Houston Astros Fire Jeff Luhnow and AJ Hinch
The Houston Astros wasted little to no time in responding to the suspensions. Earlier Monday, both general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch received one-year suspensions from Major League Baseball for their role in using electronics to illegally steal signs in 2017. The Houston Astros have responded by swiftly relieving both of their duties, according to Evan Drellich of the Athletic.
It was reported that Hinch did not condone the practice. He also did not condone the way the team was going about stealing signs, particularly the trash can banging. He was also noted as saying that he would break the screens at times because he did not like it. Even still, this happened under both his and Jeff Luhnow’s watch. This necessitated the move of firing them and finding replacements.
Houston Astros owner Jim Crane spoke after the firing at a press conference. Crane does not believe that this was the reason they won the World Series in 2017. He also does not believe that this taints the World Series. He apologized to the city of Houston and to all of their sponsors.
To address who would be next to man the ship in Houston, Crane said that they would act swiftly and have new people in place very soon.
More to Come
While the Astros look at a little bit of turmoil, there is uncertainty over in another recent World Series winner’s clubhouse, the Boston Red Sox. Manager Alex Cora — the Astros bench coach in 2017 — is said to be at the forefront of developing the plan to use cameras in center field to steal signs. MLB has not yet sent down his punishment.
The punishment will likely be a bit more severe, especially on the heels of some more troubling news. The Red Sox, along with other contending teams, were put into a report by The Athletic saying they used the video replay rooms during regular season games to steal signs. MLB is currently investigating those claims.
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