Houston Astros fire manager AJ Hinch and GM Jeff Luhnow after MLB punishes team for cheating during 2017 season
The Houston Astros fired manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Lunhow for their roles in the sign-stealing scandal during the 2017 season in which they won the World Series. The team has also lost its first- and second-round draft picks for the 2020 and 2021 drafts and will be fined $5 million, according to The Athletic.
Major League Baseball first baseman Logan Morrison ripped MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred on Monday after the league issued a one'-year ban for A.J. Hinch and Jeff Luhnow for failing to stop Houston Astros players from concocting a sign-stealing scheme during the 2017 season.
Morrison took to Instagram and claimed that each major-league team is doing some kind of sign-stealing and that the Astros started their scheme before Alex Cora – who was implicated in the ruling – became the team’s bench coach. He also said he knows that the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox have also used film to “pick signs.”
EX-ASTROS MANAGER AJ HINCH APOLOGIZES FOR FAILING TO STOP SIGN-STEALING SCHEME
Hinch and Luhnow were fired Monday, Jan. 13, 2020, after being suspended for their roles in the team's extensive sign-stealing scheme from 2017. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File)
“Hello fans. Just wanted to take some time to educate everyone on this sign stealing ‘scandal’ we have going on. This is all something I have witnessed or heard. So many teams are doing this. Exactly how many… I’m not sure.
“The Manfred report that came out is straight FAKE news. This started in Houston well before [Alex] Cora got there. I was playing in Seattle in 2014 and every time we went into Houston you would hear this banging. No one put two and two together. Seattle fans may remember we came with in a game of going to the playoffs. Felix should have won a CY young that year. But couldn’t get pasted [sic] the 5th in Houston.
EX-ASTROS GM JEFF LUHNOW DENIES KNOWING OF SIGN-STEALING SCHEME: 'I AM NOT A CHEATER'
“I know from first hand accounts that the Yankees, Dodgers, Astros and Red Sox have used film to pick signs. Just want you guys to know the truth. I personally think it’s a tool in a tool belt to pick signs, but if we are going to be punishing people for it. Don’t have a— it."
Morrison subsequently deleted the Instagram post. But it was picked up on Twitter.
ASTROS PUNISHMENT IN SIGN-STEALING SCANDAL SENDS SHOCKWAVES THROUGHOUT BASEBALL
Morrison, 32, has played for the Miami Marlins, Seattle Mariners, Tampa Bay Rays, Minnesota Twins and Philadelphia Phillies. He has been known to be one of the more outspoken major leaguers on social media. He signed with the Milwaukee Brewers earlier this month.
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Hinch and Luhnow were fired after the sign-stealing ruling came down. Cora awaits his punishment, which some believe could be harsher because he’s involved in a video-replay scandal of his own as manager of the Red Sox.