Hinch: I should have ended Astros' sign-stealing scheme

AJ Hinch has regrets.

In an interview with MLB Network's Tom Verducci, the former Houston Astros manager addressed the club's extensive scheme to steal other teams' signs electronically.

"In hindsight, I would have had a meeting," Hinch said. "I should have had a (team) meeting and addressed it face forward and really ended it. Leadership to me is often about what you preach. It's your pillars of what you believe in. Leadership is also about what you tolerate, and I tolerated too much."

Hinch expressed remorse and admitted the legitimacy of the Astros' 2017 World Series championship is now in question before going further.

"I wish I would have done more. Right is right, and wrong is wrong, and we were wrong."

In mid-January, Major League Baseball suspended Hinch and former Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow through the 2020 World Series. Both were subsequently fired by owner Jim Crane.

The 45-year-old Hinch stated he didn't endorse or initiate the scheme and was hoping to demonstrate his displeasure with it by twice destroying the monitors being used. But it didn't end the behavior.

Hinch also made sure to deflect blame from the players for not speaking up to address the scandal.

"I just know as the manager, I have to hold myself to that high standard and that accountability and that apology as well. Because I was the manager."

When asked about whether or not the Astros used a buzzer system to relay signs in addition to the trash-can banging, Hinch deferred to the commissioner's report that found no evidence of it being implemented.

The league released the results of its investigation in January, and the Astros were found to have illegally stolen signs in the 2017 season through the World Series.