White Sox's Carlos Rodón calls out MLB commissioner Rob Manfred over foreign substance ban
White Sox pitcher Carlos Rodón expressed his displeasure with MLB’s new foreign substance ban and called out MLB commissioner Rob Manfred in the process.
“It’s hard to see this when you’re giving out 10-game suspensions for cheating, but you give the Astros no suspensions at all,” said Rodón. “If Rob Manfred can look himself in the mirror and say ‘hey, I’m doing the right thing,’ that’s fine. But (if you) can’t suspend the team you actually knew was cheating during a playoff game, that’s on you.”
Rodón was referring to the sign-stealing scandal that rocked the baseball world after the Houston Astros won the World Series in 2017. Members of the Los Angeles Dodgers accused the Astros of stealing signs during those playoffs, but they only came forward when news broke about sign-stealing in 2019.
Carlos Rodón goes in on MLB commissioner Rob Manfred:
"You're giving out 10-game suspensions for cheating, but you give the Astros no suspensions at all." pic.twitter.com/ZFAwU7H5cp— White Sox Talk (@NBCSWhiteSox) June 16, 2021
Similar scandals followed the Astros in 2018, when Cleveland and the Boston Red Sox caught an Astros’ employee taking pictures of their dugouts. The New York Yankees requested an investigation in 2019, but the league found no wrongdoing.
Houston has been the target of several players’ anger following the MLB’s announcement that pitchers would face a 10-game suspension for using illegal substances to doctor baseballs. The new policy is the commissioner’s response to record strikeouts and declining batting averages.
Rodón is in his seventh season with the White Sox, and is in the middle of arguably his best year yet with a 6-2 record and 1.89 ERA. He threw the 20th no-hitter in team history against Cleveland on April 14 and followed up that performance with 44 strikeouts in May, matching a career-high in a month from September 2016.
The White Sox pitcher isn't the only player upset with the new rules. Most recently, Dodgers pitcher and NL Cy Young Award winner Trevor Bauer posted a thread on Twitter expressing his anger with the league's decision.
Contact Alyssa Hertel at ahertel@usatoday.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: White Sox's Carlos Rodón calls out Rob Manfred, MLB substance ban
