TODAY: In a response to Luhnow’s interview, “people with knowledge of Major League Baseball’s findings during the Astros sign-stealing investigation” tell The Athletic’s Evan Drellich that “there was direct testimony” from Astros personnel interviewed during the league’s inquiries “that Luhnow was aware of the sign-stealing scheme.”
“Luhnow received emails that put him on notice of the activity, but claims he only read parts of the emails even though he responded to the emails,” a source tells Drellich. “One witness clearly stated and provided evidence that Luhnow knew, and others identified facts indicating that Luhnow knew. The best interpretation of the evidence is that Luhnow either knew exactly what the video room was doing, or knew generally what they were doing and willfully chose to keep himself in the dark.”
TUESDAY: Former Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow had a years-long run as one of baseball’s most respected executives, even building a World Series-winning team in 2017. However, the legitimacy of the team’s success under Luhnow has come into question over the past year because of the Astros’ well-documented sign-stealing scandal that became public last offseason. Major League Baseball suspended Luhnow and A.J. Hinch, then the Astros’ manager, for a year apiece in January as a result of the team’s misdeeds. Houston subsequently fired the pair.
In an extensive interview with Vanessa Richardson of KPRC, Luhnow continued to deny any wrongdoing. Consequently, Luhnow doesn’t believe Major League Baseball was right to issue him a one-year ban.
A report from last February indicated Luhnow was aware of “Codebreaker,” a video scheme the Astros utilized to steal signs, but Luhnow told Richardson: “I didn’t know we were cheating. I had no idea. I wasn’t involved. Major League Baseball’s report stated that I didn’t know anything about the trash can banging scheme. They stated I might have known something about the video decoding scheme and not paid it much attention. But there was really no credible evidence of that claim. I didn’t know. I didn’t know about either of them. And it felt like, on that day, that I was getting punished for something that I didn’t do. And it didn’t feel right.”
Luhnow claims he was adamant that the Astros followed the rules, that “personnel in the video room” were among the “Codebreaker” masterminds, and that he tried to crack down on sign-stealing from Houston and other teams. He’s even of the belief that some of the perpetrators are still part of the Astros organization.
“The people who were involved, that didn’t leave naturally to go to other teams, are all still employed by the Astros,” Luhnow said. “In fact, one of the people who was intimately involved, I had demoted from a position in the clubhouse to a position somewhere else, and after I was fired, he was promoted back into the clubhouse.”
While Luhnow did acknowledge that the Astros violated the rules during his reign, he’s nonetheless displeased that commissioner Rob Manfred suspended him. The executive said he requested a meeting with Manfred last offseason and presented him a roughly 150-page binder “with facts, with emails, with documents, with testimony, each and every single allegation that was in that charging document.” Luhnow even offered to take a polygraph test in an effort to prove his innocence, but Manfred turned him down.
“I don’t know how much of the 150-page binder he read, but none of it made its way into the final report, so frankly, he had his mind made up,” Luhnow said. “He was going to punish me. There was nowhere else to go. He was going to punish A.J. as well, and A.J. admitted that he knew.”
Manfred disputed Luhnow’s comments Tuesday, though, telling ESPN Radio (via ESPN.com) that “[Luhnow] damaged the game, and as a result, he was disciplined.”
As for Hinch, Luhnow revealed that the two continue to keep in touch. The Tigers and White Sox have shown interest in Hinch this month regarding their managerial vacancies, so he could get back in the game in a prominent role sometime soon. Luhnow also has interest in reviving his baseball career, but if he doesn’t return to the sport, he expects to land on his feet elsewhere.
Luhnow has taken “a hard look at the NFL, at the NBA, little bit at NHL, I didn’t grow up around hockey so that one’s a little tougher, E-Sports, soccer, both in our continent and in Europe,” because he believes his skill set would carry over into a different sport.
HalosHeavenJJ
I was only in charge of the organization. I didn’t know what was going on.
