Details continue to emerge from the Cardinals hacking scandal, which has already resulted in Cardinals Scouting Director Chris Correa being fired late last week.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which initially broke the news on July 2, reported that Correa admitted hacking into the Astros database to see if they were stealing proprietary information, but did not leak any information.
This story merits continuous observation moving forward.
Federal investigators recommend charges be brought against at least one Cardinals employee connected in what CNN is calling “an alleged computer intrusion” which is not to be confused with hacking because “investigators believe Cardinals employees used an old password belonging to a former employee who went to work for the Astros in order to gain access to the Astros database.” In any case, having CNN following this really cements the serious nature of what’s going on here.
Jennifer Langosch of MLB.com profiled the now former Cardinals Scouting Director in the days leading up to the MLB Draft. Correa — who passed up a chance to get his Ph.D. at Michigan for a full-time baseball gig — was a fast-riser in the Cardinals ranks who caught the eye of GM John Mozeliak, who promoted him in November to replace Dan Kantrovitz, who left for Oakland. Among other notable points here are the glowing reviews from his co-workers and highlights of his early résumé, which included help in developing analytical models used in making player personnel decisions.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Joe Strauss writes that appearances are worse now that the scouting director — and not “some anonymous nerdling” — has taken the fall in his piece written in the wake of the Correa dismissal. Strauss references a seemingly prophetic message from a recent Mozeliak briefing suggesting the front office squad the Cards put together might be broken up. Further, Strauss seems to believe this won’t be the last we hear from this scandal, saying: “Shoes are sold in pairs. The hunch here is another one will eventually drop.”
Fellow Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz writes that Correa’s firing “raises the level of embarrassment” as the Cards had to jettison an employee who has been promoted three times since 2009 and clearly was valued highly by the owner and GM. It could be a bit of a blow to the Cardinals, as he notes that Correa joins a list of at least six others as ex-Cardinal front office members who had important roles in the organization’s developmental machine five of whom left with GM Jeff Luhnow to Houston.