Jim Crane just fired Jeff Luhnow and AJ Hinch.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 13, 2020
Less than an hour ago, MLB came down with punishments on the Astros, that included AJ Hinch and Jeff Luhnow being suspended for one season. The noise in the streets is that no one thought that the punishments were enough for the team or the individuals involved with the plan. This includes no player being penalized for their actions.
Well, it turns out the punishments weren’t enough for Astros owner Jim Crane, either.
He just fired both men, which puts the rest of their careers in jeopardy. If you serve a suspension, and have a job to come back to, re-entry into the game is much easier than if you have to find a whole new job coming off the suspension.
I’m sure Luhnow will get some consulting gig, and Hinch will get some team that takes a chance on him as an instructor, if he is publicly sorry. Hinch is only 45 years old and has a lot of baseball coaching still in him, so I’m sure we haven’t seen the end of him. But I do want to punch him square in his stupid face.
AJ Hinch’s career pic.twitter.com/IHjc6QcC80
— George's Box Pod 🎙 (@GeorgesBoxPod) January 13, 2020
