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

[PG Canuck]

That's pretty good

Man Bauer is hilarious hahahah

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

The draft picks taken away is hardly punishment given what a crapshot MLB draft is compared to others

MLB should have banned Houston from participating in draft for next 5 years if they were serious about punishing them

Houston would be forced to rely on UDFA and FA to compete on all levels

 

[EpochLink]

Justin Verlander sure is quiet nowadays, he usually on the gun when players get called out for cheating.

 

[FiveTacos]

But the real and truthful answer is.........

The players were given immunity for their cooperation of the investigation. They were a big part of it, if they didn't talk the investigation would have been a lot tougher. It was a compromise

Ultimately the only real punishment they'll suffer is in the court of public opinion. Which depending on the individual player's level of shame might matter a lot ... or not at all. Of course, if any of the players fail to replicate their success from here on out it'll be really bad for them in that regard, fair or not. But then, if you're banking that kind of money maybe you just don't care. No one who ever played on those teams will ever escape it entirely though, whether or not they benefited from the scheme.

"We'd have won anyway," to me echoes the "I'd have hit all those HRs anyway" from the PED era guys. If you really truly believed that, then why'd you do it?

To me the most sickening part is the guys who talked about stuff like "Darvish was tipping pitches", or the utter gall of Hinch to call the accusations a joke knowing full well that it really was happening, etc.. The cheating was bad enough, but the smug attitude and acting like angels makes it even worse. It makes any contrition shown by any of them now or later absolutely worthless ... not that I've seen much thus far.

I would not be shocked to see Hinch and Luhnow blackballed even after their suspensions are over. It's not like there aren't any other qualified candidates, there's always more candidates than their are jobs available, and are they SO good at their jobs that it's worth the bad PR? At the very least, there's a number of plum jobs that they'll never be in the running for ... I mean, can you ever see a team they beat during the cheating era hiring one of those two guys? The fan bases would burn down the stadiums. Unless you're desperate, why would you take on that baggage if there's other good options out there? In 4 or 5 years I could easily see one or both of them whining about how they're being unfairly scapegoated because they can't get a gig.

 

[Terry Yake]

Justin Verlander sure is quiet nowadays, he usually on the gun when players get called out for cheating.

god i hate that guy

 

[guinness]

Justin Verlander sure is quiet nowadays, he usually on the gun when players get called out for cheating.

Probably busy crying into a pile of cash and boobies.

While I get that players are always trying to get an edge, I'm disappointed in the silence too. Yeah, he got his ring, but boourns.

The players getting off scot-free, save the court of public opinion is nuts, they were the ones doing the banging and benefiting from the tipped pitches afterall and 2017 will forever have an asterisk to me.

 

[guinness]

god i hate that guy

 

[Mickey Marner]

MLB did just enough to appear like they care. I eagerly await the overcoming adversity Astros documentary that will follow in the wake of these mild punishments.

 

[Emperoreddy]

god i hate that guy

 

[Emperoreddy]

Yu Darvish is a guy I feel for. Ripped to shreds in 2017. Convinced himself he had to be tipping his pitches.

 

[Terry Yake]

Yu Darvish is a guy I feel for. Ripped to shreds in 2017. Convinced himself he had to be tipping his pitches.

yup. i posted about this earlier

and it took him pretty much an entire season to get back on track. hard not to feel for him

 

[Del Preston]

I've lost a lot of respect for Beltran. After Fiers spilled the beans, Beltran told the NY Post he didn't know of a camera being used to steal signs. Now he's the only player who was actually named by Manfred.

“I’m not aware of that camera,” Beltran told The Post in a text message exchange. “We were studying the opposite team every day.”


“We took a lot of pride studying pitchers [on] the computer. That is the only technology that I use and understand,” he said. “It was fun seeing guys get to the ballpark to look for little details.

https://nypost.com/2019/11/12/carlos-beltran-astros-stole-signs-but-not-illegally/

This will hang over the Mets as long as he's their manager.

