Ex-Astro Morton regrets 'not doing more' to stop illegal sign-stealing

When the Houston Astros claimed the franchise's first-ever World Series title in 2017, pitcher Charlie Morton was responsible for securing the final out of the historic campaign.

On Saturday, Morton, now a member of the Tampa Bay Rays, said he should have spoken out against the illegal sign-stealing operation that Houston was recently punished for, which involved the use of electronics and the banging of garbage cans to relay signs to hitters.

''I was aware of the banging. You could hear the banging. Being in the dugout, you could hear it. I don't know when it dawned on me but you knew it was going on,'' Morton said, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

"Personally, I regret not doing more to stop it. I don't know what that would have entailed. I think the actions would have been somewhat extreme to stop it. That's a hypothetical.''

The 36-year-old right-hander left the Astros for the Rays following the 2018 season. He said that upon his return to Houston for the first time as a visiting player in August 2019, he was confident the illegal sign-stealing had stopped.

Morton also admitted the championship that Houston won in 2017 deserves the scrutiny it's received since the sign-stealing scandal broke.

"I think the perception of that World Series was negatively affected, at minimum,'' Morton added. "I certainly have thought about it a lot because it negatively impacted the game, and people's perception of the game, the fans, opposing players. And that doesn't sit well with me. ... Where I was at the time, I don't know where I was, because what's wrong is wrong. And I'll never be absolved of that.''

Along with the negative attention, the sign-stealing scandal cost the Astros multiple draft picks, $5 million in fines, and forced owner Jim Crane to fire manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow after they were handed one-year suspensions by the league for their involvement.

No current players have been disciplined, although Carlos Beltran, who played for the Astros in 2017, parted ways with the New York Mets as their manager in January after his name surfaced in an MLB report.