Major League Baseball announced one-year suspensions of both the Houston Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch on Monday. The Astros had been accused of sign-stealing using a center-field camera during the 2017 MLB season. Shortly after MLB published details of the suspensions, Astros owner Jim Crane fired both Luhnow and Hinch.
The Astros also forfeited their first and second round draft picks for both the 2020 and 2021 drafts, and will be fined $5 million, the maximum amount under MLB’s constitution.
According to The Athletic, MLB commissioner Rob Mandred said that the league had to review 76,000 emails and a large number of Slack instant messages as part of its investigation. As The Athletic originally reported in November, the Astros allegedly stole signs by routing a video feed from the center-field camera at Minute Maid Park to another screen inside a tunnel leading to the Astros’ clubhouse. Team personnel would reportedly bang on a garbage can near field level to signal the type of pitch that was being thrown to the batter.
“That’s not playing the game the right way,” Mike Fiers, a former Astros pitcher, told The Athletic. “They were advanced and willing to go above and beyond to win.”
MLB is still conducting a separate investigation into Alex Cora regarding allegations that the Boston Red Sox stole signs electronically while he was the team’s manager in 2018. Cora was also the bench coach of the Astros during 2017 and was mentioned in the commissioner’s report for violating rules that helped the Astros steal signs.
