Yankees' Brian Cashman calls out Astros' Jim Crane over sign-stealing comparison: 'It's called deflection'

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The war of words between New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and Houston Astros owner Jim Crane over the sign-stealing scandal continued this week with Cashman calling Crane’s recent comments a "deflection."

Cashman slammed Crane on Thursday for equating the Yankees’ illegal use of the dugout phone during the 2015 and 2016 seasons to that of the Astros 2017 sign-stealing scandal.

MLB LETTER TO YANKEES SHEDS LIGHT ON ILLICIT USE OF TECHNOLOGY DURING 2015 AND 2016 SEASONS 

"I don't think anybody's going to dance to the tune he's singing," Cashman told reporters before Thursday’s game against the Chicago White Sox, via ESPN. "I'd say it's called deflection, him trying to equate probably... an equivalent of a parking ticket to maybe 162 felonies."

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman speaks to the media before the Boston Red Sox game on April 8, 2022, in New York City. (Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

Before the start of the season, Cashman told The Athletic that the Astros were to blame for the Yankees' World Series drought. 

"The only thing that stopped [the 2017 Yankees] was something that was so illegal and horrific," Cashman said. "So I get offended when I start hearing we haven't been to the World Series since '09.' ... The only thing that derailed us was a cheating circumstance that threw us off."

The comments were met with backlash, particularly from Crane, who pointed to a recently released letter sent from the MLB to the Yankees in 2017 that detailed the team's illicit use of technology during the 2015 and 2016 seasons. 

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"I found his comments to be extremely strange," Crane told