Thanks, and also to the others who replied. It seems a bit crazy that anybody would try that given that sooner or later somebody would surely figure out what was going on.
Electronically speaking, it’s worth noting there’s a current rumor and image hunt going on on Twitter of the Astros possibly using “buzzers”, small radio—activated vibrating devices taped to the body, to steal signs back around when this was going on in 2017.
As has been said, teams have been stealing signs since the beginning of the sport and it’s an understood or “gentleman’s” rule that it’s acceptable — as long no technology is used and it’s not blatant. However, teams have used body buzzers, buzzers and signals buried by the bases and similar electric and radio devices for close to 100 years or more now, since electricity itself became ubiquitous.
From the recent pictures, there’s a faint outline of what looks like a “wire” taped to the right shoulder of Jose Altuve, that you can see through his jersey. Whether it’s an actual buzzer, an unfortunate crease or something else, is what’s under speculation.
I think they went with the trash can banging because it was somewhat low tech, and maybe less likely or believable for people to pick up on.
