Fired Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow filed suit against the team for breach of contract, claiming he was “scapegoated” in the wake of Houston’s sign-stealing scandal while calling into question the legitimacy of Major League Baseball’s three-month investigation last year.
In the lawsuit, Luhnow said he was fired to save more than $22 million in guaranteed salary. He is seeking monetary relief over $1 million, according to a copy of the 17-page petition filed Monday in Harris County court. Owner Jim Crane fired Luhnow for cause, but according to the lawsuit, it was a breach of contract “based on the commissioner’s flawed investigation and findings.”
“The commissioner struck a deal with Crane to make Luhnow the scapegoat of the cheating scandal while absolving Crane, the players and others of responsibility,” the suit reads.
An Astros spokesperson did not immediately answer a call seeking comment. Major League Baseball did not immediately respond to a request, either.
Jeff Luhnow’s lawsuit vs. Astros by Houston Chronicle on Scribd
Astros players were given immunity in exchange for truthful testimony. In its investigative findings, Major League Baseball said Houston’s trash-can banging scheme was “originated and executed by lower-level baseball operations employees working in conjunction with Astros players and former (bench coach Alex Cora).”
Crane dismissed Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch on Jan. 13 after commissioner Rob Manfred suspended both men for one year. Luhnow denied any knowledge of the team’s scheme in the wake of his firing. He maintained the ignorance throughout this petition, one that frequently used quotation marks around the word investigation and findings.
Luhnow’s lawsuit calls the league’s investigation “deeply flawed.” It paints Director of Advance Information Tom Koch-Weser as the scandal’s “actual ringleader” who, according to the suit, blamed Luhnow “to save his own job.”
Major League Baseball’s investigation included 22,000 text and chat messages to or from Koch-Weser that, according to the suit, Manfred “ignored … as part of the effort to scapegoat Luhnow.” Luhnow is not included in any of the messages, according to the petition.
The petition claims that Koch-Weser was the “only witness to claim that Luhnow mentioned electronic sign-stealing.” Luhnow’s lawsuit calls him a “biased source who has zero credibility.”
“The Astros told Koch-Weser that he could keep his job so long as his actions were sanctioned by his supervisors, including Luhnow,” the suit states.
Koch-Weser remained employed by the Astros throughout the 2020 season.
Luhnow’s lawsuit attempted to demonstrate his adherence to baseball’s crackdown on electronic sign-stealing during the 2017-19 seasons. In Major League Baseball’s report, Manfred excoriated Luhnow for “(failing) to take any adequate steps to ensure that his club was in compliance with the rules.”
Following an Apple Watch incident between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, Manfred issued a memorandum to all clubs regarding electronic sign-stealing in Sept. 2017. In it, the commissioner stated that a team’s general manager and field manager would be held accountable for any future rules violations. According to Major League Baseball’s investigation, Luhnow never forwarded this memo to his staff.
Luhnow’s lawsuit states that, throughout the 2018 and 2019 seasons, he “repeatedly instructed Astros personnel to comply with MLB rules governing electronic sign-stealing.” It cites a spring training rules meeting between Luhnow, Hinch, the Astros coaching staff and chief baseball officer Joe Torre — something all 30 teams participate in throughout spring.
According to Luhnow’s suit, Torre sent a memo that March regarding electronic equipment in the dugouts to Luhnow, assistant general manager Brandon Taubman and president of business operations Reid Ryan.
In April, Luhnow observed an Astros hitting coach using a dugout phone, called the video replay room to ask why and, according to the suit, “took no further action after receiving a satisfactory explanation that the use of the dugout phone in this instance did not violate any rules.”
One month later, Luhnow claimed to forward two of Torre’s memos — one from March and another about the misuse of a dugout phone — to Hinch, Koch-Weser and Taubman. According to the suit, Luhnow wrote emails before the playoffs in both 2018 and 2019 to team and league officials that said the Astros would not engage in any nefarious activity.
“We believe in a fair and level playing field,” Luhnow wrote to league executives in 2018, “and I will do everything in my power to achieve that outcome.”