FSogol
Exactly. Not knowing what was going on in his organization is just as damning. The entire front office should have been replaced along with the owner. In a few years we’ll hear about how they are still cheating.
pd14athletics
Well, Bud Selig is in the HOF…
luds
Yeah and that says a lot. He knew about PED and loved it. Made big bucks.
Halo11Fan
Selig could not do a thing about PEDs. Did you watch the Congressional hearings? It took an act of Congress to get drug testing.
Did you read about Marvin Miller ripping into Fehr after he agreed to the very weak drug testing that was only geared to catch complete idiots?
It was disgraceful. I don’t know why people blame Selig. Was he suppose to send baseball to it’s grave for something that took an act of Congress?
pc01
In a few years we should hear about widespread cheating. We won’t, but we should. It’s not deflecting, the Astros cheated. For absolute sure. But to assume that all these players and coaches who move from team to team, just happened to come together in Houston and created a first-of-its-kind scheme, never done before or after and nothing of its kind has ever existed in the game previously – despite documented allegations to the contrary – is just plain ignorant.
stps2019
Well said
gtb1
Every contender did it. MLB piped live feeds right next to their dugouts and no one else looked at them? It’s just like ‘roids. No one did them until everyone did.
madmanTX
So every team hooked into camera feeds and banged trash cans to alert hitters? I guess I missed that.
believeitornot
If he is asked what he knew and when did he know it and says he didn’t know, he should have been fired for that as well.. Matt Williams didn’t know that Papelbon and Bryce Harper were having a scuffle. That tells you a lot about what he knew was going on..
keysox
Guy is a bozo. Needs ban for life. He might get it then
Yossi Ronnen
Corporate culture, comes from the top, including ownership.
At least Hinch owned it.
missjill2u
Agree
jekporkins
Hinch is sitting in a dugout and ten feet away Cora is banging on trash cans. You kind of have to admit you knew.
tonyinsingapore
Such a bad look by Luhnow.
He has positioned himself such that a majority of baseball fans openly root against him.
Yankee Clipper
Should be banned for life, just like Hinch, Cora, Beltran. Players should’ve been severely disciplined and Dodgers should’ve been awarded the championship; or, it should be vacated.
Loling @ you
Angels should take a look at luhnow, at this point cheating might be the only way that we can see trout in the playoffs.
drasco036
Theo’s tenure in Chicago is coming to an end…. just saying.
Loling @ you
Padres are screwed with their catcher being arrested. Possible 10 years in prison!!!! Such a promising player!
johnrealtime
What does that have to do with anything?
ctyank7
He will need a good lawyer to bargain the charges way down. Otherwise, he is going to jail for a year or more.
AngelDiceClay
Tatsumaki is Asian for A-H0LE ??
Loling @ you
@halo just wanting to discuss the issue since the comments were turned off on it. Sorry that bothers you, your salt is Very apparent perhaps you should change the team you root for?
LordD99
It really is annoying they turn comments off on certain stories. I’m fine with no comments on the DV stories. Nothing good ever appears there. Pretty much everything else should have open comments.
VegasSDfan
Innocent until proven guilty. If convicted his career is over. Why would anyone get mixed up in that? $$. Come on
MoRivera 1999
Why would anyone drink alcohol? Just a different drug.
Tom E. Snyder
Sigh. “In the eyes of the law a man is PRESUMED innocent until FOUND guilty by a jury of his peers.”
getright11
10 years for 79 grams? You’re a moron. That’s a lie.
Rangers29
“Campusano had 79 grams of marijuana in his car when police pulled him over around 5 a.m., per the police report. He could face up to 10 years in prison.” Tell that to Connor Byrne, not him @getright11.
Remember this was done in Georgia, it’s a different set of state laws entirely from more Progressive states like California.
(Edit: Tell that to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Tribune, Connor Byrne only did the writeup on it lol.)
