Look at Ray Ray Run

I would hope the front office isnt reactionary enough to respond to the results of a 7 game series with some drastic change.

Lastly, for all arguing players should be punished (which I don't disagree with) it just wasn't going to happen. The MLBPA would have spent years fighting any punishments against players and the CBA was far too vague on this to cite a section with expected punishments. Baseball had hard times punishing players who beat their wives/SO before CBA policy change - just to put it into light how difficult it is to punish players.

What you're missing is that the Astros have lost a substantial amount of FO employees over the past 1-2 years because of their success; many people who were near the top have been promoted and hired elsewhere. The Astros have lost a lot of people behind Luhnow, and the one guy they wanted to keep (similarly to Hahn and the Sox) was fired because he was a huge asshole as well. This teams cupboard is running dry, and the ship is now sailing with no captain. I wouldn't be shocked to see most others abandon ship as it was already running light in the first place. The Astros have so much talent I'm not sure it'll matter as much next year, but don't underrate the pressures of overcoming a cheating stigma on players as well.

These players trying to save face is hilarious. "This actually was more distracting than beneficial. I didn't even want to do it." Says guy who participated in 2+ years of blatant cheating that led to a World Series.

Problem is their GM and their guy in line to be the next GM were both removed - 1 banned permanently.

I mean, I imagine many of these people on board are Luhnow guys. He was just removed from his post, and the system beneath him now doesn't have clear leadership. I could see a ton of people jumping ship now. Maybe not, but it would make sense.

I see this the exact opposite way. Luhnow didn't really "know" about this in the same way as the people involved in the day to day. Luhnow also has a skill set that is much harder to replace than a baseball manager. He built an organization and achieved things most GM's can't. I would guess someone rolls the dice on him... heck, Preller got other shots and he's a complete asshole.

Yeah, I assumed Hinch would be fired FWIW. Luhnow I wasn't positive about. This feels like baseball kicking the can down the road for the lifetime ban, and allowing Crane to hand that out himself pretty much.

When you factor in that this caused the firing of Luhnow, it seems like a fair enough punishment. Maybe baseball wanted to give Crane the right to fire his people. Hinch is essentially banned for life - as I can't imagine anyone touches a manager with this tied to them, because they're easily replaced. How baseball handles Luhnow will be interesting; clearly very intelligent, but a culture that isn't exactly wonderful. Will someone hire Jeff next year?

Luhnow has been fired.

The problem is, as much as I dislike Jeff Luhnow it's hard to argue this was done at his direction.

Yeah, but I'd love to know the rules? Can jeff call tom and ask how the kids are? Can jeff get dinner with Jim Crane for fun? Or is he not allowed to have any contact at all with anyone in the organization?

Also, how does baseball assure that Luhnow doesn't assist the team in any capacity? Will they monitor all FO communications (Phone/EMail/Text) over the next 9 months? Luhnow should be terminated because the Astros have proven they will do anything they can to skirt the rules. It wouldn't shock me if Luhnow was still in contact with Astros officials if he isn't terminated.

I edited my post, but this may be more indicative of Alec than the system. The White Sox have done a pretty fantastic job of developing arms so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

Hansen had to be sent back down, not because he struggled but because his AA pitching coach couldn't figure out or tell him what was wrong the same way they could in A+. Pretty embarrassing. Edit; I'll add Hansen is a headcase and this could be more of a Alec problem than a White Sox problem.

Yeah, but you're punishing players on the current roster who didn't cheat or participate. This is why that punishment would never fly.

That's the maximum fine they can levy in this situation.

Steroids were absolutely a systematic team wide system; there's a reason certain teams had more users than others.

They can't ban a team from the post-season; this isn't college sports. They would force an owner to sell before they banned a team from the playoffs. There are far too many issues with doing that; the PA wouldn't want players being punished like that for the actions of FO/coaches who were there before them. Players have incentives tied to post-seasons on contracts. Fans have bought tickets already under the premise that the team is going to compete for a championship. There are far too many moving parts to pull off something like that in professional sports.

I certainly don't think so. As we learned in the steroid era, fans will pay to watch a product that entertains them and they couldn't really care less about the cheating. We may care, but we are in the minority of this.

The problem for baseball is they could easily take away what the Braves gained by cheating - their international class that was obtained by the cheating. Baseball in turn could not take away what the Astros gained by cheating - a World Series - without opening up Pandoras box. Looks like Cora may be done all together.

LOL now it's not even a full year ban. They will be eligible for reinstatement at the end of the 2020 World Series. The report does CONFIRM that the Astros CHEATED in the playoffs.

One puts the financial integrity of the game in question; which, to the owners, is much more detrimental and damaging to the product - regardless of how we see it.

What the Braves did could have been considered illegal based on labor and tax laws - it could have violated federal law if those "reported" signing bonuses are what was recorded on financial statements; and if the earnings are what were claimed and filed by the players. Although many of these players paid their tax in their countries or national origin. What the Astros did was illegal within the game and the game only.

Manfred even released a statement saying Crane knew nothing; at the end of the day, the punishment could never reach the levels fans wanted because ownership groups would never ever sign off.