Faced with the defining moment of his tenure amid one of the most important moments in MLB history, commissioner Rob Manfred on Monday swung for the fences and sent the Houston Astros into orbit.
No further trash cans were damaged in the process, but the stiff punishment should be enough to encourage 29 other clubs to now view digital thievery much the same way they view the inside of a dumpster.
The long-anticipated reckoning for the Astros regarding their systemic digital cheating and stunning disobedience of a Manfred directive in 2017 came swiftly and strongly:
The Houston organization was hit with a $5 million fine (the maximum allowed under the Major League Constitution), one-year suspensions for both general manager Jeff Luhnow and field manager AJ Hinch, the forfeitures of both first- and second-round picks in both 2020 and 2021 and the placement onto baseball's ineligible list of former Astros assistant GM Brandon Taubman.