Former Astros president of baseball operations Jeff Luhnow has filed a lawsuit against his former team for breach of contract, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reports. Luhnow was fired last January after details of the infamous sign-stealing scandal became publicly known via a league report, which alleged that Luhnow had at least some knowledge of the wrongdoing and (as the GM) was ultimately responsible for the actions of his employees.
In July 2018, Luhnow signed a contract extension that would have kept him in Houston through the 2023 season. The value of this extension wasn’t known, but Luhnow’s lawsuit claims the contract was worth “more than $31 million,” and that Luhnow’s firing cost him “more than $22 million in guaranteed compensation” as well as other benefits.
Some of the details of Luhnow’s lawsuit resemble statements his profession of innocence in an interview with KPRC’s Vanessa Richardson last month. Luhnow’s lawsuit alleges he was fired without cause, claiming that three documents used by the league as evidence against him in regards to his knowledge of the sign-stealing plan don’t directly mention “in-game electronic sign stealing.” For Luhnow’s most extensive public defense, check out his interview for Ben Reiter’s podcast.
Luhnow became “the scapegoat for the [Astros] organization” in the wake of the league’s investigation, which the lawsuit describes as “a negotiated resolution” between Astros owner Jim Crane and Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred. According to the suit…
“The commissioner vetted potential penalties with Crane, and the two exchanged a series of proposals. Those negotiations proved beneficial to Crane and the Astros.
“The commissioner allowed the Astros to keep their 2017 World Series championship, imposed a $5 million fine (a fraction of the revenues Crane had reaped as part of the team’s recent success), and took away four draft picks. He also issued a blanket vindication of Crane, absolving him of any responsibility for failing to supervise his club.
“Moreover, Crane and the Astros were assured of fielding a contending team in 2020 — the team advanced to the American League Championship Series for the fourth straight year — because the commissioner did not suspend or penalize any of the players who were directly involved in the scandal.”
Luhnow and then-manager A.J. Hinch were also both issued season-long suspensions for their roles in the sign-stealing scandal, though the two men were fired the same day as the league’s report was released. Alex Cora, the Astros’ former bench coach and one of the architects of the sign-stealing plan, was also fired from his job as the Red Sox manager the next day and was later suspended for the 2020 season. (Carlos Beltran, then an Astros player who was also one of the chief organizers of the sign-stealing procedures, was also fired from his newly-installed position as manager of the Mets due to the fallout from the scandal, though Beltran faced no league discipline.)
Hinch and Cora, of course, returned to managing almost immediately after their suspensions were over — Hinch is now managing the Tigers while Cora was re-hired by the Red Sox. Luhnow’s lawsuit also alleges that Astros director of advanced information Tom Koch-Weser is “the ringleader of the Astros’ sign-stealing schemes” and a source of false information about Luhnow in the league’s report, claiming Manfred “let the ringleader keep his position in exchange for providing information that would implicate Luhnow.”
I hope both sides spend tons of money in attorney fees in the process, and then Luhnow wins – with a USFL-style award of $1. It’s the only way for the villain not to win.
I have to say: it takes a really clowny clown to be more clownish than the Astros org, but Luhnow managed it. What a fool.
There has to be something we are missing here. I don’t understand why anyone would do this in Luhnow’s position without hard, provable evidence that points to him being innocent.
The timing makes me think he expected to either be reinstated or at least compensated for taking the brunt of the team’s punishment by MLB. Even if he is ultimately responsible as general manager, this suit could well reveal the culpability of various members of the organization, both staff and players. So, it may well be settled quickly to keep things quiet.
Marc, Yes, u are very correct that in a business, the manager of a said store takes the fall if said store does not do well and is generally the fall guy, also hiring/firing etc and makes most decisions, depending on the chain, or if independent etc..
What is different in the astros case would be better compared to thievery going on by employees in a store. We have said employees (players) stealing signs and relaying them to the dugout via a trash can.
Every player on that team was well aware of what went on (at least position players were), yet they all went along and nobody blew the whistle to this thievery. It’s like a gang of thieving employees inside of a store, robbing it blind for personal enrichment.
Luhnow should have taken the fall as the man in charge regardless. I don’t care if he was aware or not, he was “the man” and this whole mess fell onto his shoulders, my issue the entire time has been on the players who “enriched” themselves with “stolen” signals, yet not 1 of them had the guts to come forward until the next offseason when they were away from Houston, then it wasn’t even someone who benefited from it, but a pitcher!!
