Rick Honeycutt won a World Series championship as an Oakland Athletics pitcher back in 1989 and nearly earned another as the Los Angeles Dodgers’ pitching coach in 2017.
The Dodgers lost the 2017 World Series in seven games to the Houston Astros, but the general manager, manager and bench coach from that Houston team are currently out of work as a result of a Major League Baseball investigation that determined the Astros were stealing signs at Minute Maid Park through the use of a center-field camera.
“The commissioner has gotten to the nuts and bolts of what happened and what the Astros were doing,” Honeycutt said Wednesday. “We had plenty of thoughts, but nobody knew exactly to what extent, especially setting up a camera in center field and being able to relay that. You’ve always had guys trying to give the location of pitches when they’re on second base, but obviously this was to another level.
“Whether or not you agree or disagree with the punishment, at least the cat is out of the bag. Baseball wants to play the game on the field and not electronically, and we’ll see how things go moving forward.”
Honeycutt, the former Lakeview High School and University of Tennessee standout, stepped aside in October after 14 years as Dodgers pitching coach that included 10 postseason appearances. He remains in the organization as a special assistant.