Cardinals History: The day Chris Correa pleaded guilty and its ramifications

On January 8th, 2016, former St. Louis Cardinals' scouting director Chris Correa pleaded guilty to five counts of unauthorized access to the Houston Astros' computer system.

From 2013 through at least December 2014, Correa, who was promoted to be the organization's scouting director in 2014, gained access to an unauthorized computer in the Houston Astros' system. The system, dubbed "Ground Control" by Houston, included contract information, scouting reports, and other stats and proprietary information.

In total, Correa accessed the database 60 times from March 2013 through June 2014. As a result of his actions, Correa was sentenced to 46 months in prison in addition to a fine of $279,038 in restitution.

Chris Correa wasn't the only one punished in this case. The Cardinals as a team were fined $2 million and were forced to forfeit two draft picks in the 2017 draft as a result of Correa's actions. These picks would end up being the Nos. 56 and 75 picks in the draft. This meant the Cardinals wouldn't have their first pick in the draft until the 94th spot.

As a whole, the Cardinals didn't miss out on much talent; the Astros selected right-handed pitcher Corbin Martin with the 56th selection and second baseman J.J. Matijevic with the 75th pick. Martin, now 28, has thrown a total of 57.2 innings in the majors with a 6.71 ERA. He hasn't made a major league appearance since 2022. Martin is currently with the Arizona Diamondbacks' Triple-A team.

J.J. Matijevic, who is now 29, played in only 32 games in Major League Baseball with the Astros in 2022. He slashed just .209/.254/.328, and his last professional appearance was with Houston's Triple-A squad in 2023.

I guess on the surface it's not a terrible thing that the Cardinals didn't get to keep those picks, as neither Corbin Martin nor J.J. Matijevic panned out to be anything in the majors. Only eight players chosen between picks 75 and 94 -- the Cardinals' first pick that year -- made it to the majors, and not one has made significant contributions in the majors.

The loss of draft picks wasn't detrimental to the Cardinals. Players like Chas McCormick, Bailey Ober, Tarik Skubal, Reid Detmers, Garrett Crochet, Spencer Strider, Heston Kjerstad, Emerson Hancock, Bobby Miller, and Aaron Ashby were all drafted well after the Cardinals' pick at 94, and several other teams could have had them via the draft.

The $2 million was likely a drop in the bucket for the organization. The team's payroll in 2017 was just over $145 million; the $2 million fine was only 1.4% of the team's total budget. That's a rounding error for most organizations.

Perhaps the most disastrous aspect of Correa's scandal was the public scorn that the organization drew. For decades, the St. Louis Cardinals were the cream of the crop in professionalism and organizational tidiness. Correa's actions drew ire from all facets of society including media pundits, adversarial organizations, and fanbases alike.

January 8th isn't a day for Cardinal fans to remember fondly. Chris Correa's actions deviated from tradition and professionalism that hadn't happened in the organization before. The ramifications were felt both immediately and for an extended period of time following the actions of one man.