Michael Dwyer/Associated Press

Pedro Martinez Calls Mike Fiers 'Bad Teammate' for Handling of Astros Scandal

Megan Armstrong

Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez is the latest to speak against Oakland Athletics pitcher Mike Fiers, who sparked an MLB investigation by telling The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich in November that the Houston Astros illegally stole opponents' signs during their 2017 World Series run.

"If he was to do it when he was playing for the Houston Astros, I would say Mike Fiers has guts," Martinez told WEEI Radio at the Boston Red Sox's Winter Weekend. "But to go and do it after you leave the Houston Astros because they don't have you anymore, that doesn't show me anything. You're just a bad teammate."

The former Red Sox ace and three-time Cy Young Award winner didn't stop there:

"If you tell me that Mike Fiers is coming to my team and you already threw your team under the bus, the team that you used to play for … Now everybody knows you are going to have a whistle-blower in any other situation too. Whatever happens in the clubhouse stays in the clubhouse and Fiers broke the rules. I agree with cleaning up the game. I agree that the fact that the Commissioner is taking a hard hand on this, but at the same time players should not be the one dropping the whistle-blower."

Martinez is not alone in disagreeing with how Fiers went about revealing Houston's cheating. ESPN's Jessica Mendoza didn't like that Fiers chose to go public with the information:

Fiers pitched for the Astros from 2015 to 2017.

MLB released official findings from its investigation Jan. 13. The Astros were found to have used a center field camera to alert batters of specific incoming pitches. MLB suspended Houston manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow for the 2020 season without pay before the Astros fired them both.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who served as the Astros' bench coach in 2017, and New York Mets manager Carlos Beltran, an Astros player that year, both parted ways with their respective teams as well. Beltran only held the Mets job for two months.

The Astros were not stripped of their 2017 World Series title.

   

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