On Monday, MLB announced the penalties for the Houston Astros and their sign-stealing scandal throughout the 2017 season, and Manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow were each suspended for a full year for their involvement. A short time later, owner Jim Crane conducted a press conference and revealed that the franchise had fired both Hinch and Luhnow. On Monday's installment of "Nothing Personal with David Samson," Samson broke down the whole scandal, and reacted to the Astros' owner's decision.
"Jim Crane was backed into a corner and when you're backed into a corner, you do whatever you can to save yourself and to save the value and reputation of your franchise," Samson said when the news of the firings broke.
Both Hinch and Luhnow had spent over five seasons with the Astros organization, and helped led the team to two AL pennants and the World Series championship in 2017, before their tenures came to an abrupt end on Monday afternoon.
"What I find so disingenuous about the news today is the duck and cover that Jim Crane is doing," Samson added. "This is PR crisis management 101. You isolate and then you move forward with distraction. They've isolated Hinch and Luhnow, fired them, and now they start the process of moving on."
Samson believes that Crane was attempting to save his own skin by firing Hinch and Luhnow. Now the franchise is going to do their best to wipe the slate as clean as possible and shift towards a new era.
According to reports, Crane is expected to run the team's baseball operations department while they conduct a hiring process for both a new manger and general manager.