MLB rules St. Louis must forfeit top 2 draft picks and pay $2 million

NEW YORK -- Major League Baseball has ordered the St. Louis Cardinals to forfeit their top two picks in this year's amateur draft and pay Houston $2 million as compensation for hacking the Astros email system and scouting database.

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred banned former St. Louis scouting executive Christopher Correa for life on Monday and stripped the Cardinals of the 56th and 75th draft choices in June.

They must pay the Astros the money within 30 days.

ORIGINAL STORY: Former Cardinals exec sentenced to jail for hacking Astros

Correa pleaded guilty to five counts of unauthorized access of a protected computer from 2013 to at least 2014 and last July was sentenced by a federal judge to 46 months in prison and ordered to pay the Astros $279,038.65 in restitution.

The Houston Astros released the following statement:

"The Houston Astros support MLB's ruling and award of penalties. This unprecedented award by the Commissioner's Office sends a clear message of the severity of these actions. Our staff has invested a great deal of time in support of the government, legal and league investigations and are pleased to have closure on this issue. We are looking forward to focusing our attention on the 2017 season and the game of baseball."