CBS Sports Claims Two Houston Players "Open Up" About Sign-Stealing Scandal ... They Don't.

The headline on a current CBS Sports story claims that Carlos Correa and Joe Musgrove, members of Houston's 2017 World Series-winning team, "open up about [the sign-stealing] allegations".

Don't bother clicking the link. Correa and Musgrove do not "open up" (or even "answer a direct question"). They both avoid or flat-out refuse to offer any meaningful statements.

At an autograph show last weekend, Correa told The Houston Chronicle he has cooperated with MLB's investigation "like we've all been doing so we can put an end to all of this and all this talk and move forward." When asked if the allegations were true, Correa said: "That's something we can't discuss anymore once we talk to MLB. That's the end of it."

Correa admitted he was surprised to read former teammate Mike Fiers's comments in The Athletic last November. Fiers explained in detail how the Astros stole signs and relayed information to batters during games. Correa added: "He's a grown man, and he can do whatever he wants to do."

In the two months since those comments were published, no member of the Astros organization has denied Fiers's allegations. GM Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch did not answer numerous questions at December's winter meetings, but Hinch assured reporters "there will be a day when I get to address it". At the autograph show, Alex Bregman refused to answer questions and George Springer declined an interview request through a team representative.

Musgrove said some things about "everyone" and "no one":

I wasn't even in the dugout for any of that stuff. Everyone is going to have thoughts on stuff regardless. Everyone always accuses people of something. That stuff goes around the league all the time. ... I don’t think that taints [anything]. ... I watched how hard we worked every day. I watched the preparation we put in to study hitters ... and whatnot. That's all the stuff no one accounts for. Everyone hears that we cheated, and they hear that there was the whole trash can deal going on, but no one sees the work that we were putting in every day to prepare ourselves and give ourselves an advantage.

The never-ending issue of performance-enhancing drugs shows that well-prepared baseball players can and do also cheat to give themselves an even larger advantage.

Musgrove said he has not been interviewed by MLB. (So would he be able to answer the question Correa avoided because he had been interviewed?)

Commissioner Rob Manfred has indicated he would like the investigation completed prior to spring training.