Cardinals fire scouting director after he admits to hacking Astros database

The hacking investigation involving the St. Louis Cardinals has cost the club's scouting director his job.

Chris Correa was fired Wednesday, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Derrick Goold.

Goold has more on Correa's reportedly admitting he was involved in the hack:

Correa has admitted hacking into a Houston Astros database but said it was only to verify that the Astros had stolen proprietary data, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.

Correa did not leak any Astros data, and is not responsible for additional hacks that the FBI has alleged occurred or leaking any data, said the source.

Correa's lawyer released a statement:

Mr. Correa denies any illegal conduct. The relevant inquiry should be what information did former Cardinals employees steal from the Cardinals organization prior to joining the Astros, and who in the Astros organization authorized, consented to, or benefitted from that roguish behavior.

Mozeliak said:

I can confirm (Correa) was on administrative leave and subsequently was terminated (Wednesday). At this time it’s still an ongoing investigation, and there’s really nothing more that I can add at this point.

It was announced earlier last month that the FBI and United States Department of Justice were investigating the Cardinals organization after evidence obtained showed they hacked the Astros' internal networks.

An official familiar with the investigation traced the breach to a house used by Cardinals employees in Jupiter, Fla., the city the team calls home during spring training.

Correa joined the Cardinals' front office full-time in 2012, was promoted to director of amateur scouting this past winter, and oversaw the club's 2015 draft. He was involved in completing contracts with draft picks up until earlier this week, Goold writes.

Correa also has ties to former Cardinals front-office employee Jeff Luhnow, who is now the general manager of the Astros. He began working for Luhnow, then director of amateur scouting for the Cardinals, on a contract basis in 2009.

Goold has more on the hacking scandal and Correa's alleged involvement:

The source said that Correa’s involvement in the hacking began in 2013, in an attempt to determine whether Luhnow or any other former Cardinals employees took proprietary data to the Astros.

Correa’s suspicions were aroused in part by a résumé in which a job seeker claimed expertise that Correa believed could have come only from working with Cardinals data, the source said.

Goold adds that St. Louis told Correa to cooperate with Cardinals investigators - "talk or you're fired" - but that the 34-year-old hasn't spoken to federal investigators.

Goold's entire story is worth a read for more details into what is an increasingly interesting investigation.