It's Time to Welcome A.J. Hinch Back to Baseball

After one year (mandated) away from the sport, manager A.J. Hinch is returning to baseball as the new head man of the rebuilding Detroit Tigers. Justifiably, there are mixed feelings about the hire from an optics point of view.

After all, Hinch adamantly denied any wrongdoing as the Houston Astros scandal heated up, but was found to be partially at fault and was suspended from Major League Baseball for one season. That cost him his job in Houston, but there was little doubt he would find another suitor. Consider that until the Astros scandal blew up and tarnished his reputation, he was one of the brightest young managers in the game.

But Hinch has served his time. That's more than we can say for the Astros players who were all granted immunity in return for honest testimony in Major League Baseball's investigation. If you think Hinch should have faced more severe punishment, fine. That's entirely your opinion.

You're entitled to believe whatever you want about how MLB should have handled the team's sign-stealing scandal. But all Hinch can do is serve his time and come back to baseball, afforded a second chance, and make the most of it.

We tend to be very forgiving toward athletes and figures in sports when they show remorse. Hopefully Hinch will show some. Think about how differently we view baseball players who have and haven't admitted to steroid use. In time, Tiger Woods became a success story even after his rampant infidelity was brought to light.

Hinch is also joining a team that is currently rebuilding. Detroit showed some fight at the start of the 2020 season, a glimpse potentially into the future. But with the White Sox and Twins perched atop the division, he has his work cut out for him.

The team is unlikely to seriously contend until maybe 2023, which gives him time to work his way back into baseball and, in a perfect world, into the good graces of baseball fans. For some, what he did can never be forgiven and that's fine. For those who are more willing to see what he does with his second chance, it will be fun to watch what he can achieve with a young Tigers team.

Before the scandal left him out of a job, Hinch was seen as the best of both worlds: a manager who understood both analytics and the urge to listen to your gut in crunch time. Scandal notwithstanding, Hinch was among the best managers in the game. That gives the Tigers a rare opportunity to get an elite manager seemingly entering his "prime" just as the team is looking to make serious movement in the coming years.

Those opportunities don't come along often because most elite managers want to take over a team that is ready to compete right away. Hinch isn't afforded that luxury and perhaps we can look at his next couple years with the Tigers as a continued punishment.

Instead of routinely coaching a contender, he's going to have to go through some growing pains with the Tigers' promising, yet young collection of talent. You can bet for Hinch, though, who wasn't sure when his next opportunity in baseball would come, this opportunity feels more like a reward than a punishment -- at least it will at the start.

But whatever you think of Hinch and what the Astros did, one thing is clear: we need to welcome Hinch back to an MLB bench and withhold further judgment until we see what he does with his second chance. Had all the Astros hitters who were involved in the sign-stealing scandal also been suspended for one year, I'd be saying the same thing about them heading into the 2021 season.

However, they weren't punished at all, so it's a lot harder to root for them in their "second chance," when their first chance was never taken away from them. All we can hope is that Hinch has learned from his mistakes and that this whole ordeal will take a bit of the edge off of his sometimes pompous attitude and help shape him into a manager who, within several years, will be able to successfully put the darkest hour of his career behind him.