[NY Times] Cardinals under FBI investigation for hacking Astros

Correa should be offered some sort of deal to name whoever he shared the info with... its not as if he's going to get another job in MLB any time soon (if ever.... likely will be banned for life).

 

If Pete Rose is banned for life because of gambling, I don't know how Correa could get anything less.

 

Was the Astros' password 'Eckstein' when Cardinals hacked them?

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I guess Eckstein123 was NOT just enough... <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/thisisnotthepasswordyouarelookingfor?src=hash">#thisisnotthepasswordyouarelookingfor</a></p>&mdash; David Eckstein (@DavidEckstein22) <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidEckstein22/status/691018177644486660">January 23, 2016</a></blockquote>
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"battlefight" was already taken

 

so he told his colleagues at the Cardinals what he found. Interesting. That makes things more complicated for the Cardinals and for the commissioner.

 

That is interesting. I wonder if his bosses can be punished (in the legal system) just for simply not reporting him after he told them of the illegal activity.

 

Colleagues/bosses would probably only be on the hook if they used the info that Correa stole. Some type of aiding and abetting charge. I'm guessing there probably wasn't enough evidence there, because they would have presumably been indicted at the same time that Correa was.

MLB can of course come down harder on the Cardinals based on these statements.

 

On bosses, if they knew Correa stole draft information and allowed him to do his job...they were using the information. Granted, like you said though there likely isn't sufficient evidence to link the bosses.

 

Other than his testimony/sworn statements.

The Cardinals can most definitely be liable for not reporting illegal activity. At that point, there's no way they can prove that they didn't use the info they received (or by choosing to do nothing and keeping the scouting director employed, they'll be liable for his actions).

 

Sworn statements/testimony isn't sufficient evidence to get a conviction for illegal activity. It may be enough to sway MLB handing out a harsher punishment to the Cardinals. FBI may be able to use it against the Cardinals. However, that isn't the same as laying a charge against a colleague or a boss.

 

No, it would be part of it. If he's implicating the organization that they knew, its up to the feds/MLB to pursue that avenue of investigation.

 

Yes, they can pursue. They have been. If they find something that can solidly link a specific person to knowing, that would be sufficient to charge someone. The testimony/sworn statements is not sufficient evidence needed to charge someone. Yes, the testimony could be part, but it is not sufficient by itself.

 

Agreed. And they've been talking to Correa for several months and working with him on his plea agreement, so I'm confident the first time the feds heard that he told his "colleagues" (not necessarily his bosses) was quite some time ago -- I highly doubt the first time the feds heard that was at the hearing this month. Presumably, they heard that info and followed up on it already and didn't find anything worth pursuing. So, I'd be surprised if there were any more indictments.

 

You're assuming he told the Cardinals HOW he obtained the data. It's unlikely he admitted to his bosses that he illegally hacked into the Astros' system. He more likely just relayed the info in a standard plausible deniability way.

 

Well, that needs to be determined. Its unclear in the above transcript. He said he shared info with "colleagues"... if he really didn't tell a single other person in the Cardinals organization that the Ground Zero database organized by their former scouting director was still accessible... and had a ton of useful info... then there's no way anybody else can be indicted.

I just find it highly suspect that he tapped into the system, got the info, and didn't tell anybody that he did that.

 

Well, if you committed a crime to obtain info, you might just share the info instead of the fact that you committed the crime. You could always pass it off as "I have friends inside the Astros organization" or whatever.

It's like if you robbed a bank and got a lot of money. You might share with your friends that you have lots of money, but it's only the idiots that share that they robbed a bank. The more people you tell about the crime, the more likely you are to get caught (and fired, even if you didn't consider the possibility of jail).

 

Its already been established that this person wasn't the brightest of individuals in his decision making, so it isn't beyond reason that he told *somebody* that they have an in-roads to the Astros database... he's already been caught, so he can only gain by implicating others (if he actually did share illegally obtained info).

Likewise, if a company profits via one person's illegal activities... companies are liable and get fined/reprimanded as they're responsible for that person's actions, regardless of whether or not they had intimate knowledge.

 

Cards were mad because they knew he was going to use his experience learned with them at his next job. Though, he was a huge reason they built the algorithm and database. As it was Luhnow is so polarizing by his demeanor, he was a target from the start (look at the previous Reds GM, he hated Luhnow to the point his hate superceede team outcome). Obviously the Cards felt betrayed by Luhnow leaving, after being hand picked by one of the owners.

I think Cards were grooming Luhnow to be their guy, before he bolted to the Astros.

All of a sudden their competitive advantage wasn't proprietary any more. Luhnow didn't steal their data or programs. He just molded one for the Astros In The style he helped create for the Cards.

No different than Billy Bean trying to sue every team that does money ball...

 

As far as I know Billy Bean hasn't sued anyone for using Dat to measure players ability.