Houston, January 13, 2020: Major League Baseball handed down its penalties from the investigation over electronic sign stealing during 2017. The results are shocking: The team forfeited its first two picks in 2020 and 2021, was fined the maximum amount ($5 million), and both manager A.J. Hinch and GM Jeff Luhnow received suspensions for the entire season. Astros owner Jim Crane then held a press conference, plainly stating that both men were fired. I spied the list of punishments on a muted MLB TV screen while in the midst of a house cleaning mission, not realizing that the Astros had been far more thorough.
I have followed baseball avidly since the 1970s and I can think of nothing to compares with this in terms of punishment for an organization. I think the revelations of the steroid scandal are more damaging to the game, but there is a huge difference: No players are involved. These were members of management and the owner has the right to dismiss them wholesale and not worry about grievances through the MLB Players’ Association. The MLBPA’s involvement made the steroid situation far more difficult to police and as a result there were a lot of slaps on the wrist when I thought chopping off hands would have been more in line with issues concerning the integrity of the game.
This is a different level of integrity. Let’s be clear, the Astros are the first team to be so punished and we could see other teams—and individuals—similarly disciplined in the weeks, months, and years to come. Astros owner Jim Crane brought up a good point: What major advantage was expected to gain for the ultimate penalty of putting their team and their own careers in peril? Did it make a huge difference? The 2017 Astros won their division by 21 games. They are also accused of using these systems during the postseason that year, when the Astros beat the Red Sox in four games to take the Division Series and needed seven games to dispatch both the Yankees in the ALCS and the Dodgers in the World Series. It was the first world championship in franchise history.
I believe in strict punishment for cheating the game, whether it’s betting by players or gambling with the game’s integrity. This is not a lifetime ban, but this is not throwing games or putting yourself and your team in a vulnerable position—as Pete Rose did. But this is the kind of suspension I think is deserved. Did new Mets manager Carlos Beltran have knowledge of this scheme as an Astros bench player? As a veteran with a lot of time to sit in the clubhouse and dispense wisdom, you’d have to think he knew something about it. I’m sure he will be asked, but in this instance it seems like players may evade punishment. Who knows? This was a shock. Who knows what other surprises may be in store?