Phillies

Joe Girardi Says Sign Stealing “Has Been Going on For Years”

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Jan 21st, 2020 · 11:12 AM EST

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Phillies manager Joe Girardi spoke last night at the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association Banquet.

Not sure whether this clip comes from before or after his speech, but he was asked, off to the side, about the Astros’ sign stealing scandal, saying this:

Phillies manager Joe Girardi was Yankees manager in 2017, losing to Astros in ALCS. Astros caught cheating. Joe was out of a job after

“Sign stealing has been going on for years. It’s our responsibility to protect them. We will work really hard to protect every sign we have” pic.twitter.com/eMUwtP0Ive

— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) January 21, 2020

Girardi:

“Sign stealing, all of this has been going on for years. It’s been going on for years. It’s our responsibility to protect them. I know we will work really hard to protect every sign we have and have different combinations and make pitchers use multiple sequencing so we can protect them. A lot of times it’s done by the players on the field and you have to be careful. I don’t think much about it except what we have to do to protect it.”

Safe answer. Of course he’s not going to come out and say, “if those cheating bastards weren’t stealing signs, maybe we would have been in the World Series.”

Girardi also spoke about the scandal before the punishments were handed down, saying this at the recent Winter meetings:

#Phillies manager Joe Girardi lost his job after the Yankees lost to the Astros in Game 7 of the 2017 ALCS. At the winter meetings last month, he was asked for his reaction to the allegations against the Astros: pic.twitter.com/AWeXmoN88f

— Scott Lauber (@ScottLauber) January 13, 2020