Four years later, some will tell you it’s time to move on with the Houston Astros signal theft scandal.
Yes, that’s all a thing of the past, but it’s such a momentous event in MLB history that it’s worth reflecting on once again.
And that’s what Commissioner Rob Manfred did in a lengthy interview with TIME magazine.
In it, we can learn that after having had the necessary hindsight, the big boss of major baseball would have done things differently, including his decision to grant immunity to the players of the Texan formation.
I’m not sure I would have addressed this by giving players immunity. Once we gave immunity, it put us in a box as to what exactly we were going to give in terms of punishment. I might have gone through the investigative process without that immunity and see where that would have gotten us. Not punishing anyone might not have been the best decision ever.
Yet in 2020, Manfred had always positioned immunity as a matter of necessity, not choice.
Even if possible suspensions would probably have been challenged by the players’ union, it would have been the right thing to do and the stigma would have ended up on the side of the cheaters.
Instead, the commissioner suspended general manager Jeff Luhnow, manager AJ Hinch and bench coach Alex Cora in addition to fining the Astros $5 million, who also lost four draft picks. draft.
Unfortunately, we can never go back to the past.
