MLB - NEWS & NOTES

Interesting stuff on this Cardinals Astros situation. It was widely believed that when Jeff Luhnow left St Louis to become GM of the Astros that he took a ton of information that was company info, however he and DeWitt/Mo had such a great relationship that they kind of looked the othe way and simply asked to have he documents as well. This all isn't officially known, but has been semi speculated aroun St Louis for a few years. The 3 of them (Luhnow, DeWitt, Mo) pissed off a lot of people in the organization by sort of blowing things up and letting guys get the axe. My guess is someone wasn't happy with all this and used the master list of passwords to log into the documents both teams had access to. I don't think that's illegal, the illegal part is leaking the info as maybe doing it on personal computers instead of at the office. My guess is 1 guy goes down (the dude who's house it was done at) and this turns out to not be an organizational thing. Hope I'm right.

 

well, i don't think you're right on part of it, at least. i am not sure what u mean when u talk about documents both teams had access to - but the bottom line is that not only is it illegal to access a network without authorization, it potentially carries some REALLY stiff penalties if they (prosecutors) want to be dicks about it. also, releasing the info is not a required element of the crime. u are not allowed to access someone else's network without permission as long as you're "just looking" - that's plenty illegal on its own.

 

Well, it was a tweet! And I missed by who, as they were showing tweets across the top of the tele. Thats why I didn't take it real seriously as we all know how some tweets come out......That wasn't your tweet, was it Fish?

 

Say it ain't so, Mut! ;D

 

That's what they were saying about the ball boy around these parts back in January MT1F. I'm watching this situation and you're reaction to it closely my friend.

 

Lulz, it's long been known the Astros illegal took Cardinal documents when executives left St Louis for Houston, there were documents both organization had access to. Hey we're Cardinal minor league documents that the Astros used to model their minor league organization. I assume these would be the only Astro documents the Cardinals would have passwords for, and if indeed those were the documents then accessing them wouldn't be illegal, since they were after all originally Cardinal documents.

Press, if it becomes clear that this in any way affected on field product like filming walk throughs or altering balls then we'll talk. I don't think that's the case though, especially given that this was a leak of information. If it was being used for competitive advantage it would have been done against a team in the NL and kept a secret as opposed to releasing all the information.

Another thing to remember is that the FBI and MLB are both much more consistent and respectable organizations than the NFL. I only mention this because I actually expect them to act in a rational way and will believe (at least MLB) what their findings show. Until we see that though I won't jump to conclusions.

 

i don't believe the argument you're presenting has any legal validity.

 

igloo---i dont tweet.

mut-im with lulz here. i think this is more serious than you think.

 

the good news is that after a quick look, i don't think this runs afoul of federal statutes.

i am not sure which state law would apply. i looked at both missouri and texas laws, which are quite similar, but after further thought, my best guess is it would be the laws of whatever state the targeted server was located in.

 

Aint saying your right, aint saying your wrong, but it has always been my belief that if the FBI is involved it has to be because of federal laws being involved. But the last time i heard that was when efraim ziblast junior said it.

 

If it crosses state lines its federal. There are 3 states involved so it would be federal.

I agree that this is a very big deal for the individual or individuals to accessed and leaked the documents. But if it's some desk jockey analytic that crunches numbers and reports up and that's it then this really means nothing to the team. That person could go to federal prison but if it's some guy who went rogue, which is how it seems to appear, then I don't really care if he goes to prison. If DeWitt or Mo is involved then it's a big deal to the sport and the team, but if not then I really don't care. It's just some underpaid (because the analytical staffs in MLB make peanuts) number cruncher who never made an important decision for the franchise.

 

On Friday night, Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez became the 29th member of the 3,000-hit club in baseball history.

...and i really cant get behind it or cheer for it or feel one bit happy for it and he brought this down on himself. It wouldnt even surprise me if he didnt give a crap what i and a lot of others think about it anyway.

A-Rod ! Your a Bum !

 

Once more into the breach. The Houston Chronicle reported Thursday that a third violation of the Houston Astros database by St. Louis Cardinals employees has been found during an ongoing FBI investigation. This news, along with the assertion by Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow that he didn't use stale passwords for the database, expands the scandal beyond what was initially thought.

Cardinals ownership, meeting concurrently with reporters, said the stain of the breaches touches the entire organization, no matter who perpetrated them.

Evan Drellich of the Chronicle writes:

The Chronicle on Thursday learned that the Cardinals had unauthorized access to Astros information as early as 2012, a year earlier than was previously known. Cards owner Bill DeWitt Jr., meanwhile, for the first time acknowledged that his organization had played a role in accessing proprietary information belonging to the Astros, blaming ?roguish behavior.?

Meeting with reporters in St. Louis on Thursday along with general manager John Mozeliak, DeWitt said his own organization's investigation was still ongoing and did not specify which employee or employees were responsible, but told club workers on Thursday ?we've all been tainted.?

?Those responsible will be held accountable,? DeWitt said, ?and we will continue what we feel is a great franchise.?

The extent of the Cardinals' reach inside the Astros' organization isn't yet fully known but was not limited to one or two occasions, a person familiar with the details of the investigation said. The source asked for anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the case. The Chronicle has previously confirmed two breaches into the Astros system ? one in 2013 and one in March of 2014. The FBI began its investigation after the 2014 breach.

Drellich's post also addressed the possibility of the Astros filing a civil suit against the Cardinals. They could, but it would be a challenge of MLB's rules that prohibit one franchise from suing another. More likely, the Astros would defer to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. He could hand out punishments along these lines:

The commissioner's power to punish ranges from issuing a reprimand; barring a club from major league meetings; suspending or removing any team owner, officer or employee; levying a fine that can't exceed $2,000,000 in the case of a club, and no more than $500,000 in the case of an owner, officer or employee. The commissioner too can take away the benefit of any or all major league rules ? which include, notably, the Rule 4 and 5 drafts. The Rule 4 draft is better known as the amateur draft. The rules too allow for other unspecified, punishments as the commissioner sees fit.
It depends on how much illegal activity these "roguish elements" are found to have done. If Manfred finds it reasonable that Mozeliak and/or DeWitt should have known about it, the commissioner could punish the Cardinals like the NFL did to the New England Patriots -- or much worse, possibly.

 

Max Scherzer takes a perfect game into the 9th with 2 outs and 2 strikes, beens the batter, lol.

He got the no-no tho... great day for Max!

 

Tabata leaned in too.

 

In a very obvious way... good call, tigers1.

Found it...

[video]https://youtu.be/CpIGM7-CWSQ[/video]

 

i thought this take from a pirates writer was interesting.

ummm, rob, he gave up 5 earned runs in 5 and 2/3. way to lower the bar.

 

Want a good laugh? Check out some of the writings by 'DK on Sports'. Especially his thoughts on the Penguins.

 

Embarrassing to all Pirates fans :rolleyes: Best move of the game goes to Tabata :[