$2 Million, 2 Picks, Too Harsh?
MLB Commish Punishes Cards

Correa: After sentencing
(c) John Shapley/Houston Chroncle
The hacking scandal that found former St. Louis Cardinals scouting director Chris Correa had illegally entered Houston's central database on over 40 occasions over three years turned a corner on Monday as MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred ruled that the Astros would receive $2 million dollars in damages and two high draft choices in this June's draft after the Cards had already surrendered their first-round pick in compensation for signing a free agent from the Chicago Cubs. Correa, no relation to the Houston star shortstop, was also banned permanently from its jurisdiction.

Correa is also serving a 46-month sentence in federal court and ordered to pay roughly $280,000 to the Astros from a decision handed down last summer.

The Astros were able to prove they had suffered damages by Correa's actions. Correa claimed he was checking to see if the Astros were using proprietary methods acquired when General Manager Jeff Luhnow and Director of Decision Sciences Sig Mejdahl were members of the Cardinals' scouting staff.

The fine isn't that much when you consider most veteran players get more than that in annual salary and the selections Houston received are the equivalent to second and third-round choices.

The punishment isn't intended to destroy the Cardinals, only to hurt so severely that future incidents never happen. Sensing what might come from the Commissioner's office, the Cardinals built up some extra draft choices last year. The St. Louis farm system will barely feel the sting.

The Redbirds and the Commissioner both claimed Correa was the only person involved, an idea I find more cover-up than credible. Let's say you or I had found a way to hack into a business competitor's most secret files to learn what they were thinking about multiple aspects of their business. What are the odds you or I wouldn't blab about it, even to other people in your office - for three years? Others surely knew but baseball found their scapegoat and insisted the investigation stop there.

It is a bit surprising baseball saw fit to compensate the Astros at all. When players or managers act up, the commissioner levies a fine but he doesn't pay the other team with it. In fact, suspended players often don't sit out the games against the team where the offense was committed. It's as if the sport was sullied, not the victimized team or players.

In the end, Luhnow got to add what he seems to covet most - more draft choices - and the rest is just a blip on the radar designed to fade from our memories. But it serves a lesson. Getting back at your enemies is best left on the field of play.

- Bob Hulsey