Bernstein: Cardinals Put Rob Manfred In Tough Spot
By Dan Bernstein--
CBSChicago.com senior columnist
(CBS) The big problem now for newly minted MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is the waiting.
FBI and U.S. Justice Department agents tend to take their time in doing their jobs and will be characteristically deliberate in their investigation of the alleged incursion into the Houston Astros' computer system by one or more members of the St. Louis Cardinals' front office. They aren't bound by any baseball timetable and are expected to follow form: starting with those actually at the keypad and working their way up the corporate ladder of responsibility as far as the evidence and testimony take them.
While many are already confident that the hacking was done by a disgruntled, low-level employee, nothing can be assumed by the league office until the process is carried out, determining who knew what about it and when. Until then, everything is on the table for possible punishment from MLB, but few options appear tenable when examining multiple scenarios.
First and foremost, no matter any legal outcome, Manfred only runs baseball to the extent that the players allow. Areas like free agency and the draft are bargained collectively, meaning he would have to approach the union to open their agreement if he seeks to punish the Cardinals via those avenues, which is a likely non-starter due to the potential elimination of job opportunities. Simply, the players' side won't agree to take the hit for misbehavior by management.
What's more, the primary job of any league commissioner is to build consensus among a fractious group of owners – billionaires with big egos who function as a single entity on one level yet are also in constant, direct competition with each other. Manfred himself was recently the subject of ownership disagreement, eventually getting his job by holding off a challenge from Tom Werner that was backed by Jerry Reinsdorf of the White Sox. Manfred's staunchest supporter was selection committee chair Bill DeWitt, owner of – you guessed it – the Cardinals. So there are troublesome politics at work.
The Cardinals organization's self-satisfaction in success has rubbed many the wrong way, from fans all the way up to rival executives. Baseball sources told 670 The Score that some teams heavily invested in international scouting and development chafed at new rules implemented to limit contact with younger players in the Dominican Republic and elsewhere, believing the Cardinals were among those pushing hard for the changes to thwart opponents who had outflanked them there. There's no love lost for this team in particular.
Manfred also faces calls for the hammer from those teams more reliant on data-driven decisions and massive computing power, increasingly fearful of vulnerability to more sophisticated attacks. These systems have their own names, like the HAL 9000 minus Douglas Rain's soothing-yet-unsettling voice.
The Red Sox have "Carmine," the Indians have "DiamondView" and the Astros use "Ground Control," a reference to both the team's name and location and a David Bowie song. "Red Bird Dog" is the Cardinals' own artificial mind, and the Cubs' proprietary system is cloaked in mystery, with some believing it's the current industry standard. These computers have a seat at the decision table like a real person and are often anthropomorphized in conversation, as in, "Well, what does Carmine say?"
These teams want a league decision that protects them and proves that the game takes this act as seriously as the federal government does.
Let's look at the least likely possibility, that the inquest flips perpetrators upward to reveal a full-scale operation, sanctioned -- even if tacitly -- by general manager John Mozeliak or DeWitt himself. Manfred could go so far as to try to revoke the franchise and force a sale after the criminal penalties are meted out. Call it the Clippers option.
Something less grand than that could still result in him ordering certain firings and levying enormous fines. The idea of a postseason ban is probably too damaging to opponents, particularly divisional ones, rendering games less meaningful and competitive and driving down the value of tickets and advertising.
What's most likely, however, is that the hackers are identified and isolated, and the trail fails to reveal much above a stupid prank that also happened to be a felony. Some guys get jailed and fired, and Manfred's then free to get on with the only inevitable result of this entire case – the rewriting of MLBs corporate handbook.
You can bet that no matter how the investigation concludes, rules will be put in place going forward to ensure teams are incentivized to self-police. Much in the way that Sarbanes-Oxley legislation tied corporate CEOs to their accountants' work after Enron, I would expect that MLB GMs and team presidents will soon be held similarly responsible for cyber-attacks, ending the chance to pin it on lesser rogues, even if federal law still allows.
At the moment though, it doesn't seem like this is going to take down the St. Louis Cardinals, barring shocking twists of smoking-gun emails provided by guilty parties copping plea deals. It's something unprecedented, still, and a commissioner fresh on the job may have months to consider what he will ultimately have to do.
Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score's "Boers and Bernstein Show" in afternoon drive. Follow him on Twitter @dan_bernstein and read more of his columns here.