Report: Hinch, Luhnow bans served in 2020 even if season is canceled

Former Houston Astros manager AJ Hinch and ex-general manager Jeff Luhnow will be credited with serving their one-season suspensions for their parts in the club's sign-stealing scandal if the 2020 campaign is canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to Buster Olney of ESPN.

The league will honor the bans because they are tied to the end of the 2020 postseason, sources told Olney.

Hinch and Luhnow were both given lengthy suspensions and subsequently fired in January after Major League Baseball concluded that the Astros cheated during their World Series-winning 2017 season and in parts of 2018.

The Astros also lost their first- and second-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021 and were fined $5 million for stealing signs electronically.

MLB said that further violations by Hinch and Luhnow would result in a spot on the league's permanently ineligible list.

Houston has since hired Dusty Baker to take over as skipper and James Click to be the team's GM.