MLB came down with harsh penalties for the Astros due to their sign stealing. The league made it clear that the people at the top of field and baseball operations will be held responsible:
Houston Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch were fired by owner Jim Crane on Monday after Major League Baseball’s announcement of discipline following the sign-stealing scandal.
A league investigation confirmed the Astros had cheated by using a camera-based sign-stealing system during the regular season and playoffs of their World Series-winning 2017 season.
Luhnow and Hinch were suspended for the 2020 season, but Crane said the team wanted to go beyond that ruling.
ESPN.com
In addition, the league fined the Astros $5 million, and they lose first and second round draft picks for the next two years.
I wish something like this had happened during the doping scandals. It struck me at the time that managers and GMs, especially Tony La Russa and Sandy Alderson, turned a blind eye to the players doping. Now, managers and front office personnel are on notice to prevent this. It’s a nice move by Jim Crane to send the two managers packing.
Alex Cora is likely next on the list, and Carlos Beltran might face a suspension before he even manages one game for the Mets.
Update: A.J. Hinch issued a statement.
Update: Luhnow issued a statement as well.
I hate the draft pick thing. Each draft pick represents an opportunity for an innocent kid. Yes, these ones will still get picked, but lower down. So two first rounders will have to settle for second round money and two second rounders, third round money. And four marginal guys don’t get a chance at all.
Give those picks to the four worst teams this year. And make the Astros pay the slot money.
If players are to be suspended for substance abuse or gambling, they should be be suspended for cheating on the field.
The Astros cheated to gain the best record in the AL, then cheated in the playoffs to win a trip to the WS. If I recall correctly, the Astros won every home game against the Yankees, and lost each one played on the road. Hmmm.
Give the rings back, donate the cash prizes to charity, and vacate the title.
I’d like to know which players were involved. Did Springer have the signs when he was hitting all those home runs? Did Altuve know what Chapman was going to throw? And who specifically was relaying the information? I don’t think it would be too outrageous to vacate those championships.
Hm, rbj makes a great point.
A simple solution would be to move the Astros’ first and second round picks to the ‘back of the queue’ each season, the very last picks, and then for salary slot purposes just move every pick subsequent to the original Houston first round slot up one, and all the slots subsequent to their second round slot up two.
Or is there some problem with that I’m not seeing?
I was curious if you ever considered changing the page
layout of your blog? Its very well written; I love what youve got to
say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it
better. Youve got an awful lot of text for
only having one or 2 pictures. Maybe you could space it out better?
Yes, I have considered it.