Jessica Belmosto

Disclaimer: Please read the articles linked throughout this blog. The journalists worked very hard to investigate and break this story. These are simply my opinions along with some evidence I found.

Danny Picard broke the story. It was hard to speculate and point fingers at anyone other than the Astros. All we knew was that this person had some clear connection to the Houston Astros organization. It was nearly impossible to pinpoint an individual. That is until Jeff Passan dropped his investigative report.

I decided to do some digging of my own. It wasn’t much but it was something. I moseyed in over to LinkedIn and did a quick search of Kyle Rockin. I only knew to search that last name rather than McLaughlin based on his Instagram profile. I found his profile and saw he had a history with the Astros.

Well, there’s your direct contention. After reading through his job duties and and projects, I decided to take a trip over to Instagram.

Jeff Passan mentioned that he took “Houston Astros” out of his biography. It certainly didn’t take long for him to put it back in. My initial thought was he knew publications would be looking for him to give a statement or an interview. Having that staple validates that he is in fact the man being accused.

UPDATE: As of Wednesday morning, it appears that his Instagram and twitter account have been deleted.

Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston, chimed in as well. An American League exec told him that “The Astros are the Patriots of baseball.” Drellich mentions that the league doesn’t handle cheating scandals like most would expect. It’s very hush hush and they almost seem as investigating them is a burden. The integrity of the league must be so important to them.

Now that we have the fun facts out of the way. Let’s talk, reaction and opinion.

I took to Twitter to sound off. If there was a plan in place, I’m sure it seemed fool proof. Thankfully, not everyone on this planet is that dense. The proper authority was told and now it’s in the league’s hands.

https://twitter.com/jessbelmosto/status/1052402244765790209

https://twitter.com/jessbelmosto/status/1052402725483372544?s=21

https://twitter.com/jessbelmosto/status/1052403383565463555?s=21

It seems foolish to me to think that you’d get away with this. Not only that, but imagine agreeing to taking this job? People will do what it takes to get ahead in their career. It’s the morality behind it. We saw what unfolded with former Cardinals exec, Chris Correa. Actions have consequences.

Rob Manfred needs to act fast. If the league knew about this individual, why was he allowed in the camera area at Fenway? Isn’t it suspicious that a Houston Astros employee intervened and tried to convince security to allow McLaughlin to stay? Just a thought. Violating rules calls for punishment. That’s simple cause and effect for you. As of right now, we know that the MLB is investigating the situation. The teams involved are staying tight lipped due to the investigation. Do I think they’d love to give the Astros’ front office a piece of their mind, yeah of course. I think this will be a major turning point in the league. It will change who is allowed at certain points in the stadium. The investigation procedures will more than likely change. The MLB will become the NFL.

Does this leave you questioning Red Sox manager Alex Cora? If it’s revealed that this has been going on for a few seasons, do you think he knew? Was it his job to speak up? If it happened in Oakland, why wasn’t action taken sooner? There are plenty of questions that hopefully we will get the answer to!

Sound off in the comments on reach me on Twitter to let me know what you think of this situation!

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