Loling @ you
Just going on what’s reported, sorry that facts bother you! Here in California you can only have 2 oz legally, he had 4 in a state that has stronger laws against any such crime. He is very talented player just a shame if convicted at 22 years old.
HalosHeavenJJ
It’s worked for a few organizations and quite a few players.
joseluish22160
You are right!!!!
erauber
Gosh that seems right at this point. Might as well
TJECK109
Man just suck it up and say “I should have had better communication” or “I was in charge and unfortunately I’m need to be held accountable for day to day actions”. All this crap about lie detector and text messages mean crap to me. All he’s showing is push come to shove everyone else will get tossed under the bus.
bigun
My thoughts exactly. What a putz.
zpgreen
This is a terrible look for Luhnow. It’s fine to admit you didn’t know and say it feels unfair, but he went way over that line and essentially trashed the entire organization. I get feeling betrayed by the Astros, but what organization would see this and feel confident that Luhnow is going to act in the best interest of the organization? He essentially tried to document and throw the whole Astros organization under the bus to save his own skin based on a weak argument that he didn’t know about one of the biggest cheating scandals in baseball history while he was the GM…
Rocket32
zpgreen Didn’t the organization kind of throw him and Hinch under the bus already anyway? Yes they were suspended for a year but the Astros could’ve promoted interim guys into their roles for one season and stuck by them. Not saying the Astros were wrong for it, but instead they just fired them.
They kind of fired them as scapegoats to take some heat off the organization and ‘look better’, yet the players and other staff also involved in the scheme are still there.
Tom E. Snyder
They would have had double the trouble if they had kept them. It would look like the owner condoned it.
coldgoldenfalstaff
Seems to me the firings were ordered from above.
JerryBird
Hey Jeff, sounds like you are still trying to sell us ocean front property in Arizona. No thanks! I’ll “buzz” on out of here now.
Rangers29
Man it would be bold of him to say all these things and be lying, and for that reason… I might have to believe him. I know that there is no way to know for sure if he did or not, but if I was guilty of knowing about something like this, I wouldn’t go out and say I didn’t do it unless I actually did it.
If he doesn’t land in another sport, I kind of hope the Rangers look into him. JD and Ownership haven’t been clicking very well, and maybe Luhnow could inject some of Houston’s power into our organization.
I got tons of flak a week ago for saying that, and I expect none less now. Ready…set…post…
JerryBird
Would the Rangers really sell their soul? Talk about a Joe Hardy!
Rangers29
The main thing I saw from the Astros scandal was how having a weak manager effects a team. Hinch couldn’t stand up to Beltran who then proceeded to keep doing it. That’s part of the reason why I don’t like Chris Woodward as our manager. He’s weak, doesn’t stand up for anything, and if he gets ejected, he just trots back to the dugout and into the clubhouse with no words said. I’d much rather see Jeff Mathis or Rick Renteria take over as our manager next season just because of that.
JerryBird
I get that. But I think anyone hiring Jeff Luhnow as a GM would make a big mistake. It appears that Luhnow will throw anyone under the bus to cover his own butt. If he took it on the chin and wanted to move forward, I could at least have a tiny bit of respect for him, but still not much.
Renteria would be a good fit to get a franchise going as he did for both Chicago teams, but apparently he doesn’t know what to do after the team has been rebuilt. It would be ashamed, but that might be the next best move in Texas. Hire Renteria, let him do his rebuild thing and then let him go somewhere else. He has made a good living like that, so far.
Rangers29
He’s literally the Starlin Castro of managers lol.
BTW, Castro left the Marlins last off-season, and went to the defending champs Nationals who then failed to make the playoffs. His lack of postseason chances is just sad at this point.
bradthebluefish
Why would Renteria not be able to handle a playoff caliber ballclub?
Rangers29
Ask that to the teams he has been let go of right before they began contending.
Ontopofla
You guys shouldn’t have fired Banny.
HalosHeavenJJ
Interesting take. I get it. Prior to his team cheating it acquired a ton of great talent.
