Big penalties come down for Astros

Houston Astros manager, GM suspended and fired after MLB investigation on sign stealing

Following an investigation into sign-stealing practices conducted by the Houston Astros, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred issued punishments that included oneyear suspensions for Astros general manager Jeff Lunhow and manager A.J. Hinch. Punishment also includes forfeiture of the team’s first and second round picks in the 2020 and 2021 MLB Draft and a $5 million fine.

Astros team owner Jim Crane announced in a press conference that Lunhow and Hinch were fired following the MLB’s investigation and issued suspensions.

You might remember that Oakland A’s pitcher Mike Fiers (who won a World Series title with the Astros in 2017) told Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich of The Athletic about the Astros’ trash can banging scheme that sparked the investigation.

The investigation revealed that — during the 2017 regular season and into the postseason, where the team won a World Series title — bench coach Alex Cora helped implement the system that required players to bang trash cans to relay signals. Players on that team, including Carlos Beltran, were involved in implementation and practice.

This blow to the Astros’ system certainly rejiggers the power dynamic in the AL West. This season, 2020, was already primed to be the peak of the A’s contention window. But a weakening power structure in Houston might open up even more the odds of a division title.

One of their aces, Gerrit Cole, moved on to the New York Yankees and the rest of that rotational three-headed monster of 2019 — Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander and Zack Greinke — are closing in on their late 30s. The team’s peak is inching toward decline, in theory, at least. But perhaps that’s too much of a pessimistic outlook on the state of the Astros franchise.

Once the Astros replace their manager and, presumably, a bevy of low-level personnel that may be cleared from the house, the team has the foundation and key pieces to be one of the strongest postseason contenders in baseball. Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, Alex Bregman and Yordan Alvarez with Lance McCullers Jr.’s return

looming make up just bits and pieces of Houston’s strong front.

But, cracks in the foundation have officially crumbled amid the investigation. The intersection of the A’s rise and Astros’ leadership failures may spark a bit more optimism in the A’s front offices that a changing of the guard is on the horizon.