By William Robinson
Nearly two weeks ago Rob Manfred handed down the punishment in the Astros sign stealing saga. For those of you that have been living under a rock Manfred punished the general manager of the Astros Jeffrey Luhnow (a generally hated man in MLB) and AJ Hinch the manager (generally loved by MLB) by suspending them each for one season (the Astros subsequently fired them). They also fined the Astros $5 million dollars (the maximum allotted by the CBA) and got rid of their first and second round picks for the next two seasons.
This punishment is not nearly enough. I’m sorry but it’s a cop out. Not only does it not lay any punishment on the players involved, it barely punished the team. Quick, how many players on your favorite team’s Major League roster was a first or second round draft pick by YOUR organization. For my Atlanta Braves, Freddie Freeman was a second round pick, Ozzie Albies was an international signing, Dansby Swanson was drafted by the Diamondbacks, Austin Riley was a first-round pick but Johan Camargo could be the third baseman and he was not a first or second round pick, Ronald Acuna Jr. was an international signing, Ender Inciarte came from Arizona, and Marcell Ozuna from Miami. Mike Soroka was a first-round pick, Max Fried was drafted by San Diego, Cole Hamels was drafted by Philadelphia, Mike Foltynewicz was drafted by Houston and Sean Newcomb was drafted by the Angels. So there were three players that was drafted in the first and second round by this team and two of them were in drafts that were in subsequent years.
It often takes players at least 3 years to get to the major leagues and often times longer than that. By the time that a player who was drafted in 2020 and 2021 reached the major leagues it’s possible that none of the players that were responsible for the penalties would be playing by the time those players would be on the team. It’s also very possible that the Astros could just trade around for younger talent or sign international players and replenish their farm if that’s what they were inclined to do. This punishment does very little to the Houston Astros as they can hire a new GM and new manager and doesn’t really hurt the on the field team at all. I think that Rob Manfred is an unimaginative dullard who has no interest in punishing this team.
Here is what I would have done:
1. Lifetime ban for Jeffrey Luhnow – From all accounts it appears that Luhnow encouraged the sign stealing and he also created a disgusting unfriendly work environment in Houston that is bad for baseball. If John Coppolella can be banned, so can Luhnow.
2. 1-year suspension/ban for AJ Hinch – From the accounts of his misdoings he knew that it was going on but was unable to stop it. He tore up the equipment on two separate occasions, which shows that he knew that it was bad but was not powerful enough to stop it. I sincerely hope that he gets a job again.
3. Take away the first and second round picks from the Astros in 2020 and 2021.
4. Take away their international bonus pool for those years as well.
5. Then here’s the big one: Hold a draft on national television in which every player that is on the 40-man roster for the Astros is included. There is a lottery in which every team is included with one ping pong ball. Then after that team is pulled the team must trade one player from their 40-man roster to the Astros in exchange for whomever they desire. The Astros must take this trade they cannot refuse.
This would decimate the Astros for a decade as they would be buried under bad contracts and with bad players and lose anyone from their team that would be desirable. It would also punish the players as they would be forced to play for a team that was not of their choosing. Imagine being Jose Altuve and suddenly you have to go play for the Marlins? That would be a punishment. Also Can you imagine the insanity that would ensue from this? Can you imagine the ratings? This would be huge for baseball and the television drama would be amazing! I think even casual baseball fans would tune in to see what happens that that would be good for baseball.
Baseball has a bad legacy that has developed ever since the steroid era. The sport has been viewed as being lenient on cheaters and that’s bad for the game. I think it’s time that Manfred grew a pair and decided to use some creative justice to punish these cheaters. If he doesn’t then he needs to find a new job