Though it’s still expected that the Cardinals will be punished at some point for an ex-employee hacking into another team’s database, it doesn’t look like it’ll happen before the 2016 MLB draft. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that, due to the sentencing hearing of former Cardinals employee Chris Correa being delayed, it is “unlikely” that commissioner Rob Manfred will be able to punish the Cardinals before the draft begins on June 9.
Two sources with knowledge of the commissioner’s thinking said it would be “unlikely” that any punishment could be exacted before this coming draft. There isn’t time, said one, and the plan has been to wait until after the sentencing.
So it would appear that Manfred is waiting until after all the legal proceedings are complete before making an MLB ruling, which makes sense.
Correa was fired by the Cardinals last season after it was discovered that he had hacked into the Astros’ club database. He has pleaded guilty to five counts of unauthorized access to a protected computer and faces three to four years in prison.
There really isn’t a precedent here, so we have no idea how harshly Manfred will punish the Cardinals organization. It could be a fine, loss of draft picks, loss of international pool spending money or any combination thereof.
Story provided by Matt Snyder
