AJ knew about it the whole time and went along with it and did nothing to stop it. He even said the accusations were a joke in a press conference and called Fiers a few nasty words later.
The players said had Hinch told them to stop, they would have. Yet, he chose to do nothing so that makes him part of it. At best, he was a spineless leader who went along because it was helping him out in the long run. And he threw the blame and responsibility on everyone else. He was the manager, knew about it, and did nothing to stop it. Then he cried crocodile tears about how sorry he was. He was only sorry because they got caught.
You think this would have flew with a manager like Leyland, LaRussa, Bochy, etc.?
Guess we'll have to disagree on this one.