BREAKING: Astros GM Jeff Lunhow and Manager AJ Hinch Suspended For Entire 2020 Season

SUSPENDED!?!  KICK THEM OUT OF THE LEAGUE ROB!!!

But…. this is what we should come to expect.  More will come out, too.  Cora will get a slap on the wrist (or MUCH worse) too. though Beltran won’t because he was a player at the time it went down.

UPDATE: Cora should UNDOUBTEDLY be handed every bit as harsh a punishment as Lunhow and Hinch received based on this excerpt:

And maybe an even worse punishment.  It’s Lunhow and Hinch’s team, but with Cora being the mastermind behind the entire scheme, he should get hammered every bit as hard if not worse than they did IMO

But then we get to where it will REALLY hurt the Astros, at least in a year or two:

It’s not just that they’re going to lose the picks, which obviously is huge in its own right, but it means they are going to lose the pool money for their first two picks for the next two years as well, so they won’t be able to go crazy overslot on anyone and pick 1st round talents in the 3rd round or greater.  It’s not just the player capital they’ll lose out on, it’s the financial capital as well.  The Astros fuel their entire organization from the ground up with their scouting of amateur talent and developing it until it’s matured enough to get to The Show, and now they probably can’t do that, at least not unless they find a diamond in the rough in rounds 3+.   This is going to reallllllly hurt them down the road.

Am I happy?  Eh… I guess.  I would have gone a little steeper, like completely cut their international spending in half or some shit.  Regardless, the Astros are a scum organization and good on Manfred for coming down on them.  They gave a big ol middle finger to him and he hit them where it hurts:

Sucks no players got suspended, but I’m sure the league told them if they ratted out as many people as possible they’d be safe.  Would have loved to watch a few of those guys squirm just because I love watching the world burn, but it is what it is.

PS – shoutout Jomboy for basically breaking this whole saga wide open.