By Chris Brown / STL Baseball Today | @cbrown_STLBBT | Jan. 23, 2016, 6:32 pm CT
ST. LOUIS • As the Cardinals await word on potential punishment from Major League Baseball regarding Chris Correa’s illegal access of the Houston Astros’ computer network, the former redbird scouting director said he told others within the organization of his findings.
Correa, who emphasized to U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes that he originally trespassed the Astros’ system “based on suspicions that they had misappropriated proprietary work from myself and my colleagues,” said he did find Cardinals information in the system, and told Cardinals “colleagues” of that finding, according to his court transcript obtained by the Houston Chronicle (which can be seen in full here).
The 35-year-old, who is scheduled to be sentenced April 11 after pleading guilty to five counts of unauthorized access of a protected computer in early January, did not name anyone specifically, and to this point no other Cardinals employees have been charged.
GM John Mozeliak expressed confidence earlier this month that no other team employees would be implicated in the matter, though he did acknowledge the possibility of sanctions from MLB.
As for how Correa gained access to the Astros’ system, Evan Drellich of the Chronicle provides new details:
“The password of a high-ranking Astros executive that Chris Correa used to access Astros’ systems was based on the name of a player “who was scrawny and who would not have been thought of to succeed in the major leagues, but through effort and determination he succeeded anyway,” assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Chu said on Jan. 8 when Correa pleaded guilty to hacking the Astros in federal court.”
As D.J. Short of NBCSports.com and others have pointed out, this sounds a lot like one David Eckstein, the 5’6″, 170 pound infielder who played ten seasons in the majors, making to All-Star teams and playing on two World Series Champion teams, including the 2006 Cardinals (when he won the 2006 World Series MVP). Of course, other former Cardinals such as Aaron Miles, Pete Kozma, or Skip Schumaker could fit that mold, but words such as ‘scrawny, effort, and determination’ best embody Eckstein, who played with the redbirds from 2005-2007.
Eckstein himself seems to be taking his potential role in the incident in stride:
I guess Eckstein123 was NOT just enough… #thisisnotthepasswordyouarelookingfor
— David Eckstein (@DavidEckstein22) January 23, 2016
Upon gaining access to Houston’s “Ground Control” system by using that described password of a former Cardinals employee (who was by then with the Astros), Correa downloaded or view 118 pages containing information which was valued at $1.7 million dollars by a judge.
Former prosecutor Peter Toren told the Chronicle last week that he believes there is a “very, very high” likelihood that Correa will end up serving at least two to three years in prison for his actions.
More from STL Baseball Today:
Cardinals sign outfielder Carlos Peguero to minor-league contract
Cards invite 61 players to Spring Training in Jupiter, Fla.
Feature image used under Creative Commons from Ron Cogswell. No changes made. Image License.
