MLB has finally handed down its punishment to the St. Louis Cardinals following former scouting director Chris Correa’s hacking of the Houston Astros’ internal database. The Cardinals will be fined $2 million and will lose their first two picks (#56 and #75 overall) in June’s MLB Draft. All of those spoils will be given to the Astros as compensation.
MLB reaches decision on hacking scandal: #STLCards must award top two picks (Nos. 56, 75) to #Astros and pay $2M fine to HOU as well.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 30, 2017
Some believe the punishment is actually a bit light.
Reaction to MLB's punishment of the Cardinals from around the sport is immediate: Some evaluators find penalty to be shockingly light.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) January 30, 2017
In addition, Correa was placed on baseball’s permanently ineligible list, which ends the possibility of him going back into baseball following his 46 month prison sentence.
St. Louis had already lost the #19th overall pick in June’s Draft after signing free agent Dexter Fowler, meaning they won’t pick until the fourth round. Their total pool value in the draft has been cut to just over $2 million as the result of the lost picks, meaning that the Cardinals likely won’t be able to get creative with many of their signings.
Last year, St. Louis had a total pool value of just under $10.5 million, and the Cubs had the smallest pool at just under $3 million. Four players drafted by the Cardinals in 2016 received bonuses of over $1 million, something we likely won’t be seeing this year.
[STLToday]
