Cheating is common for sure...but this clearly isn't being regarded by everyone as your everyday cheating...even if we as fans want it to be. If i'm concerned about my personal brand...and i'm a free agent...there is zero chance that this wouldn't have some impact on my thinking of where I'm going provided I have other choices.
Translation...Crane knows what happened and he's not appealing. They're accepting the punishments. That should tell you something.
The draft picks will hurt, but even thought it is rounds 1& 2, we're still talking 4 picks (at the lower end of both rounds) which...what, on average 2 out of the 4 would be good major leaguers? They are not sure thing top of the draft picks like correa, breg or springer, but yes it will be damaging...just not as huge as it initially sounds. The $5 million fine isn't that much comparatively and might just piss off Crane, causing him to go way over the luxury tax and spend on free agents. Who knows? Astros could even have Biggio and Bags on the bench next year, which would be interesting and pretty cool. I still don't think the cheating was that extensive... they certainly weren't banging on the damn trash can every game. For me personally, as a lifelong baseball fanatic, sign stealing really isn't that big of a deal and obviously has been something every team in baseball has been trying to do in one fashion or another for over 150 years. Mike Fiers puts foreign substances on the ball...so what. Anyhow, I might just get first row centerfield tickets next year, have my binculars ready and relay the signs to my friend with first row Astros dugout seats. Come and get us Manfred. Screw you MLB. The Yankees would never be punished as harsh as this. Even more excited for the 2020 season.
Seems everyone admitted to it. Players, Hinch, etc all seemed to have openly talked to MLB and described the scheme. The people saying in the other thread things like "how can anyone prove it" etc - this is how. The summary seems to be: Cora and players did it pretty openly. Players knew it was wrong. Hinch knew it was wrong but didn't do anything to stop it. Did it after the MLB warning. Did it in the postseason. MLB was able to acquire detailed evidence of the whole thing. I'm not sure how anyone can argue with MLB coming down pretty harshly. I think the "if Lunhow secretly tries to involve himself in 2020, he is permanently banned from MLB" is pretty interesting and powerful. You know a regular GM suspension would probably have the GM quietly talking to front office personnel/etc and basically just shadow-GMing.
