Rodon: 'Hard to see' 10-game bans after Astros weren't suspended

Chicago White Sox left-hander Carlos Rodon believes there's a double standard between Major League Baseball's newly announced substance bans and how the league treated the Houston Astros' sign-stealing scandal.

"The way I look at it is, it's hard to see this when you're giving out 10-game suspensions for cheating but you give the Astros no suspensions at all," Rodon told NBC Sports.

"If (commissioner) Rob Manfred can look himself in the mirror and say, 'Hey, I'm doing the right thing,' that's fine. But you can't suspend the team that you actually knew was cheating during a playoff game? That's on you."

On Tuesday, the league announced that players found using foreign substances on the ball - including a combination of sunscreen and rosin - would be suspended 10 games with pay.

While no Astros players were suspended for the team's sign-stealing scheme, which occurred during the 2017 championship season and into 2018, general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch were both suspended and subsequently fired. Additionally, the team was fined $5 million and stripped of future draft picks.

The league's findings at the time indicated Houston likely cheated during the 2017 postseason, but Manfred later stated there was "conflicting evidence," according to Ben Pickman of Sports Illustrated.

MLB's new policy for regulating foreign-substance use by pitchers is expected to take effect June 21.