[NY Times] Cardinals under FBI investigation for hacking Astros

I was actually pretty happy about this when I read the news yesterday. I was convinced that the punishment was not going to include something that would benefit the Astros at all. Glad I was wrong.

 

I was not expecting the Astros to get picks, maybe a few million$ which is pretty inconsequential.

 

That's what I figured. When I saw the alert on my phone, I just assumed that the Cards were losing picks...not that they were being given to the Astros. That makes me pretty happy...but the money should've been more, too.

A secondary benefit might be that this allows Luhnow a tad more flexibility in making trades this season, knowing that he'll get 2 relatively early picks to help refill any losses.

 

I told all of y'all the Houston Astros were receiving a few draft picvks from the Cardinals as well as monetary compensation. HahahaHahahaha

 

*picks

 

Ok. Would you like a cookie? YOUS WINZ TEH INTERWEBZ!!!111!!!!

 

Oh, I remember. And I remember that the bad drafts started with the last few of Hunsicker's, as Buck reminded us. But just *one* of those drafts set us back a couple of years (remember failing to sign Drew Stubbs)? All of them added together created the 2006-2011 pseudo-contending-but-they-actually-suck malaise this franchise went through. Ed Wade did a good job trying to reverse the tide, but he was still hamstrung by the McLane...

...who is the real reason we had all those train-wreck drafts in the first place.

 

After years of getting ass****ed by Bud Selig, just about anything would have felt like a victory.

 

Concerning Correa's statement, honestly it wouldn't surprise me. Sadden me, but wouldn't surprise me.

 

If true, how did the FBI and MLB not know about it after 2+ years of investigations?

 

Bingooo! Is the last year where the money pool is going to be like years past! Starting in 2018, the money pool will favor the bad teams starting next year.

 

They didn't investigate the Astros; they investigated the Cardinals. And yeah, I think that makes a difference. I think those particular stones were left unturned. Scope, and all.

 

I would imagine Correa brought that to their attention, with whatever "evidence" he had, if any.

 

rather than "I think," I should probably say, "I assume," or "I imagine." A little stupid of me, so far removed from any knowledge of this and with no proximity, to speak as if I know something.

 

Not to mention...the Astros would've been punished way way way way worse than the Cards if there was even a hint of illegal goings on.

 

Yeah, so how do these things actually work? Would the investigators ignore that and stick the scope of what their warrants dictate? Would the Cardinals have to lodge a formal complaint and request another investigation now?

 

It's actually used frequently. Well, at least that's the impression that Astros counsel gave our class. Giles joked that it's used all the time (IIRC, he also seemed to disagree with a lot of holdings, though he didn't go into detail on the issues with which he disagreed).

He specifically mentioned that Luhnow tried implementing high-tech scouting tools on Cuban players. IIRC, the tools basically measured how far/fast players were running, things of that nature. Anyways, the Commissioner stepped in and said that such a system wasn't "in the best interest of baseball" because of the unfair competitive advantage it would lead to in international prospect signing.

Apologies for the rants. This may be the only time I'm able to use anything I learned from a Professional Sports Law class, haha.

Very possible. I was just speculating.

 

As far as I know, you're referring to the international signing bonus pool, not the amateur draft.

 

People have access to Twitter, Facebook & Instagram from jail.