Altuve, Springer, Correa, Bregman, these guys were already studs prior to cheating. The cheating just took them to another level. Very similar to the Patriots.
If you want a guy to inject talent into your team, he’s a great fit. He’ll scrape the bottom of the barrel and bring in guys like Osuna, though, he’s that uncaring. I think with some control he’d be a fine exec again.
dpsmith22
You obviously believe the manager has far more power than he does. the front office runs teams now and make the decisions about who plays. Hinch broke the camera they were using 2 and it found itself repaired. Think Hinch called Bob Vila to get that repaired? No. The Astros front office/ownership had it repaired. Hinch is a victim of today’s baseballs ‘new world’s management.
racosun
I agree. Until the asterisk stuff came out last winter, he was widely respected, and was hacked by the Cards after he left there. He knows how to build a team. I blame weak dugout leadership. Not saying he didn’t f-up, just that he’s talented enough to warrant another gig in baseball.
teufelshunde4
Lunhow also stole proprietary data from Cards… Thats what Correa was looking for on Astro’s server.
Correa’s warnings about Lunhow went unheeded and look what happened.
ayrbhoy
Rangers29- if you believe Luhnow’s lies then you must’ve fallen hook line and sinker for Lance Armstrong and Harvey Weinstein.
Rangers29
No, I don’t believe the Armstrong and Weinstein types because those were direct accusations to those people directly. Luhnow was in the front office of a team that was cheating for one season (that we know of). He should’ve known of it, and if he seriously didn’t it would be because of lies from the Astros team and Hinch and Cora themselves (which I could totally understand happening since they cheated in the first place anyways). He also ran that team for years before 2017, and I don’t suspect any cheating ways from any of those teams before 2017. I don’t believe anything that happened in 2017 was in result of Luhnow’s actions or lackthereof; instead I believe it was a result of weak leaders in the clubhouse, and in the managerial positions especially (Hinch and Cora).
gussie busch
Based on that I am sure you think Ryan Braun was telling the truth.
Monkey’s Uncle
It’s amazing that Luhnow apparently doesn’t understand that it was part of his job to know what was going on. So in essence he’s telling us that he wasn’t guilty, but merely oblivious and incompetent. Derp.
Redwood13
And all the managers and all the general managers and all the team owners from the steroid era should have known what was going on with their teams. Using your thinking.. They should all be banned for life, they cheated. Why do you think player’s like Berry Bonds, Roger Clemens Rafael Palmero are not in the Hall of Fame.
dobsonel
Actually all those people did know steroids were going on.
92jays
He is in charge or hired those below him. He is responsible for what they have done. Simple
BloodySox
Yup. I doubt he knew what was going on but he is responsible.
Redwood13
See above
Redwood13
True as the President of the ball club you and you alone have 100% responsibility for whatever your team does. As a GM some of what you do is delegate and trust to people that work under you to do the JOB you were hired to do. I can belive Luhnow and the owner knew nothing about the cheating.
MoRivera 1999
@Redwood13
“I can believe Luhnow and the owner knew nothing about the cheating.”
Maybe you can believe it, but you’d be wrong.
DarkSide830
E-sports? did i really just hear a WS winning baseball GM say he’d be interested in managing an E-sports team?
jd396
Can you imagine the cutting edge of Counter Strike analytics
eddiemathews
I wonder if Luhnow has ever heard of Pete Rose.
tesseract
E-sport industry is growing quickly in value. statista.com/statistics/490522/global-esports-mark…
Cam
It’s a very straight forward situation – MLB did not want to open up a battle with the MLBPA by punishing players, so to avoid the fight but “try” to at least look like they’re doing something, they punished people who essentially had no form of defense – despite having either little or nothing to do with the actual cheating.
This wasn’t about finding the culprits and punishing them, it was about MLB finding the path of least resistance.
Bottom line is, the people who cheated, got away with it. The people who didn’t cheat, got punished for it. And it continues a decades long tradition of Major League Baseball being run by spineless, gutless people.
