USA TODAY International Edition
MLB HAMMERS CHEATING ASTROS
Major League Baseball dealt the most severe punishment against a team in its history Monday by suspending Astros GM Jeff Luhnow and manager A. J. Hinch for a year for their role in using electronic equipment to steal signs, while fining the organization $ 5 million and stripping them of first- and secondround draft picks in 2020 and 2021.
An hour later, Astros owner Jim Crane announced that Luhnow and Hinch were fired. “I felt with what came out in the report they both had responsibilities,” Crane said. “Neither one of them started this but neither one of them did anything about it.”
Commissioner Rob Manfred also barred former Astros assistant GM Brandon Taubman from MLB for at least a year for his comments to female reporters regarding Roberto Osuna during the playoffs.
MLB detailed the results of its investigation in a nine- page report by Manfred issued Monday, going in- depth into the Astros’ 2017 schemes to decode and relay opponents’ signs.
“At the beginning of the 2017 season, employees in the Astros’ video replay review room began using the live game feed from the center field camera to attempt to decode and transmit opposing teams’ sign sequences,” Manfred wrote.
As the season went on, bench coach ( now Red Sox manager) Alex Cora “began to call the replay review room on the replay phone to obtain the sign information.”
Later, some Houston players “discussed that the team could improve on decoding opposing teams’ signs and communicating the signs to the batter. Cora arranged for a video room technician to install a monitor displaying the center field camera feed immediately outside of the Astros’ dugout.”
“One or more players watched the live feed of the center field camera on the monitor, and after decoding the sign, a player would bang a nearby trash can with a bat to communicate the upcoming pitch type to the batter.”
While Luhnow “adamantly denies knowledge” of the schemes, Manfred says he is holding the GM “personally accountable” for the conduct of his employees and players.
Hinch, meanwhile, says he knew what was going on and claims that he voiced his disapproval. Still, the Houston skipper “admits he did not stop it.”