I’d have suspended the lot of them for at least a year, if not banned them for what happened. The most flagrant abuse of the rules we know of in decades and they were given a free ride, 1 and all.
Seriously? Cheating has always been a part of baseball. Two of the three guys intimately involved (Cora, Hinch, Beltran) are already back in the game. Mookie Betts (cheated along with rest of Red Sox in 2018) – is already a hero again. George Springer is about to get rewarded with a huge contract. Every base runner who has relayed a signal back to the batter for the last 100+ years has cheated. Every person who ever took steroid cheated. It’s an integral part of the game. Time will reveal every contending team had some level of cheating being used by their teams. Astros were just the league scapegoat to recalibrate the level of acceptable cheating.
if by now you can’t see the difference between what the Astros did and the age old runner on second stealing signs then I’m not sure what to do with you
Gtb1
Yeah except baserunners relaying signs aren’t cheating.
That is a very myopic post, gtb1. And where do you get any indication that Betts cheated? Cora was suspended for his role with the Astros. Try to think before you post, if that is possible for you.. If what the Astros did was not unique and just another typical example of cheating in baseball, there would not have been so many players across the league condemning them for it. It amazes me that so many people cannot understand that simple thing and need it explained to them.
How many times was Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry caught using a foreign substance while pitching from the mound (numerous times). Was he ever suspended. The rules on cheating have always needed to be tighter and have more consequences!
I grew up on Giants baseball, was in Candlestick to see Perry pitch far more times than I can remember.
Yes, they used to practically undress the guy right there on the mound, even had the infielders come in to surround him so fans could not view his underwear, etc.
He was not “caught” during those times.
Everyone knew he was doing it but he wasn’t “caught”.
So Betts was on a team that was caught cheating and had his best season by quite a big margin the year his team was caught but he didn’t cheat?
Want to buy a bridge?
Chief Two Hands, what the Astros did was unique because as far as we know, they’re the first team to do an illegal sign-stealing scheme AND win the world series. It’s also not unique because they basically stole signs illegaly via and techology and they’re not the first team do that. No, I’m not talking about the Yankees and the watch thing. White Sox used a camera to steal signs in the 1980’s while the 1940 Tigers and 1951 Giants used a telescope and a clubhouse buzzer.
goatstros – just for clarification, nothing they did was “illegal” as you stated in your comment. They were in violation of MLB rules but not any state or federal law that I’m aware of. If you know of a law they broke, let me know.
Prov936, you’re right: they did nothing illegal. Neither did the Astros for that matter (No, that’s not a defense of the Astros). It would be better to say they broke the rules and stole signs via technology or they electronically stole signs. Thank you for pointing that out.
Maybe having to manage the 2021 Tigers and Red Sox is part of the punishment for Hinch and Cora.
Exactly but why guys like Brian Cashman and Theo Epstein still in baseball when they cheated for their championships? It’s clear MLB is sports entertainment and not a legit sport like WWE. The fact that cheaters like Jeter and pretty soon David Ortiz are in the Hall of fame is proof that it’s about entertainment. Jeter knew his teammates were using but wanted 3000 hits and championships. He cheated on his taxes and brought shame to baseball but the guy owns the Marlins…..
oldoak33: How about “doctoring” the baseball? How about corked bats? How about “greenies” aka amphetamines? Every single player, not just the stars and superstars, who used steroids?
There was never any evidence of the Red Sox cheating, so they weren’t “caught” doing anything. Cora was suspended for what he did with the Astros, and that is all. You go ahead and keep ignoring reality and making things up, though. That’s really all many Astros fans do these days because they can’t face the truth. Astros fans like you have about as much integrity as the Astros organization, which is little to none. You have to make excuses and outright lie in order to try to make the Astros look like a respectable organization. Spoiler alert…it doesn’t work and only makes you look pathetic, without an ounce of morality. The perfect fan for the Astros.
Prospectnvstr, what people like you somehow fil to understand is that there is a significant differences now between individual players cheating and an entire team collaborating to do so. I don’t condone any cheating, but the difference between the examples you listed and what the Astros did is huge. It also wasn’t just base runners stealing signs and relaying them, there was unprecedented technology involved, etc. It really is amazing that so many people choose to ignore that fact. The last point was not directed at your post, but many posts in general from various individuals.
The suit already has shown that the Astros ownership knew about the electronic sign stealing and who the actual person responsible for it was.
