Cardinals Lose Two Draft Picks, Fined $2M For Role In Hacking Scandal

Major League Baseball is coming down hard on the St. Louis Cardinals.

The league severely punished the Cardinals on Monday for their role in a 2013 hacking scandal, taking away the team’s first two picks in the 2017 MLB Draft and fining the club $2 million.

The Astros directly will benefit from St. Louis’ punishment, receiving those two picks forfeited by the Cardinals — Nos. 56 and 75 overall — as well as the team’s $2 million fine. St. Louis has 30 days to write Houston a check for $2 million, according to the ruling issued by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.

Chris Correa, the former Cardinals scouting director who hacked the Houston Astros’ internal database, also received a permanent ban from MLB.

News of the Cardinals’ alleged hacking first broke in June 2015, when the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI began investigating a possible breach into the Astros’ internal networks by a St. Louis staffer. That executive later was revealed to be Correa, who was sentenced to 46 months in prison in July 2016.

The league didn’t punish any other individual besides Correa, who reportedly acted alone in the incident.

There was no evidence that any #STLCards employee besides Correa was responsible for the hacking scandal, according to #MLB investigators.

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 30, 2017