@Nook or what? Those guys are two of the best at what they do, to force us to fire them on top of everything else is outrageous! Why cave to that? Will other teams be allowed to hire them?
Go home, you're drunk Bob. (Espada wasn't on 2017 team) Penalties not harsh enough! WE THE MEDIA WANT MORE!
Just bring back Tim Bogar. Now Crane can tell people : we steal in it from the Nats legally this time.
When you have a commissioner that is telling you that the people you have hired are not operating in the best interest of the league as a whole, and are muddying your name and your investment, you take notice. The league has not been happy with a number of things that have happened under Luhnow and this just put it over the top. Do not forget that Crane still has to answer to investors as well. Between the fall out of the Brady Aiken situation where the league had to step in, to the complaints over the years from the media, to the situation with Taubman where the Astros organization was caught lying and now the sign stealing..... there was a lot of desire for Luhnow to be removed and punished. Can other teams hire Luhnow? Yes, they can in less than a year but my guess is there is a unwritten rule that he is radio active for awhile. Crane's perspective is different that ours or even the players on the field. Also I am hearing that Luhnow was not exactly forthcoming with the investigation. They expected a year ban and to be back...... obviously the commissioner had a different idea. Also do not think for a MINUTE that the punishment was not predicated on Luhnow and Hinch being fired by Crane.
Give me a freaking break. These guys never quit. Still hoping the Sox get hit hard and hopefully even the Yankees. Then I want to see these blowhards go after them as well
It's mind boggling that Luhnow would permit the cheating to continue following the warning in 2017 given how little it apparently benefited the Astros (as attested to by players involved in the cheating - saying it was more distracting than anything). I could see someone like him rolling the dice (even at his own professional peril) if the upside was there, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Why take such a big risk with such little upside? Just dumb. I guess they were just supremely confident that no one would rat.
There were TWO messeges from MLB. One from Commish and one later from Torre. We ignored both. Thats why we were hammered.
Players saying it wasn't helpful is meaningless. If it wasn't helpful, they wouldn't have done or kept doing it, worried so much about being caught, and found new and different ways to do it during the playoffs, and then kept doing it the next year after the ringleader was gone. Players have no incentive to say they benefited by cheating - it means their numbers would be inflated and lower their market value.
The following is just my opinion and only my opinion. I have no proof just a gut feeling. Having said that.... I think Luhnow and Hinch were fired as sacrificial lambs in order to justify avoiding punishments to specific players. Can you imagine the shitstorm if instead of Luhnow they had suspended Springer, Altuve and Bregman? Moreover, the Manfred statement concerning the players and lack of punishment seems rather weak and lacking in credibility. If they can narrow down that Crane knew nothing and that Cora, Luhnow and Hinch were aware...it wouldn't be very hard to come to conclusions on players. But then MLB would have to deal with the Players Association and the gigantic mess that would create. I can image Manfred doing everything in his power to avoid that possibility thus the harsh punishment that almost completely involved players but in reality did not punish them specifically in any way.
From different analytical studies by various writers, I've seen reported effects of 0-5 regular season wins in 2017. My guess is that it is 2-3 games or about 16-24 million dollars in value in regular season value. I'm skeptical it had much value in 2017 postseason as teams were changing signs a lot and my suspicion that every team the Astros faced in the playoffs stole signs using electronic means.
If they were going to ding players, wouldn't they have made an example out of Beltran? I think your last paragraph is the reason why MLB didn't include players in this discipline.
He was a player at that time. Gotta think the players association would feel obligated to protect him. Can't think of any other reason why he's the ONLY (now) non player who won't be affected. He sure as hell knew a lot more than Luhnow did.
Hinch reminds me of the defendants in a Few Good Men. Luhnow...he's more the "You can't handle the truth" type.
