Former Cardinals scouting director to plead guilty in Astros hack, report says

Chris Correa, who was sacked by the Cardinals last season after he admitted to hacking the Houston Astros, has agreed to plead guilty to 5 of 12 related charges according to The Wall Street Journal.

Chris Correa, former scouting director of the St. Louis Cardinals is tentatively scheduled to plead guilty to five of twelve related charges today.

Astros General Manager Jeff Luhnow formerly worked for the Cardinals’ analytics department, and established the database the team uses for scouting and drafting.

The 35-year-old was the Cardinals’ director of baseball development up until last summer when he was sacked. He will be sentenced in April, and could be slapped with a $250,000 fine and five years in prison for each charge.

Armed with the reused password, Correa was able to access the Astros employee’s email account and Ground Control credentials. Louis Cardinals scouting director Christopher Correa, left, assistant general manager Mike Girsch, center, and general manager John Mozeliak, right, arrive at Lambert-St.

He put the financial damages for all of Correa’s computer intrusions at $1.7 million.

Correa’s plea agreement detailed several instances where the Cardinals official accessed Astros computers.

After the Houston Chronicle did a story about Ground Control, the Astros reset everyone’s passwords. He was sacked by the organization in July amid the ongoing investigation. The U.S. Attorney’s claim – which came after months of FBI investigation spurred by a leak of internal documents in July 2014 – had a number of explosive details, beyond any type of drama we’re used to seeing in baseball.

Much of the initial shock regarding the report focused on how many in the Cardinals organization knew about the hack.

Prosecutors accused Correa of improperly downloading an Excel file of the Astros’ scouting list naming every eligible player for the 2013 draft.

“I accept responsibility in this case”, Correa told U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes in Houston. He established a similar computer database, “Redbird”, during his time in St. Louis.

Under Luhnow’s guidance, the Astros have gone from laughingstock to one of the most exciting young teams in baseball.