in the open.

"I wouldn’t say (the cheating) was common knowledge," Clevinger said. "But it’s been going around the league for a while as far as rumors. ... It finally came out and it was a reiteration of how cocky they were and how they treated other guys around the league. For that to be going on just struck a chord with me."

Clevinger also took exception with Justin Verlander's joke about the Astros being "technologically and analytically advanced" while accepting the 2019 AL Cy Young Award in New York earlier this offseason.

"Accepting an award and cracking a joke about it without an apology," Clevinger said, "(that's probably what has me most upset) right now."

As for how much any potential cheating, if it happened at all, impacted the series against the Astros in 2018, everything is left to speculation. Cleveland was quickly swept in that series, and the punishment handed down from Major League Baseball was only officially linked to 2017 and part of 2018.

"I mean, you can beat as many trash cans as you want," manager Terry Francona said. "I think we had two hits off of Gerrit Cole and three off of Verlander (in that series). That wasn’t because of trash cans."

However, given what was proven, there's no doubt that the Astros pushed well beyond the limits of simply seeking a competitive edge.

"So much of baseball is romanticized," Francona said. "You hear about the 1950s guys with binoculars (stealing signs) and it gets romanticized. Then you start thinking of technology, it seemed like it crossed a line. Hopefully it’s been taken care of and you don’t hear much about it anymore."

That said, perhaps seeing how opposing players react to facing Houston this year will be the most interesting element of all.

"I'm all about policing the game in its own right, keeping everyone safe," Clevinger said. "But I don't know, I think players will deal with it the way it should be across the league. I don't think it's going to be a comfortable few ABs for a lot of those boys, and it shouldn't be. They shouldn't be comfortable."

And as for Clevinger's first matchup against the Astros, whenever that might be, all signs point to getting your popcorn ready.

"We’ll see," Clevinger said. "It’ll be fun."