While the St. Louis Cardinals have finished their own internal investigation and their former Scouting Director, Chris Correa, has plead guilty to five counts of unauthorized access to computer information, the team must still wait before learning of any possible punishment which could be handed down by Major League Baseball.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
“You just take it as it comes,” answered Bill DeWitt Jr., the team’s Chairman of the Board on his level of concern with a disciplinary action. “Nothing’s going to happen real soon, I don’t think, because it’s going to be a while before the sentencing occurs. almost 3 months from now.
“I don’t know how all that works but MLB has said until they get all the information from the US attorney’s office they’re really not in a position to make any decision on what the outcome of that will be. I think we’ll just wait and see and deal with it as it develops.”
Correa is facing his charges after being investigated for hacking into the Houston Astros database to view team records and notes on draft picks, possible trades, and other information.
The sentencing hearing for Correa is scheduled for April 11th. There is no guarantee a punishment will be handed out at all, but there is also sense that precedent must be set by Commissioner Rob Manfred to ensure future acts are discouraged and prevent a perception the Cardinals are given a pass on the incident.
“I think I have confidence in the commissioner doing the right thing whatever that right thing is,” said DeWitt. “I think it depends on the facts. Some of the facts you know because there was a confession there or a plea. What else they have and want to talk to the commissioner’s office about, I don’t know. It remains to be seen.”
Understanding the severity of corporate espionage, DeWitt reiterated his shock at the incident and belief that this sort of action was an isolated incident–not just with the Cardinals, but within the culture of baseball.
More like this: