Special Report 1: The Houston Astros Sign Stealing Scandal

by Richard Wachtel

Updated January 18, 2020

1️. The Big Story: “The Comish” Releases His Findings On The Houston Astros Sign Stealing Scandal

The baseball world was rocked on Monday, January 13th when the Commissioner of Baseball Robert D. Manfred, Jr. released a nine-page report on the findings of an investigation of the 2017 Houston Astros Sign Stealing scandal. According to the report, the investigation was led by Bryan Seeley and Moira Weinberg of the Department of Investigations of Baseball, who both have substantial experience investigating baseball operations matters.

The MLB investigation covered the period from 2016 through the present [2020]. During the investigation, the Department of Investigations interviewed 68 witnesses, including 23 current and former Astros players. Some witnesses were interviewed multiple times. The Department of Investigations also reviewed tens of thousands of emails, Slack communications, text messages, video clips, and photographs. Lastly, the Astros fully cooperated with the investigation, producing all requested electronic communications and making all requested employees available for interviews.

From the report:

“At the beginning of the 2017 season, employees in the Astros’ video replay review room began using the live game feed from the center field camera to attempt to decode and transmit opposing teams’ sign sequences (i.e., which sign flashed by the catcher is the actual sign) for use when an Astros runner was on second base.”

The report lays out how the Astros set up the process of sign stealing:

“Once the sign sequence was decoded, a player in the video replay review room would act as a “runner” to relay the information to the dugout, and a person in the dugout would notify the players in the dugout or signal the sign sequence to the runner on second base, who in turn would decipher the catcher’s sign and signal to the batter from second base.

It wasn’t just the Houston Astros who were caught using electronics for sign stealing. Again from the investigation and the report:

“In August 2017, the Boston Red Sox were caught transmitting sign information from their replay review room to individuals in the dugout wearing smart watches.”

At the end of the report, the Commissioner leveled the following penalties for:

The Astros Players:

“I will not assess discipline against individual Astros players. I made the decision in September 2017 that I would hold a Club’s General Manager and Field Manager accountable for misconduct of this kind, and I will not depart from that decision. Assessing discipline of players for this type of conduct is both difficult and impractical. It is difficult because virtually all of the Astros’ players had some involvement or knowledge of the scheme, and I am not in a position based on the investigative record to determine with any degree of certainty every player who should be held accountable, or their relative degree of culpability. It is impractical given the large number of players involved, and the fact that many of those players now play for other Clubs.”

Astros Organization:

“…the Club will forfeit two regular first round selections and two regular second round selections in total. The forfeited draft selections will be removed from the selection order and all other selections will move up. (2)The Club will pay to my office a fine of $5 million, which is the highest allowable fine under the Major League Constitution.”

Jeff Luhnow (General Manager):

AJ Hinch (Manager):

“Shall be suspended without pay for the period beginning on January 13, 2020 and ending on the day following the completion of the 2020 World Series. During the period of his suspension, Hinch is prohibited from performing any services for or conducting any business on behalf of the Astros or any other Major League Club. Hinch must not be present in any Major League, Minor League, or Spring Training facilities, including stadiums, and he may not travel with or on behalf of the Club. If Hinch is found to engage in any future material violations of the Major League Rules, he will be placed on the permanently ineligible list.

Alex Cora (Houston Astro’s Bench Coach 2017):

“Cora participated in both schemes, and through his active participation, implicitly condoned the players’ conduct. I will withhold determining the appropriate level of discipline for Cora until after the DOI completes its investigation of the allegations that the Red Sox engaged in impermissible electronic sign stealing in 2018 while Cora was the manager.

Brandon Taubman (Houston Astro’s Assistant General Manager 2017):

“Shall be ineligible to perform services on behalf of any Major League Club, either as an employee or independent contractor, through the day following the completion of the 2020 World Series, at which time he will be eligible to apply to me for reinstatement. If Taubman is found to engage in any future material violations of the Major League Rules, he will be placed on the permanently ineligible list.

2️. The Impact

After the report was released, Houston Astros Owner Jim Crane held a press conference where the real fireworks came. Mr. Crane announced that both GM Jeff Luhnow and Houston Manager AJ Hinch were fired:

“There are two very important points I want to make today: I have higher standards for the city and the franchise, and I am going above and beyond MLB’s penalty,” Crane said in a news conference yesterday afternoon at Minute Maid Park. “Today, I have made the decision to dismiss AJ Hinch and Jeff Luhnow. We need to move forward with a clean slate, and the Astros will become a stronger organization because of this today.”

MLB on FOX reporter; senior writer, The Athletic; Ken Rosenthal shared a statement from fired GM Jeff Luhnow:

Jake Kaplan who also writes for The Athletic Houston shared a statement from fired Manager AJ Hinch:

3. Alex Cora And Carlos Beltrán “Mutually Parted Ways” With The Mets And The Redsox

The fallout from the firings of AJ Hinch and Jeff Luhnow crept all the way up to the Northeast and stoped in New York City and ended in Boston.