YankeesBleacherCreature
Typical PR damage control by a conglomerate. Don’t admit wrongdoing or pick a fall guy and pay a settlement fine. Nobody wants to gut an entire organization. It’s taking money from your left pocket and putting it into your right.
DarkSide830
the organization was the one who put it in place, and id not they had the power to stop it. what first-hand proof do you have that it was as player-centric as the original reports said? its very possible those reports were just fanaticism. report first and then correct the story later.
johnrealtime
It was the Athletic that broke that story, not some tabloid
DarkSide830
so, just because a reputable source says it they must be 100% right the first time?
jjd002
It’s the same reason other teams haven’t been fully investigated. Want to make it seem like it was only Houston. The whole situation stinks
Fonzo2
I had to log in to say Amen, bro! Someone gets it…
YankeesBleacherCreature
So it’s a self-indictment that he’s not a very good GM since you’re suppose to be in-the-know of these things or that you don’t have the trust of your subordinates to inform you.
julyn82001
So if Luhnow thinks is not responsible then perhaps Crane should’ve had been the one therefore selling the Astros team? It’s like when Ken Lay said that even though he was the president of Enron other people were responsible for the downfall of the electric giant as well. Someone is always accountable.
takeitback
As an Astros fan I surprisingly have a different take.
It frustrates me that MLB and Crane have proof of who was responsible (outside of players because we knew they wouldn’t be punished) and those people still have jobs. They have thousands of texts from these people talking about what they were doing, and they are still employed. That’s not good.
As for Lunhow, I respect his argument here. He literally said he accepts the punishment because it happened on his watch. What he is trying to do is save his name, integrity, and character. If he is really didn’t know, he should be pissed that people think this was his idea, or that he was involved. He can get hired again for admitting he should have know but didn’t, because that’s something you learn from and improve on. An owner isn’t hiring him if they think he is a cheater with no integrity.
I don’t know if this was a good look for Lunhow, but I respect his candor and hope he gets another chance to be a GM. He is exceptional at his job.
Doug Dueck
“takeitback” you say in part – An owner isn’t hiring him if they think he is a cheater with no integrity. I find that at least odd to put the two words cheater and integrity in the same sentence. I understand what you are trying to do but a cheater does not have integrity imo. The fact he had no idea what was going on smells to me – so either he is not doing his job completely or he is so naïve that all his people working for him are members of a choir and therefore will never do anything illegal or even wrong.. I am afraid no matter how you paint this picture the truth will bleed through and the Astros ownership and team cheated in order to guarantee a championship which in actuality shows me they did not have confidence in themselves to get the job done fairly; when in all likelihood the 2017 Astros could have and even probably would have won the world series without having to cheat. Sad for them and especially for their fans who have to live with that shame the rest of their sports lives.
takeitback
No shame from me at all. I’m not naive enough to think the Astros were the only team cheating. Way to much out there that proves otherwise.
It would be like College Basketball or football fans feeling ashamed of their team getting caught paying recruits. Way too much proof out there that it is more common than not. And just like the NCAA, MLB isn’t going to come down hard on a team that gets caught and risk opening up Pandora’s box.
jd396
I don’t really see it as candor, it’s still the same old weak stuff we heard out of him before and it reads like he just skimmed the Wikipedia article on plausible deniability and that’s what he came up with.
“Why would I have any idea what people under my direction were doing?”
“Who even reads all their emails anyway?”
I definitely respect him as a roster builder, he’s excellent at that. As a manager of the people under him, however, he’s at best a blithering fool who doesn’t have any business managing a Taco Bell night shift let alone a front office full of brilliant highly driven people in a competitive field.
Realistically I think he didn’t know the details but knows full well that his people were pushing the envelope and shouldn’t have been the least bit surprised this blew up like it did.
DirtbagBlues
This was more tone deaf than what Lunhow said. Astros fans live in a bubble.
teufelshunde4
But this is coming from a guy who has lied multiple times before publicly.
