Former Astros GM Luhnow sues Houston owner
Disgraced Astros executive Jeff Luhnow wants to prove in court that Houston’s rot started from the top — but not with him.
On Sunday, the former general manager, suspended and later fired for his role in Houston’s illegal sign-stealing scheme, sued his former employer, alleging that Astros owner Jim Crane and Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred made Luhnow “the scapegoat for the organization.”
In his suit, filed in Texas district court, Luhnow argued that the Astros breached his contract because nothing he did while running the franchise — including running baseball operations while his staff and players conducted their trash can banging scheme — met the conditions for a just cause dismissal.
Instead, Luhnow’s suit claimed Crane reached what he refers to as “a negotiated resolution” with Manfred, one “that enabled the team to keep its World Series championship, went to great lengths to publicly exonerate Crane, and scapegoated Luhnow for a sign-stealing scandal that he had no knowledge of and played no part in.”
The suit also asserted that Manfred’s report is based on “selected snippets” from a selection of do not mention the infraction “in-game electronic sign stealing.”
Though scandal arrested the attention of players and fans, Luhnow after The Athletic exposed and detailed longstanding rumors of their sign stealing, Luhnow is one of the few people in baseball to receive any formal discipline in MLB for their role. Other individuals penalized, including Astros manager AJ Hinch and 2017 bench coach Alex Cora have been hired in managerial roles in the weeks after their respective suspensions.
According to Luhnow’s suit, he signed a contract in 2018 with the Astros, the year after winning the World Series while using now-tainted measures, that guaranteed him “more than $31 million” in unspecified performance bonuses, as well as profit-sharing opportunities with the franchise that were scheduled to vest from 2021 to 2025. Luhnow is still unemployed in baseball since his 2020 firing.