Major League Baseball handed down punishments to the Houston Astros for their sign-stealing scheme, and the toll seems severe, yet totally worth a World Series title.
The rundown:
- Jeff Luhnow and A.J. Hinch suspended for a year
- $5 million fine
- Astros lose 2020 and 2021 first-round draft picks
The $5 million seems light, but apparently it's the maximum a team can be fined. The suspensions seem light, but Astros owner Jim Crane ended up firing both Luhnow and Hinch, which could be an unsaid urging from the league. The 2017 World Series title remains fully recognized, which is unsatisfying, but I tend to think vacating titles is an empty gesture.
The biggest incongruity is that there were no punishments handed out for players involved in what the league calls the "banging scheme," yet Crane was also cleared of any involvement due to ignorance, which seems overly convenient. It seems weird to say the very bottom of the team should have been kept in check, but also to say that the guy at the very top of the chain has no say in that process.
The individual punishments are indeed hard-hitting, though. Luhnow didn't seem to engender much goodwill from the league offices, employees or colleagues, so the larger league might be happy to have the excuse not to hire him. But hey, if Luhnow can't even bend the rules anymore, it might not be any fun for him.
Hinch could end up back in the big leagues, as the report isn't entirely damning. It says he had no role in the creation of the system and took some steps to stop it (notably, physically damaging the monitor on two occasions), but he ultimately didn't compel his staff or players to cease using it. That's a failure of management, and he's the manager, so that checks out.
If there's a figure who doesn't seem likely to manage again, it's Alex Cora. He's yet to receive a punishment because the league is investigating his Boston Red Sox and their alleged 2018 sign-stealing scheme, but his name is all over the report as a primary developer and an active participant. Reporters seem to think he'll face the same fate as Hinch, depending on whether the league treats the Red Sox scandal is an additional crime, or the maxing out of the same offense.
Relevant to our interests, Danny Farquhar, one of two players to expose the Astros' trash-can talents, made his way into the report for posterity.
Although the Astros’ players did not attempt to hide what they were doing from Hinch or other Astros employees, they were concerned about getting caught by players from other teams. Several players told my investigators that there was a sense of “panic” in the Astros’ dugout after White Sox pitcher Danny Farquhar appeared to notice the trash can bangs. Before the game ended, a group of Astros players removed the monitor from the wall in the tunnel and hid it in an office. For the Postseason, a portable monitor was set up on a table to replace the monitor that had been affixed to the wall near the dugout.
