The Hot Corner
Well, it finally happened.
Yesterday was a rough day for us Houston Astros fans. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and his investigative team announced the punishment for the Astros cheating scandal yesterday and he did not hold back.
I have so many thoughts and opinions on the whole situation, but can sum it up with this: It is a messed up and franchise-killing decision.
The Houston Astros lost their first and second round draft picks for the 2020 and 2021 MLB drafts, general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch were both given one-year suspensions and the Astros have to pay a $5 million fine.
The punishment itself was about what I was expecting, to be honest.
The draft picks definitely hurt and not having Hinch and Luhnow for 2020 isn’t the end of the world, but it does hurt.
But during a press conference after MLB’s announcement, Astros ownership decided to throw gasoline on the fire by announcing Hinch and Luhnow had been dismissed from the team.
I hate that decision for a number of reasons. The first being that those are the two men who got this organization to where it is today. Luhnow brought in Alex Bregman, Justin Verlander, Zach Greinke and Lance McCullers. He was the one who built the farm system into what it is today.
Luhnow is not in the clubhouse during games and is not in charge of daily activities in the clubhouse. The manager is.
The fact that he was fired for something that he had very little to do with is asinine.
I understand the Hinch firing due to the fact that he is in the dugout and he could have put his foot down and ended the sign-stealing operation. From reading the report, he had very little to do with it and was actually very vocal about his displeasure with the operation.
Twice Hinch smashed the monitor being used to relay the catcher’s signs. He clearly was not involved with or a supporter of the cheating operation.
By all accounts, current Boston Red Sox manager and former Houston bench coach Alex Cora was the ring leader of the whole ordeal. Luhnow said as much in a Monday statement.
Cora and former player Carlos Beltran were the ones who designed and led the sign-stealing operation, and yet Hinch and Luhnow paid the price. Cora is apparently going to face some steep punishment as well, but that doesn’t help Hinch or Luhnow, does it?
None of the players are facing punishment even though this was a player-run operation. That is not a good look for Owner Jim Crane or the MLB.
Attacking the higher-ups is scapegoating.
Crane had to have known of all this, and if he didn’t, he is not a very good owner. Regardless, why wait until now to make these decisions if maintaining organization “purity” is so important? The way he handled this whole situation gave me the impression that he wanted to distance himself as much as possible, play the victim and act like he had no part in it all. He threw Hinch and Luhnow under the bus so that he could avoid the heat.
The Astros still have a supremely talented baseball team and will probably win the American League West, making the manager’s position a highly-desirable job. But who would want to work for an owner who is clearly not beyond using his employees as a shield to save himself?
Going into the next few years, I was confident the Astros’ window to compete at a high level could last over the next five to 10 years. Now, I hope that in three seasons, they can manage a winning record.
Reed Graff is the sports editor for the Snyder Daily News. Comments about his column may be sent to sports@snyderdailynews.com