From Houston To Boston

It took only one day after the MLB commissioner released his report and findings that the Boston Redsox “mutually parted ways” with the manager that they only hired two years ago: Alex Cora. Alex Cora was the bench coach for the 2017 World Series winners: Houston Astros and was heavily implicated in the MLB report on Astros’ sign-stealing being mentioned 11 times.

From Manfred’s report:

“[Alex] Cora was involved in developing both the banging scheme and utilizing the replay review room to decode and transmit signs. Cora participated in both schemes, and through his active participation, implicitly condoned the players’ conduct.”

In an article that appeared in MassLive.com that was published only a day after the Redsox released Cora, Chris Cotillo reported that:

“…Alex, by his own admission, and we agreed, played a central role in what went on in Houston,’ said team chairman Tom Werner. ‘We all agreed it was wrong and that we had a responsibility as stewards to have a standard here where that sort of behavior is not acceptable.

The article went on further to report:

“[John] Henry said Major League Baseball didn’t recommend that the Red Sox move on from Cora, even after the Astros fired manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow on Monday. The team’s leaders went into their meetings Tuesday simply trying to figure out how to most effectively shape the future of the Red Sox.”

From Houston To New York

Carlos Beltrán, the only 2017 Astros player implicated by name in Manfred’s report, and was hired the New York Mets early this offseason was also a victim of the Astro’s sign-stealing scandal. During the offseason, Beltran denied the existence and knowledge of the Astros using cameras during the 2017 season[This obviously turned out to be false]. and went on the record with the New York Posts Joel Sherman via text message said:

“I’m not aware of that camera… We were studying the opposite team every day. … We took a lot of pride studying pitchers [on] the computer. That is the only technology that I use and understand… It was fun seeing guys get to the ballpark to look for little details. The game of baseball for years, guys have given location and if the catchers get lazy and the pitcher doesn’t cover the signs from the second base [then] of course players are going to take advantage. I don’t call that cheating. I call that using small details to take advantage. I think baseball is doing a great job adding new technology to make sure the game is even for both teams. It’s easy to blame someone when they win.

According to the Commissioners MLB’s report:

“Approximately two months into the 2017 season, a group of players, including Carlos Beltrán, discussed that the team could improve on decoding opposing teams’ signs and communicating the signs to the batter.

Days after the report’s release and the firing of Alex Cora, the New York Mets and Carlos Beltran “mutually parted ways.” #Mets COO Jeff Wilpon and Executive Vice President & General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen on Carlos Beltrán issued a statement:

At the same time, Carlos Beltrán issued a statement:

4. Altuve Denies Wearing A Device To Steal Signs

With a monster home run in Game 6 of the ALCS in 2019 against the New York Yankees, Jose Altuve rounded third base, and held is jersey together tightly and pointed to his teammates not to rip it off in celebration.

Since the Astros have been implicated in the sign-stealing scandal that has rocked the baseball world, this moment in time has fueled social media conspiracies and posts suggesting that the 2019 ALCS MVP and others were wearing electronic devices underneath their jerseys to know what pitches were coming.

In a statement, Scott Boras (who is Jose Altuve’s agent) released to the New York Post immediately after the accusations surfaced. The statement reads as follows:

In addition, Joel Sherman goes further to explain that “MLB explored wearable devices during the investigation but found no evidence to substantiate it. That investigation, MLB said, includes 2019.”

5. My Thoughts

While I usually leave the opinions to others, I wanted to share just a couple of thoughts on the situation as a whole.

Takeaway #1: The Astros Players owe its fans and fans of baseball an apology.

I am a true believer in the theory that baseball teams and players should go out of their way to give back to the fans who attend their games in hot weather, spend millions of dollars in clothing, tickets, food and whatever else teams put into the market.

In this situation, I truly believe that each player and staff from the 2017 Houston Astros put together a no “holds bar” press conference, look into the camera and apologize to the fans and say that they will do whatever it is in their power to restore faith in them and the game that we all love and then sit and answer as many questions from baseball reporters that attend until there is no more questions asked. Would the LA Dodgers and their fans be happy with this? Most likely not, but it could be a necessary start to a long process.

Takeaway #2: What's the correct punishment?

There were some calls for MLB to vacate the Houston Astro’s World Series win in 2017 after this report. While I believe that cheaters should be punished, we just feel that this isn’t possible at all to strip the Houston Astro’s of their title, all the stats and history from the game can’t be erased with a single decree from Major Leauge baseball. I am not sure what is the correct punishment or if it was already administrated to the Astros in losing two draft picks and being fined the league maximum.