When Mike Fiers went on the record to make bombshell allegations that the Houston Astros used cameras to steal signs and relay them to hitters in real time at home games during their 2017 World Series championship season, he explained that part of his rationale for speaking out was: “I just want the game to be cleaned up a little bit because there are guys who are losing their jobs because they’re going (to Minute Maid Park) not knowing.”



Since the story broke, the Internet has been engaged in revisionist history debates over whether the Astros’ alleged cheating cost the three teams they beat in the playoffs that year — Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers — a championship. But little has been written about the damage that such a system could have inflicted on fringe baseball players just trying to hold on to their jobs.



It’s impossible to calculate precisely how much a pitcher would be hurt...