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Former Cardinals scouting director pleads guilty in Astros hacking case
Bill Hinton/Getty Images

Former Cardinals scouting director pleads guilty in Astros hacking case

This past June, reports surfaced that the FBI was investigating the St. Louis Cardinals for allegedly hacking data from the Houston Astros, who had previously been a fellow NL Central team before moving to the AL West.

In July, the Cardinals fired Christopher Correa, their former scouting director who was at the center of these allegations. Those allegations included reports that the hackers “weren’t very good” at what they were doing, attempting to gather scouting data from Houston.

Friday, Correa, who had been with the Cardinals since 2009 and worked under Astros GM Jeff Luhnow when Luhnow was with the Cards, appeared in court on charges related to the hacking. There, he pleaded guilty to five counts of unauthorized access to computer information, according to Houston Chronicle sports media reporter David Barron. Each count carries a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 and restitution.

Correa was “homegrown,” as described by Derrick Goold in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch back in December 2014. In that feature, Goold perfectly captures a scouting director looking extremely hard to gain an edge over the competition. We now know just how far Correa was willing to go to find that edge.

Take, for instance, some of what he and Goold said back in December 2014 compared to what transpired today in court.

Dec. 2014: “The way to think about this going forward is I’m not interested in replicating our past success. I’m interesting in getting better."

Jan. 8, 2016:

By better, Correa must have meant stupid and illegal. He admitted as much Friday. It certainly wasn't better for the Cardinals to receive this bad publicity, and now Correa is in a much worse position than he was just 13 months ago. Stupid is not better, but stupid is where Correa ended up.

Dec. 2014: “We’re going to be relentless in trying to find new innovations and new ways to improve our process. We’ve started that already.”

June 8, 2016:

It looks like Correa was relentless … so relentless that he decided to illegally trespass on data because he thought the Astros had St. Louis data. It's the classic case of believing two wrongs make a right, when we all know how that works out.

Dec. 2014: “Correa declined to go into specifics, but the importance of finding or maintaining an edge in the draft has already been underscored this winter.”

Jan. 8, 2016:

Not only did Correa hack into Houston data, but he attempted to cover his tracks. This is all under the guise of maintaining an edge — whether in the draft or just in scouting in general. Unfortunately for him, his attempts at cover-up weren't effective enough.

Dec. 2014: “[Correa] follows [Dan] Kantrovitz, who is now an assistant general manager in Oakland, and Jeff Luhnow, who is the GM in Houston."

Jan. 8, 2016:

Correa followed Lunhow so ardently that he trailed his former boss all the way to Houston's database. That's an almost stalker level of following — or at the very least illegal.

Dec. 2014: “I think what I learned there that helps me here is how to conduct empirical research and how to think critically about it. And what that means for applying it to day-to-day decisions.”

Jan. 8, 2016:

It seems as though what Correa learned is how to gather information from Lunhow, which clearly he applied to his day-to-day decisions — like the decision to gather more information from Lunhow, even after he had left the organization.

At least he accepts responsibility for his own actions, which is hopefully something else he learned. It seems like he did think critically in this instance, knowing nothing good would come from lying or attempting to pass the buck.

Dec. 2014: “We have to have high expectations for the draft. There’s a big-leaguer in every draft round; we just have to find him. … We have more than 1,000 guys on our draft board, and I think the big thing for us is to come up with disciplined decision-making processes that are driven by lessons we’ve had in history. That way we make sure that we have the right names floating to the top of our list for each round.”

Jan. 8, 2016:

Correa said there was Cardinals' information in Houston's database, so perhaps there was some overlap with the 200 players in Houston's system and the 1,000 guys the Cardinals gather for their draft boards. We may never know. What we do know is Correa had an opportunity to compare names and see if, in fact, the Cardinals had what the Astros also considered the right names.

Of course, there's no way to know when Correa began to think about the illicit activities he has now pleaded guilty to, but it's interesting to take a look back at some of his philosophies and feelings when he was promoted to scouting director for St. Louis.

In addition to the guilty plea, the information to which Correa gained unauthorized access was set at $1.7 million by the judge in the case, Lynn Hughes. The sentencing hearing for this case is set for April 11.

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