DETROIT -- It was the summer of 2017 and Justin Verlander was holding court with a group of reporters during a road trip to Seattle.

The subject was one of Verlander’s favorites: Sign-stealing.

Verlander had long been known as one of the most cautious -- some would say paranoid -- pitchers in baseball during his tenure with the Detroit Tigers. But on this afternoon he was more passionate than ever in arguing that modern-day sign-stealing had gone too far and was having a negative impact on the game.

“It’s not about gamesmanship anymore," he said. "It used to be, ‘Hey, if you can get my signs, good for you.’ In the past, if a guy on second (base) was able to decipher it on a few pitches, I guess that was kind of part of the game. I think it’s a different level now. It’s not good.”

The commissioner, he concluded, needed to do something.

Not long after that conversation, Verlander was traded to the Houston Astros, where he dominated the final two months of the season and helped his new club win the 2017 World Series.

We now know that the team he joined was engaged in a sophisticated and illegal sign-stealing scheme throughout the season and into the playoffs.

After a months-long investigation, commissioner Rob Manfred has in fact done something about sign-stealing, and it could taint the only world title of Verlander’s Hall of Fame career.

What does Verlander think about all this? What is his reaction to the year-long suspension and subsequent firing of his manager and general manager? What about the damage done to one of the most magical stretches of his career, that late summer and fall of 2017 when he and the Astros looked invincible?

Verlander is an avowed foe of steroid-users and sign-stealers and anyone or anything that creates an unlevel playing field in baseball, and hasn’t been shy about saying so publicly. But his Twitter account has been largely silent this winter, except for fans calling him out on his previous sanctimony. When and if he does speak out, many will be curious to hear what he has to say.

No Astros pitcher has been accused of wrongdoing or gaining an improper advantage. And the Manfred report notes that even some hitters were skeptical about whether the sign-stealing scheme was beneficial or simply distracting.

But the report paints an ugly picture of Verlander’s new organization. Much has been made of assistant GM Brandon Taubman’s tirade against female reporters during last year’s playoffs. (Taubman was fired by the Astros and then suspended by Manfred). But it was the team’s initial response that was equally outrageous: Denying, lying and discrediting those making the allegations.

It pointed to a noxious culture that permeated the organization.

It also recalled an incident a few months earlier with Detroit Free Press reporter Anthony Fenech, who was barred from the Astros clubhouse at Verlander’s request.

When MLB noted that the Astros were in breach of league rules governing media access enshrined in the collective bargaining agreement, the Astros doubled down on their violation, saying their actions were “appropriate.”

The seemingly minor incident was quickly forgotten, but it offered clues that seem far more important now:

1. The team violated clear-cut league rules at the behest of a player.

2. They refused to apologize or admit error after the fact.

Manfred may not have been referring directly to this incident in the report, but he recognized that the Astros have developed an unsavory reputation in the league due to a pattern of conduct that goes beyond just the cheating scandal.

“While no one can dispute that (the Astros') baseball operations department is an industry leader in its analytics, it is very clear to me that the culture of the baseball operations department, manifesting itself in the way its employees are treated, its relations with other Clubs, and its relations with the media and external stakeholders, has been very problematic,” Manfred wrote.

While manager A.J. Hinch and GM Jeff Luhnow took the fall, the report clearly spells out that the cheating was initiated and sustained almost entirely by players.

None of them will be suspended for a variety of reasons that Manfred addressed in his report. By giving immunity of sorts, MLB ensured that players cooperated fully in the investigation. On a practical level, suspensions would also be challenging because players change teams all the time. Indeed it was an ex-Astro, Mike Fiers, whose allegations prompted the investigation.

But managers and GMs must be rattled by the severity of the punishment.

Manfred drew a line on Sept. 15, 2017, when he sent a forceful memo to teams outlining the league’s prohibition on electronically aided sign-stealing. Anything that occurred before that date, he was willing to overlook. But cheating after that date could bring a harsh punishment.

The precedent has been set and ignorance is no longer an excuse. From now on, it’s zero tolerance. It took a couple of years, but the commissioner finally listened to Verlander’s advice.

The old Verlander would have applauded the commissioner’s crackdown. What will the new one have to say?

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