The organization started a program called “Codebreaker, there are emails from FO people ( Kevin Goldstein) to scouts asking them to tape opponents dugouts to steal signals.
Lunhow likely viewed stealing signs both from pitcher/catcher & dugout signs & deciphering them in real time & relaying them to hitters as the next big advantage.
A guy on Youtube 6 months before scandal broke did a video on an app he created that deciphered baseball signs. youtube.com/watch?v=PmlRbfSavbI
So a whole department working on this, within Lunhow’s own FO, yet he is the victim? I call BS..
You are right Lunhow is trying to save his name, but its all ready mud. HE wont be a GM again.. Maybe a consultant, but he should be banned period.
coldgoldenfalstaff
Using non-live video to scout, including scouting signs is not only legal, it’s done by many, many teams.
jd396
It’s what happened when he decided to try to out-do those many, many teams that things went off the rails.
trident
“In fact, one of the people who was intimately involved, I had demoted from a position in the clubhouse to a position somewhere else, and after I was fired, he was promoted back into the clubhouse.”
Next time fire the cheater.
WiffleBall
And this right here is why everyone hates the Astros. Zero accountability. Zero remorse.
bkbk
This all day. The org is rotten from the entitled owner down through the entitled management to the entitled players.
Contract the whole thing and give Nashville a team. these dudes are a too on the nose reflection of the whole “privatize the gains and give someone else the losses”
DarkSide830
yeah, im sure the league wants to ostracize the baseball fans in Houston.
Vizionaire
CHEATER!
walls17
His continued unwillingness to not acknowledge fault will be what keeps what him out of the game
g4
Less so for Luhnow, but the current interest in Hinch presents a quandary for those espousing the take that the Astros’ accomplishments are the mere byproduct of cheating. Because if HOU got such a huge advantage from the banging scheme and other cheats, then there’s not much evidence to support Hinch as a good manager. But since other teams are expressing interest in hiring him before the ink on his suspension has dried, then that’s a strong indication those execs believe Hinch’s success was rooted in more than organizational shortcuts. It might be worth asking ourselves, if those in pro baseball don’t think this activity was that far out of bounds, should we get over it?
DarkSide830
ive said it before and i know its not a popular viewpoint, but I really think Hinch was stuck in a tough spot in the situation. he of all the people involved has always seemed like the most standup guy, and I could imagine him being caught between a superior who engineered the system and players who were clearly willing to use it. not that he’s unculpable, but i feel like he got the short end of the stick for what he could have done in the situation.
djulio4u
Get off your knees, Hinch was involved too!
g4
My question remains: Is Hinch a good manager? He seems to be viewed as one due to Astros success. But how ‘real’ is that win-loss record?
jjd002
Or the other teams know it wasn’t just Houston…
DarkSide830
i find it hard to believe it could be so rampant and only Houston’s caught serious heat for it. (Boston obviously did too but it was due to an ex-Stro anyway so its not really the same thing) if it is rampant it cant be as serious as this.
hersch
This is the biggest problem with that whole organization. No one has admitted to anything nor is apologetic for anything. I hope he never gets another job in MLB and I hope the Astros never win another World Series.
jjd002
They have apologized plenty. It’s literally a google search away
DarkSide830
the whole concept of worrying about appologies is silly anyway. what does apologizing mean for them anyway when most people dont care to hear it? and lets face it, most of these people angry about apologizing wouldn’t forgive them to any degree regardless.
DirtbagBlues
It’s not so much whether fans would forgive them but rather the display of lack of remorse. It just makes them even bigger a-holes.
kdevry
Should read “Jeff Luhnow on suspension, failure” and I don’t usually weigh in on this stuff… Taking responsibility in leadership is tantamount
Brolaf
If you’re referring to Manfraud, then yes. Sign stealing via cameras was going on every where. Manfraud did nothing about it, except for a pathetic arbitrary memo telling teams to stop cheating. Without any specifics, or naming anyone. It’s the Steroid era all over again.
