After investigation, MLB orders Cardinals to forfeit top two picks, pay $2 million to Astros
Major League Baseball is ordering the St. Louis Cardinals‘ top two picks in the 2017 draft, as well as $2 million, be awarded to the Houston Astros.
The announcement came Monday, after MLB completed its investigation regarding the breach of the Astros’ baseball operations database by a former Cardinals’ employee, scouting director Chris Correa.
Correa will be placed on the “permanently ineligible list,” effective immediately, also per orders of MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. The $2 million is to be paid within 30 days.
“We respect the Commissioner’s decision and appreciate that there is now a final resolution to this matter,” Cardinals chairman and CEO William O. DeWitt Jr. said in a statement. “Commissioner Manfred’s findings are fully consistent with our own investigation’s conclusion that this activity was isolated to a single individual.”
“This has been a long and challenging process for all of us, especially those within our baseball operations department,” Cardinals GM John Mozeliak said. “We have learned a great deal along the way and we have taken additional steps to ensure that something like this doesn’t ever happen again.”