AJ Hinch: 'I Wish I Would Have Done More' to Stop Astros' Cheating Scandal

AJ Hinch spent most of his MLB Network interview with Tom Verducci owning up to not stopping the Houston Astros' sign-stealing when he was the team's manager.

Hinch, who was suspended one year by Major League Baseball before being subsequently fired by Houston, noted the onus was on him and that he failed as a leader.

"I'll always feel responsible as the man out front," Hinch said. "... It happened on my watch. I'm not proud of it—I'll never be proud of it—but I have to own it.

"I didn't initiate or didn't endorse [the scheme], but as a manager, you're in a responsibility to end it."

Most notably, Hinch declined to answer whether the Astros used a buzzer system to alert batters of which pitches were coming. Instead, he deferred to MLB's statement, which found no evidence of that.

Also revealing was how little punishment Hinch expected. The former manager told Verducci that while a suspension was on the table, he didn't know the scandal would cost him his job.

"I'd felt responsible from the beginning, and so I knew there was going to be punishment," Hinch said. "... I didn't know to what extent. ... This was something that never happened before, so nobody really knew how many games or what was going to happen. But when I got the news that it was a full year, that was a tough blow. That's taking me away from the sport that I love, the sport that I've been around for over two decades. After that, when I met with Jim [Crane] and subsequently lost my job, that created a whole other part of the day that I didn't anticipate."

Hinch said he would like to manage again but will not campaign for jobs or stay active in the game this summer.

The 45-year-old is eligible to return to baseball following the 2020 World Series.

Just how likely he is to receive a future job offer is unknown. MLB is expected to release its report on the Boston Red Sox's cheating scandal, and the scope of it could help shape how the baseball world will view those involved in the schemes.

In any case, Hinch wants those in and outside the game to know he isn't taking his punishment lightly.

"I want people to know that I care," Hinch said, "that I'm not just blowing it off and shrugging my shoulders and that I'm upset we got caught. It's much bigger than that."