To me it's clear that the Astros really tried to pin this on two guys no longer with the organization. Hinch, being the manager, couldn't escape a penalty, because it's absurd on the face of it to claim that, as manager, "I wanted this to stop but I couldn't get them to." I mean, that's just either a flat-out lie, or it shows that Hinch was utterly incapable as a manager. He was the boss of the major league club on a day-to-day basis. It's not like two players got together and whispered to each other, "Look, when I'm on second, if I can figure out the signs, I'll relay them to you" without Hinch knowing about it (which may happen in baseball). This was an elaborate scheme involving players, coaching staff, other Astro personnel, video screens, banging on trash cans, the works. ZERO chance Hinch wasn't fully in the know, or at least enough in the know to tell them to knock it off. If he was so upset by it that he trashed some equipment, but *didn't do anything to actually stop it*, then he's a joke of a manager.
But it's much easier for the Astros, especially before MLB issues any punishment, to claim that it was the departed people (especially two guys now working for rival teams - or at least when Beltran was with the Yankees anyway) who were REALLY behind all this, but our guy (Hinch) was REALLY opposed to it.
I mean, give me a break.