Attorney says Cardinals execs not behind Astros hacking
ST. LOUIS — High-level executives of the St. Louis Cardinals were not involved in the hacking of the Houston Astros’ player personnel database, an attorney hired by the team said Wednesday, citing an internal review.
The Cardinals said they retained the Dowd Bennett firm for a review several months before this week’s disclosure that the FBI is investigating whether the team hacked into the Astros’ computer system that is used to track players and prospects.
“With what we have done so far, I am 100 percent confident that this does not touch upper management and does not involve people like John Mozeliak and Bill DeWitt,” Jim Martin, an attorney for the firm, told The Associated Press. Mozeliak is the Cardinals’ general manager and DeWitt is the team chairman.
Martin said he was retained in February.
Mozeliak said in Minnesota that he and DeWitt were not aware of any information that the team used. The Cardinals have been aware of the investigation for “several months,” the GM added.
“When you look at how you make decisions and why you make decisions, everybody does it differently,” Mozeliak said. “In our case, we’re very comfortable with our process and how we think through things.
“I hope people realize today, though, that this is not something that I was aware of or Mr. DeWitt was aware of. In no way did it help inform any of our decisions.”
Repeating his assertion from Tuesday in St. Louis, manager Mike Matheny didn’t believe the investigation would affect performance. The Cardinals led the major leagues with a 43-21 record.
“There’s going to be extra questions, there’s going to be extra attention,” Matheny said. “We’ve got a good group of guys who have been around and had potential distractions that they’ve stayed the course. And that’s all we’re ask- ing them to do.”
Mozeliak also separated the Cardinals’ performance from the investigation.
“I do feel that this is something that’s not great news for our organization,” Mozeliak said. “But it shouldn’t be something that tarnishes what these gentlemen do on the field.”
The FBI has declined to confirm it is investigating the Cardinals. But a person familiar with the investigation earlier told the AP that federal authorities are looking at whether members of the team were to blame for what Major League Baseball called a “breach” of the Astros database. There has been no indication of how many employees might be under investigation and Martin’s comments were the first to suggest that any wrongdoing could be limited to the lower levels of the Cardinals organization.
The internal investigation is not finished, and Mozeliak added, “Not being an expert on this, I feel like progress is being made.”
“These are serious allegations that don’t reflect who we are as an organization,” DeWitt said. “We are committed to getting to the bottom of this matter as soon as possible, and if anyone within our organization is determined to be involved in anything inappropriate, they will be held accountable.”
DeWitt said the law firm is helping the team in providing requested information to the federal government. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said this week that subpoenas have been issued, though he did not disclose any details.
“The alleged conduct has no place in our game,” Mozeliak said. “We are committed to finding out what happened. To the extent we can substantiate that these allegations have merit, we will take appropriate action against anyone involved.”