DarkSide830
hey, what’s evidence anyway?
cencal
not sure you know the meaning of the word “everywhere” and honestly, you just make yourself look silly and like a 13 year old girl when you say inane things like that
Loling @ you
Padres are screwed!
DarkSide830
if there was intent to distribute, Campusano isnt in a good spot, but if it was just for personal use then he could just escape with a hefty fine. and the Pads have Nola and Mejia already so they might have started him in the minors come 2021 anyway.
prov356
Lunhow seems like a good fit for the dysfunctional NFL.
DarkSide830
he could add a level of interest to the XFL
prov356
yeah, maybe boost their viewership.
VegasSDfan
Viewership is 0. The season is suspended
prov356
Thanks. I shouldn’t have to explain my comment but I will if you need me to.
66TheNumberOfTheBest
“Luhnow has taken “a hard look at the NFL, at the NBA, little bit at NHL, I didn’t grow up around hockey so that one’s a little tougher, E-Sports, soccer, both in our continent and in Europe,” because he believes his skill set would carry over into a different sport.”
It would certainly carry over to Foxboro.
djulio4u
What a clown, yeah he is just going to walk over to another sport and run things! Just like depodesta, that worked well. They all knew what was going on! Frauds!
Brolaf
All this tells me is, Manfraud is a bigger Cuck than I thought. “ Luhnow] damaged the game, and as a result, he was disciplined.”
Luhnow, damaged the sport? More like a scapegoat. He named the actual folks involved. Manfraud knows who was involved. Yet, they still have jobs? Let’s unseal that letter to the Yankees in regards to their cheating. Can’t do it, because it will cause significant reputational harm to the Yankees. Lol, wtf do you think happened to the Astros? Let’s sweep that under the rug as well. Hows that investigation about the Dodgers and human trafficking? Oh, nothing? Swept under the rug? How about some accountability for the Angels organization for Tyler Skaggs’ death? I know it’s not as evil as banging on a trash can, but just some kid died getting drugs from a MLB organization.
takeitback
Yikes!!!!
Redwood13
No one forced him to take drugs he did that to him self and payed the price. Unseal the Yankees letter, and stop protecting them let’s see what they are getting away with
coldgoldenfalstaff
Where is the full text of the Red Sox report? Why was that never released except for scapegoating one clubbie?
brown trout fisherman
Perfect for Philly
jessaumodesto
Read that he was going to the Wwe (WWF)
westwoodwiz
We worship intelligence while marginalizing wisdom, experience, and character. Owners love the opportunity to feed media narratives about how smart their front offices are… how advanced their analytics are… how exciting their tech is… the chattering class can’t not talk about it. Meanwhile players, fans, scouts, and coaches say the game is losing some of its soul. Luhnow is product of culture that promotes appearing smarter than everyone else, but is creating men withouts chests.
bradthebluefish
“I didn’t know there was cheating” eventually turns to “I had to demote somebody for cheating.” Hmmmmmmm.
LordD99
Totally ridiculous. He should never be allowed back in MLB. Either he knew about it or enabled it. He’s lying. Like the players.
SueJen
Dumb and Dumber!
Redwood13
White Sox catcher says “if your not cheating your not trying” its happing everywhere and has for years open your eyes people
Stevil
Deflects responsibility and throws his subordinates under the bus…
He’d make an excellent politician, but baseball needs character.
Doug Jones
He or any of the other cheaters shouldn’t of been suspended for a year. They should have been banned for life.
philsark94
Does anyone else finding suspicious that Luhnow denies any involvement yet he knows everyone who was involved in the scandal? There’s something fishy about that.
game_over_uniform
Leadership 101 – your people mess up, it’s on you. Not leadership 101 — unwillingness to take ownership.
oldleftylong
He will be picked up, as well as Hinch and Cora. Money says pick the winners. Forget the cheating. Let’s see if I’m right.
