Astros punishments: Hinch and Luhnow suspended and fired, team loses 1st and 2nd picks in 2020, 2021

[Terry Yake]

oh and you also have to give up a couple 1st round picks and lose your manager/GM. who wouldn't say no?

 

[CokenoPepsi]

Should be lifetime bans and stripped of title.

Shame on the MLB and this is after what they did to poor A-Rod

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

I wonder if the players will take any public accountability seeing as they get zero formal punishment. Probably not.

They'll just continue to curse Mike Fiers' name as if he's the issue.

 

[bobholly39]

You do know how baseball works, right? The catcher is set up inches away from the batter. He would hear any verbal signals from the catcher.

Does the catcher call the pitch, or pitcher? I envision pitcher "calling" the pitch (no one can hear him, he's too far). Catcher has an earpiece (batter can't ear what's in his earpiece).

So if pitcher calls a pitch catcher likes, catcher "signals" yes, or signals "no". You tweak it a bit etc - but the idea is you can't steal that, as you don't know what pitcher is calling.

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

oh and you also have to give up a couple 1st round picks and lose your manager/GM. who wouldn't say no?

Hope the A's hold a night where they give out free trash can lids to fans and have them bang it endlessly with every Astro batter.

 

[Voight]

Hinch & Luhnow will be reinstated the minute the World Series ends this October.

They will probably both have jobs a year from now.

 

[punk_o_holic]

Glad this is over. I like everyone was expecting more. I along with other Astros fans are pissed that Hinch and especially Luhnow got fired. Will those 2 find jobs elsewhere? Or will they be blacklisted? I think Luhnow would be worth hiring.

 

[PG Canuck]

part of the punishment should have been placing an asterisk on their WS title

It's already there and always will be. Pretty much everything they've done is tainted and will always be remembered. If I'm an Astros fan, it's not even something I can feel good about anymore. That win is forever tainted and bringing it up in a pissing contest "at least we won a WS" is only going to be laughed at now.

I would be incredibly embarrassed if the Mariners did this and won a WS, although I think the Mariners could all be on roids and do what the Astros did and still not win it, but that's another topic.

 

[Voight]

Shocker, the owner does not think the title deserves an asterisk



If he only gets a year, Manfred needs to be fired.

 

[PG Canuck]

You do know how baseball works, right? The catcher is set up inches away from the batter. He would hear any verbal signals from the catcher.

It's a bluetooth ear piece, not a surround sound speaker system.

 

[TheTotalPackage]

part of the punishment should have been placing an asterisk on their WS title

Would that really matter to them? They still get to display the trophy and have the banner fly forever.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

This is maybe a sort of pedantic nitpick but I think the team punishment would have been a little more palatable if they also had to surrender QO picks for three or four years. The 1st/2nd rounders are harsh, but they should still get reasonably decent picks because of Cole, Springer, etc. Voiding their ability to receive QO picks for a few years on top of the rest would have been a bit more of a hammer to the longer term development.

Not sure it matters all that much, just a thought. For the teams that lost to them in the playoffs, nothing short of an asterisk/stripped title would suffice.

I will say that although the firings may make it seem like even less damaging, that being the end result here is pretty severe. However, as some are saying, in the end this isn't really a huge penalty – any team in baseball would trade this for a World Series, or probably just a few deep playoff runs. That's partly why I'm cynical about the impending Cora punishment, because he can be made to wear the entire scandal, and while that might have some legitimacy, it's still not enough to be a truly harsh punishment. It's not like there's much ambiguity involved in terms of culpability, whether Hinch destroying monitors and being somewhat of a sympathetic case means anything or not. There's also a bit of obfuscation about Luhnow's endorsement, but IMO the organization should have been hit even harder assets-wise, and Luhnow should have received a lifetime ban.

Continuing with the cynicism, though, I would additionally wonder about the legality of lifetime bans and how that works. At the end of the day I'm surprised things were this harsh from MLB, but given how little ambiguity there is, I think they should have made things more severe. Strip QO picks, decimate international bonus money for a few years, and eviscerate Luhnow. I think the intended force of the punishments are to place an implicit asterisk on the title and effectively run Luhnow and Hinch aground. I wouldn't be surprised if Luhnow is employed again in some capacity, but Hinch might be totally screwed. It's not like there aren't tons of potential MLB managers again. In some ways I almost feel some sympathy for him.