 

[Voight]

The draft picks taken away is hardly punishment given what a crapshot MLB draft is compared to others

MLB should have banned Houston from participating in draft for next 5 years if they were serious about punishing them

Houston would be forced to rely on UDFA and FA to compete on all levels

You're 100% right about it being a crapshoot, then theres Houston being loaded with young players in their primes. & how plenty of good players are drafted after the first two rounds.

Probably busy crying into a pile of cash and boobies.

While I get that players are always trying to get an edge, I'm disappointed in the silence too. Yeah, he got his ring, but boourns.

The players getting off scot-free, save the court of public opinion is nuts, they were the ones doing the banging and benefiting from the tipped pitches afterall and 2017 will forever have an asterisk to me.

Did you really need to remind me he was married to Kate Upton? My week was going so well.....

Yu Darvish is a guy I feel for. Ripped to shreds in 2017. Convinced himself he had to be tipping his pitches.

Probably cost him a couple million too IMO.

At least he has a sense of humor

Justin Verlander sure is quiet nowadays, he usually on the gun when players get called out for cheating.

He'd just deflect and say they were already doing it when he got there and there was nothing he could do / didn't want to ostracize his team mates.

 

[MikeyMike01]

They should vacate the title. Anything less is insufficient punishment.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

Not only vacated title, but lifetime bans to the management. Just a couple years removed from Coppy's ban (not arguing it wasn't warranted), this is totally inconsistent.

 

[Terry Yake]

They should vacate the title. Anything less is insufficient punishment.

yeah right

that insufferable bunch will keep going around bragging about '17 like none of this ever happened

 

[Vamos Rafa]

Justin Verlander is right up there with Aaron Rodgers as athletes that for some reason, are media darlings.

 

[punk_o_holic]

The draft picks taken away is hardly punishment given what a crapshot MLB draft is compared to others

MLB should have banned Houston from participating in draft for next 5 years if they were serious about punishing them

Houston would be forced to rely on UDFA and FA to compete on all levels

I'm still surprised they didn't away any international signing money as part of the punishment. So even if they don't have their picks, they could still sign prospects.

Also they keep their compensation pick for losing Cole right? If they can't sign Springer to a long term contract, they put a qualifying offer next year. He rejects it. If he goes elsewhere, they get another compensation pick so essentially they still have a 1st round pick.

 

[Pia8988]

They should vacate the title. Anything less is insufficient punishment.

I agree, every team that had a single player cheat during their title run should have them vacated.

 

[Voight]

 

[Voight]

Not only vacated title, but lifetime bans to the management. Just a couple years removed from Coppy's ban (not arguing it wasn't warranted), this is totally inconsistent.

This is arguably worse. At least in the Braves case they had to release the players back into the international free agent/prospect market. They literally lost everything including their GM, who by all means was doing a good job w/ the rebuild, even without the prospects the team lost.

Astros cheating resulted in a World Series title, the absolute pinnacle of the sport.

 

[EpochLink]

Justin Verlander is right up there with Aaron Rodgers as athletes that for some reason, are media darlings.

Aaron Rodgers never cheated the game of football.

 

[John Price]

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Devils advocate: aka the guy who didn't speak up while it was happening when he was on the team, and only mentioned it when he went to a rival organization after being non-tendered and shelled by said former team.

 

[SJSharksfan39]

Devils advocate: aka the guy who didn't speak up while it was happening when he was on the team, and only mentioned it when he went to a rival organization after being non-tendered and shelled by said former team.

I just got a notification on TheScore about Jessica Mendoza saying how this was "Hard to Swallow". Of course the twitter mob is going after her, but I can kind of understand this point of view. Fiers was on the team as it was happening, now he's on a division rival and finally, after 3 years, spoke up. I think it would have been more brave if someone spoke up in 2017 or 2018. A lot of this is political and not wanting to snitch on your friends, and I still think the penalties were too soft for what actually happened, but I do think anyone who asks the question why this came out from someone who is on the division rival 3 years after it actually happened is a legitimate question.