Hinch: ‘Fair question’ if title tainted
Former Houston Astros manager AJ Hinch isn’t dismissing the idea that the team’s 2017 World Series championship has been tainted by the sign-stealing scandal that cost him his job.
“It’s a fair question,” Hinch said in an interview with MLB Network. “And I think everyone’s going to have to draw their own conclusion.”
Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow were suspended for one season by commissioner Rob Manfred, who found Houston illicitly used electronics to steal signs during their title run. Team owner Jim Crane then fired both Hinch and Luhnow.
Hinch defended his players’ talents but said the clubhouse put itself in a position where its achievements might be blemished.
“I hope over time, it’s proven that it wasn’t,” he said. “Unfortunately, we opened that door.”
Manfred’s report noted the cheating was “player-driven” and that Hinch did not support it.
According to a report published last week by The Wall Street Journal, the scheme had its origins in an application created by the team’s front office
Dubbed “Codebreaker,” the program was reportedly introduced to then-Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow in September 2016. With “Codebreaker,” baseball operations and video room staff observed other team’s signs and the subsequent pitch and entered that information into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet during the game, with an algorithm eventually breaking down what each sign meant. This information was then relayed to batters.
Eventually, the relaying of the decoded signs morphed into the 2017 “banging scheme” — with players watching the game on a live monitor and banging on a trash can to indicate upcoming pitches.
According to The Wall Street Journal, “Codebreaker” was used during both home and away games into the 2018 season.
Former Astros pitcher Charlie Morton, now with the Rays, says he regrets not doing anything to try to stop the illegal stealing of signs.
“I was aware of the banging . ... Being in the dugout, you could hear it. I don’t know when it dawned on me, but you knew it was going on,” Morton said.
Meanwhile, Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka, whose team lost the 2017 ALCS to the Astros in seven games, thinks the Yankees were cheated out of a chance at winning a championship.
“Yeah, I do feel that,” Tanaka said through an interpreter.