Much, much more will come out and MLB will either help Crane settle this out of court, or many in MLB and the Astros organization will go down for their part in this coverup.
The one difference is that said “thievery” was not against the rules until 5.5 months into the season. The only thing that was against the rules before that was having an electronic device, a cell phone like the Yankees were fined for or a smart watch like the Red Sox were fined for. What the Astros was not against the rules for most of the 2017 season.
The biggest problem for the Astros was that
A- MLB need a fall guy because what the Red Sox, Yankees, and Astros did was pretty widespread by then. 9 other teams were mentioned in the commissioners report as also using a similar system, but were said to have stopped after the commissioners memo regarding electronic sign stealing in mid-September 2017. MLB did NOT want the fact that nearly half of MLB was using a system to electronically steal signs drug through the mud with fans.
B – They continued doing it after the commissioners memo in September 2017. A memo that was sent to owners who were then expected to disseminate it to their coaches and players. We know from the commissioners repot that the Astros players were never told about the commissioners memo, but we know that Crane did know.
Crane is in a heap of doo here and he needs to step carefully because the discovery in this lawsuit alone will bring him and MLB more trouble than they want. They really do not want to have to release all the interviews by MLB of players and coaches around the league. Nor do they want to have to release the emails and recorded conversations between the league and Crane regarding negotiations about penalties.
This will get REALLY ugly for MLB and Crane if they do not settle and settle quickly.
Yankees didn’t use the Apple Watch. That was the Red Sox. The Yanks were fined for having a phone in the dugout. No evidence of sign stealing. No “system.” Just breaking a rule. And Koamalu’s lies.
Mookie left Boston in part because of the focus on all of this – I’m convinced. The contract offerings weren’t far apart, the New England area treated him like a king and he’d have been filthy rich regardless of where he signed.
The one difference is the cheating scandal (along with the Apple Watch snafu 2 years before – and Mookie was DEFINITELY part of that so he can’t hide from it).
So he spurns known pluses (fans/area/money) to move to the other coast for slightly more money (better weather in California is a plus I guess).
Looking at it all it seems almost clear cut.
… and Cheating is part of all sports in one way or another. Sides look for ways to exploit the opposing sides any way they can – especially with all the money riding on it nowadays. Just look at how it benefited Crane in Houston: 5 million fine when he brought in a hell of a lot more than that by making the post season, Got to keep his players and made his underlings (Luhnow and coaches) take the heat. The point is that it was financially worth it to the ownership to cheat. And now everyone is suspicious as well so the urge to cheat gets higher and higher which makes for new cheating concepts to show up (Apple watches, Club house video, trash cans.. It’s not your basic sign stealing that goes in anymore).
If you’re talking to me, Chief Two Hands, I didn’t make anything up. I didn’t mention the Red Sox or Cora at all. Just do some research. Cheating is cheating and the reality is that it was done before the Astros. That’s all I was trying to say. The reason why I don’t take issue with it because any time some one cheats it’s out of my hands. However, that’s not stop me from having opinion it and I’ll gladly admit that the Astros cheated and did something wrong.
Didn’t the red Sox get a penalty for cheating to? Not implying Betts was a cheater, but I thought the whole team, under Cora’s lead, was found guilty of something.
Using tech to steal sign, decode it then relay it to hitter is not the same as stealing the sign with a runner at 2nd base..
Trying to compare the two is dishonest.
goastros, I was responding to HalosHeavenJJ’s post regarding Betts.
No way Mookie left because of this. He was always going to test Free Agency. Then COVID hit and the Dodgers gave him what he wanted which was an insane contract.
No, there was just an investigation concerning the Red Sox, but it didn’t reveal anything.. I am far from a Red Sox fan, and would certainly condemn them like I now do the Astros if they had been found to have been cheating like that as well. I just don’t like people like HalosHeaven making stuff up just to try to make his favorite team look better.
Also, lucky, I think Betts also just really likes the Dodgers organization. I am basing that on every comment I have heard from him regarding that aspect of his decision to sign that extension. I am sure there there were several factors, but it sounds like that is one of the main reasons he chose to stay. My guess is that he had every intention of testing free agency prior to getting to know the Dodgers organization.
Great analogy there. Luhnow 100% deserved to take the fall as the ship was going down. Id love to see this get a little nasty though, and have some players start getting named in the process. Would make Manfred and those cheaters from Houston looks like idiots, and force Manfred to finally do the right thing.
