MLB NEWS

First shoe drops in Cards’ hacking scandal

The Sports Xchange

July 03, 2015 at 2:49 am.

ST. LOUIS — The first casualty from “Hackgate” was claimed Thursday, and it was the man who oversaw the St. Louis Cardinals’ amateur draft less than a month ago.

Scouting director Chris Correa was fired for his actions in a computer hacking incident of the Houston Astros’ database that occurred last year. The 34-year old Correa rose through the St. Louis system after being hired in 2009 and became the club’s scouting director in December 2014.

Correa was involved in signing most of the team’s draft choices until being placed on administrative leave last week. General manager John Mozeliak actually signed third and 11th-round choices this week.

Correa declined comment, but his lawyer, Nicholas Williams, was swinging from the heels in a Thursday story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

“Mr. Correa denies any illegal contact,” Williams said. “The relevant inquiry should be what information did former St. Louis Cardinals employees steal from the St. Louis Cardinals prior to joining the Houston Astros.”

Translation: Correa and his lawyer intend to make this messy and they intend to aim at Houston general manager Jeff Luhnow, the former head of the Cardinals’ analytics department. One shoe might have dropped, but a lot of others remain.