 

[Tecumseh]

It's a bluetooth ear piece, not a surround sound speaker system.

You don’t need one to hear someone from six inches away.

 

[GKJ]

It’s not even about the asterisk. Sports holds great value in the court of public opinion. It will always be part of the conversation just like it is with the Patriots.

 

[NJDevs26]

part of the punishment should have been placing an asterisk on their WS title

This punishment basically does put an implicit asterisk on it. I don't know what else people want, ask for their rings back? You're not getting them from the players anyway. Everyone knows the 'vacated wins and titles' are just paper punishment anyway. The asterisk exists in one's own mind whether it's there on paper or not. Some people put an asterisk on the Bonds/McGwire records, some don't.

I don't think they should get a lifetime ban but they probably shouldn't have given the Atlanta guy one either, I guess his punishment was deemed more severe cause he was manipulating teenagers.

 

[Terry Yake]

Hope the A's hold a night where they give out free trash can lids to fans and have them bang it endlessly with every Astro batter.

oh i can't wait to see fans doing this to the astros on the road

they're going to get **** on this entire season

 

[NJDevs26]

Glad this is over. I like everyone was expecting more. I along with other Astros fans are pissed that Hinch and especially Luhnow got fired. Will those 2 find jobs elsewhere? Or will they be blacklisted? I think Luhnow would be worth hiring.

I think Luhnow deserves another chance...unless guys like Hinch and Cora actually talked to him about it I don't know what he really could have done even if he wanted to since he's not in the clubhouse during games.

Hinch might be another story but you never know with baseball owners. Cora's probably gonna wind up getting suspended for a year and a half and fired as well, since he's a part of two of these.

 

[Terry Yake]

They'll just continue to curse Mike Fiers' name as if he's the issue.

yup

i'm already seeing angry astros fans on twitter saying they hope tony kemp beats fiers up now that he's on the A's. these losers are actually mad they got caught

how about not cheating?

 

[BKIslandersFan]

When does Luhnow and Hinch suspension start now? When they get a new job or just straight up year and they can get another work?

 

[Terry Yake]

When does Luhnow and Hinch suspension start now? When they get a new job or just straight up year and they can get another work?

starts now and ends the day after the 2020 WS ends

 

[TheBeastCoast]

I can't believe they are going to let them be an active part of the international market. Giving them a 2 or 3 year ban there probably hurts as much or more then losing picks.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

Also the logic they worked around for tampering with teenagers in the international market=banned for life. Aggressively cheating at the MLB level=1 year suspension.

 

[NJDevs26]

yup

i'm already seeing angry astros fans on twitter saying they hope tony kemp beats fiers up now that he's on the A's. these losers are actually mad they got caught

how about not cheating?

It's a good thing pitchers don't have to hit in the AL or Fiers would get two up in his ear for being the 'snitch'

 

[Terry Yake]

@Duke33 where you at?

probably rage tweeting about how much he hates mike fiers

 

[Voight]

oh i can't wait to see fans doing this to the astros on the road

they're going to get **** on this entire season

Not until No Fun Manfred bans fans who bring it up

I think Luhnow deserves another chance...unless guys like Hinch and Cora actually talked to him about it I don't know what he really could have done even if he wanted to since he's not in the clubhouse during games.

Hinch might be another story but you never know with baseball owners. Cora's probably gonna wind up getting suspended for a year and a half and fired as well, since he's a part of two of these.

I'm not convinced Luhnow knew about the scheme, but as the top baseball guy he was going to be collateral damage. Then it was going to be hard for Crane to fire just Hinch and let Luhnow keep his job.

When does Luhnow and Hinch suspension start now? When they get a new job or just straight up year and they can get another work?

A team could hire them today but they can't work until next October.

Whatever, they'll sit at home with their millions for 10 months.