MLB, Rob Manfred lays the gentle hammer on the Houston Astros

MLB lays the gentle hammer on the Houston Astros

Now let’s talk about the draft picks.  The Houston Astros will lose their 1st and 2nd round picks in 2020 and 2021.  Arguably more important, the Astros will also lose that pool money which will significantly impact their ability to sign over slot talent in the draft (think high schoolers with 1st round talent and strong college commitments).

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The Astros though have been picking at the back of the draft since they are consistently in the playoffs.  Their pools are already smaller than everyone else.  This will force their scouts to look harder domestically and their player development corps to squeeze even more value out of these domestic players to keep the pipeline coming.

The Astros could also redeploy these assets to International scouting.  This is probably the worst part of the entire punishment because it will restrict the types of players the Astros can target in the draft.

Nevertheless, they will continue to target pitchers with high-spin-rates and have aggressive assignments for hitters.  Regardless their current pipeline of talent remains impressive, deep, and untouched from this punishment.

Lastly, here is why this punishment for the Astros doesn’t matter as much as you think.  This team, that just lost in the World Series to the Nationals, and its players like Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa, George Springer, Jose Altuve, etc will all receive a combined suspension of ZERO games for the 2020 season.

One punishment not listed for the players is they will be harassed by the media for answers and their thoughts on the scandal and punishment all year.  With the exception of free agents like Gerrit Cole, the Astros core that won 107 games is back and got off scot-free.

It looks like the Astros got it bad but this punishment though isn’t a death sentence at all.  The Astros GM and manager jobs are still very appealing since you get to step right into a perennial contender.  The Astros are the odds on favorite to run away with the AL West and face the Yankees in the postseason again.

Will it discourage teams from trying to cheat? No, not at all.  Teams will just figure out how to cheat smarter.  The Astros retain their 2017 World Series Title and are positioned to compete every year moving forward.  If they could go back and know what the penalties would be, they’d probably do it all over again.