Astros: Three key takeaways from MLB sign stealing report

Major League Baseball came down hard on the Astros.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred released his findings and his punishment related to the Astros sign stealing scandal on Monday, and the league clearly did not take the club’s actions lightly. GM Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch were each suspended for one year, with the club forfeiting its first and second round draft picks for two years and paying a $5 million fine.

Astros owner Jim Crane went even further, firing both Luhnow and Hinch shortly after the discipline was announced. We’ll get into that decision in more detail as well, but there’s plenty to sift through from the nine-page report issued by Manfred.

The sign stealing operation apparently started in early 2017 when Astros staff in the video replay review room used a center field camera to decode signs, relaying that information to the dugout. It then evolved into having a monitor installed just outside the dugout to allow players to see the feed themselves.

The players would then relay that information to baserunners and/or the batter at the plate by banging on a trash can, among other things, which continued through the 2017 postseason. The replay room was still relaying signs in the 2018 regular season before the players stopped, believing it ineffective.

There’s no way to tell how much the games were affected by this, or even if the outcome of the 2017 postseason would have changed if the sign stealing had not occurred. But for now, here are the three key takeaways from the commissioner’s report.

Players Get Off Scot Free

This is where most of the actual culpability lies. The report noted that “Most of the position players on the 2017 team either received sign information from the banging scheme or participated in the scheme by helping to decode signs or bang on the trash can.”

The entire scheme was largely player-driven, as it was a group of players who came to Astros bench coach Alex Cora with a desire to find better ways to steal signs. It was the players who primarily ran it, and of course it was the players who primarily benefited from it.

So where’s their punishment? Well, it’s not coming. In fact, the only position player actually named in the report is Carlos Beltran, and he’s now retired. There is no discussion about which players were involved or which ones were the primary culprits, and there is no attempt by the commissioner to discipline any players even though they knew what they were doing was wrong.

Why? Well, for one, the commissioner deemed it impractical. Given the fact that a handful of players were involved and that it would have been difficult to determine which ones were more responsible than others, and that some of them now play for other teams, Manfred decided to hold Luhnow and Hinch responsible.

But there’s also another reason he won’t admit to. Issuing discipline to players would have drawn the attention of the Players Association, and that’s not a fight Manfred likely wants with CBA negotiations coming up. So for the people most responsible for the actual violations, their union has effectively served to get them off the hook.

Cora In Deep Trouble

While Hinch was not involved in the sign stealing, his second-in-command was. Cora was very much involved in the whole operation and was an active participant. The fact that he was so much involved is what led the players to think it was acceptable for them to do it.

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Cora has escaped punishment for now, but not for long. He’s also under investigation for some alleged electronic sign stealing undertaken by the Red Sox club he managed in 2018. Upon the conclusion of those investigations, he’s expected to be disciplined severely.

That could mean a number of possibilities, but it looks like he should at least get a suspension equal to Hinch’s. At this point, he’s probably hoping for that. But with all things considered, I would expect something worse.

With an apparent central role in two separate violations with two separate clubs, Cora could be looking at a suspension spanning multiple years, possibly even for life. It’s unlikely he survives this as Red Sox manager, as Boston would probably have no choice but to move on to someone else.

While Hinch and Luhnow will likely get new jobs in the league after their suspensions are up, Cora’s very future in this game is currently in jeopardy. Even if he avoids a lifetime ban, it’ll be hard for a team to justify putting him in a dugout ever again.