Atlanta Braves legend Chipper Jones weighs in on Astros cheating scandal

What did Chipper have to say?

Chipper Jones has never been shy about sharing his opinion with the world. So, naturally, when he was invited to share his thoughts on 680 the Fan’s The Front Row on Thursday he let loose.

You can listen in full below:

The interview started by asking Chipper his thoughts on what Markakis had to say and he agreed that his sentiment would have been similar.

He stated that Nick’s comments are very “indicative of how venomous players feel about this.”

Further, he spoke about how this isn’t similar to the steroid issue because it was a smaller group of people that hid in the shadows. It didn’t have an identity as the Astros scandal does.

According to Chipper, this immunity was negotiated with Tony Clark and not just promised by Major League Baseball to get a confession from the players involved.

Why is this an issue?

Chipper said that it “could fracture people” because Clark did so without the consent of union representatives from across the league.

Basically, Tony Clark made sure the immunity was promised before talking to other union representatives about the Astros players being punished.

This comes off as caring more about protecting the players than ensuring that rules are followed and those guilty are held accountable.

He did make the point that Clark really didn’t have much choice but to act on behalf of the players, but he should have done so with the consent of other representatives.

What can the league do to appease players and fans?

This led Chipper to the conclusion that the only thing left that they can do to appease players and other organizations would be to consider vacating the World Series.

Although we all know that had immunity not been given, we wouldn’t have gotten any confessions at all. Jones also made the point that vacating wins and titles isn’t that uncommon in other sports such as NCAA football.

He’s absolutely right about that. Other sports have reacted when wrongdoing has been uncovered and Rob Manfred showing an unwillingness to consider doing so with the Astros shows just how poorly this has been handled.

The question was asked if the warnings from Manfred about throwing at Astros players will deter teams from doing so.

Chippers response?

“It will not matter. This game has always policed itself. You can try and draw the reins in as much as you can by saying certain stuff, but it will not matter.”

He’s absolutely right about that. No warnings will keep certain players and pitchers from taking matters into their own hands. There are some pitchers that will happily take a suspension and fines to make a point.