LordD99
Of course he was aware. As was Jim Crane. They supported it. Cora and Hinch should never manage again. Luhnow should never be a GM again. Crane should be made to sell the team. We sure no none of that will happen as Cora and Hinch will be back in some dugouts in 2021. MLB forcing an owner to sell, or even suspending them? They gave that up decades back. The only reason they punished George Steinbrenner is because he was upsetting their apple cart, fully embracing free agency when the rest were trying to fight it, even though they all oddly ended up benefiting from him.
jdgoat
Luhnow is a sleezeball, plain and simple.
Brolaf
For those of you with reading comprehension problems. “How did he know who was involved in the cheating, if he didn’t know about it.” Clearly, after the Athletic article was released. Luhnow did his own investigation, and presented the 150 page binder to Manfred with his findings, including the video room employees involved. Which was completely disregarded by MLB.
LordD99
Is that you, Jeff? lol.
jd396
Thanks for the clarification. We comprehended it, we just think he’s full of crap.
Braves20
A lot of what is credited to Luhnow was actually the work of previous GM Ed Wade who signed pretty much the core of the Astros lineup.
Brolaf
Wat? Only players left over from the Ed Wade regime were Altuve and Springer. Altuve was a walk on from their Venezuela Academy and Springer was the only decent player Wade drafted his entire career as Astros GM.
notagain27
Let me see…..here’s a work order for one high definition camera to be mounted in centerfield, 500 feet of coax wire, 50 inch TV and 55 gallon plastic trash can. GM signs off on everything, own up to it, you got caught!
jd396
“Yeah, I opened that email but I didn’t actually read it, then I stuck my phone in my pocket and butt-typed ‘Yeah go ahead’ and butt-pressed Send”
caryloyd
If I remember correctly, wasn’t he found guilty of hacking into the Cardinals computers after being hired in Houston. 1-year suspension says MLB only cares a little.
Stevil
It was Christopher Correa of the Cardinals organization that hacked Houston’s servers.
He alleged that Houston was the instigator and claimed that he had discovered proof of Houston hacking and stealing data from the St. Louis, replicating algorithms.
He was probably right, but what he did, regardless of reasoning, was illegal and he got a 4-year sentence for it.
jdgoat
I honestly believe this was such a widespread issue that these guys were just made an example of by the league. They’d have to suspend an awful lot of execs if they did investigate a lot of the league. Otherwise it makes no sense to me how Coppolellas’ actions were worthy of a lifetime ban but Luhnow’s wasn’t.
jd396
I don’t think the Astros were the only team doing this kind of stuff, but I do think they were the first team to effectively dial in the techniques and do it this flagrantly.
PutPeteRoseInTheHall
how is pete rose banned for life, but these guys CHEATED and are only banned for a year, even when luhnow lied too
Braves20
Well said!
2020ball
Pete never did or said a thing to get himself back into good graces, which is a good commentary on him as a person in general. He was never sorry. Seems to me we have a similar situation here.
PutPeteRoseInTheHall
ask him if hes sorry or look at any interview hes had in probably around 5 years
PutPeteRoseInTheHall
actually, probably around 10-15. he gambled(ridiculous that that got him banned) probably like what over 25 years ago i mean come on
2020ball
He made his bed and continued to lie in it, and his cash-grab sob story of an apology was too late and poorly delivered. I think he would have 100% had a way to reverse his ban if he’d just done and said the right thing, and he never did. No sympathy from me.
PutPeteRoseInTheHall
whats funny though, is that he says he would walk through hell in a gasoline suit for baseball. he also says nothing bad about baseball, and doesn’t say he should be in HOF
astros_fan_84
The Lunhow hate is ridiculous. He is guilty of negligence. He served his year, and now he deserves a second chance.
jd396
acquiescence != negligence
MoRivera 1999
Not negligence, complicity. Astros players and emails proved it. No excuses.
wordonthestreet
He was complicit!
Karson Brown
Should have been banned for life.