ChiefTwoHands
The Red Sox were texting sign sequences to guys in the dugout that had been decoded in the video room via Apple Watches, at minimum. Chris Young is the one that gave them the idea, so he claims, and he got the idea from the Yankees. That’s cheating.
The Red Sox were still using the video room to decode signs, which is cheating, albeit more common than people think.
“ there was unprecedented technology involved”
No there wasn’t. There was a tv monitor with a closed circuit feed from the center field camera, and a trash can with someone banging on it.
“ there is a significant differences now between individual players cheating and an entire team collaborating to do so”
Some individuals were cheating and some individuals chose not to. Yuli Gurriel said verbatim “no one held a gun to my head”.
Individuals chose to cheat, and no, it wasn’t the entire team collaborating. It was certain position players setting up a system to relay signs. Simple as that.
The Red Sox were not penalized for anything. The investigation did not reveal anything. Your “points” are just based on speculation, and that is irresponsible at best.
Hopefully there will not be a settlement early on. My belief is MLB will try to sweep thus too under the rug but us fans that pay the freight one way or the other deserve depositions under oath from as many parties as possible to really understand what went on.
Absolutely chief, it’s a great organization. He got what he wanted. The Sox did right by him trading him to LA. I’m happy for him.
@Koamalu what ever happened to Billy Eppler’s job being safe and Alex Anthopoulos being forced to resign and the teams being forced to pay the players their full salaries if there isn’t at least an 82-game season in 2020?
Boston cheated in 2018 with runners in scoring position. Best BA in that category in decades. Betts was part of that. Cora was the primary cheat in Houston.
In summary, Manfred concluded in the Houston report, “Cora was involved in developing both the banging scheme and utilizing the replay review room to decode and transmit signs. Cora participated in both schemes, and through his active participation, implicitly condoned the players’ conduct.”
He is now rewarded with a new contract.
I’m just saying it’s condoned everywhere. And done everywhere. Astros were a scapegoat. More to be revealed.
Chief 2 hands – just Google 2018 Boston Red Sox cheating. They lost a second round pick over it – should have been more.
MoRivera – what exactly was in that memo the NYY attorneys had blocked because it would cause “irreversible reputational harm” ?
Chief Two Hands – wake up and read history. As a result of what they did in the 2018 season with Betts on the team the Red Sox were fined an undisclosed amount of money and forfeited their 2nd round pick for CHEATING.
@oldoak33 ALL the individuals on the Astros cheated. ALL OF THEM. Not one of them came forward and said, “this stops now” Not one of them. If you allow it, you are one of them. Certain players may have been more prominent, but ALL OF THEM are cheaters.
Lmfaooo Sorry dude that’s not accurate. It is NOT against the rules to steal signs. If a Base Runner is clever enough to pull it off & the hitter trusts him that’s Great for them. Not cheating at all. The Rules were Broken because they were using electronic technology to steal the signs. Then relaying the information to the Hitter. Which was an extreme violation of the rules & of the game.
Everyone else seems to understand that so hopefully this explanation helps you catch on. The Astros arent victims here, they are the cheaters. They didnt even get punished, just a tap on the wrist.
The league isnt trying to recalibrate the level of cheating. The Team got caught & the MLB did as little as they could. They dont want to punish teams….unless it’s a small market team that isnt contending for anything at the time like the Atlanta Braves (GM involved was banned for life, 13 Players were stripped away from the Braves & auctioned off to other teams, they received the harshest international signing penalties ever which are still in place until next July & I think they lost 1 or 2 draft picks)
The Astros kept their players, players werent punished, individuals that were punished got 1 year instead of life & are back in the league, they got special treatment when their players get hit much softer than they deserve to. At least in the steroid era most players were doing it, only the Astros & Red Sox have ever been suspected of anything like this. Everyone else was going by the rules
Uhh the Red Sox were penalized for their approach to sign stealing – video replay info on signs relayed to runner on 2B to signal to the batter. They forfeited a 2nd round draft pick because of it. Manfred issued the statement of details and punishment on 4/22/2020.
No no no. He’s far more
Clever than that. If this goes to trail the discovery will involve a ton of details that embarrassed everyone all over again. He’ll get a very large settlement and tbh, he should. MLB didn’t punish anyone, Jim Crane blamed employees and took no heat and they whole org just stinks of low integrity
Burn it down
I agree with bkbk, but will add this is a man also after rescuing his career. He made statements in the press recently of his innocence, but he wasn’t going to win a war of he-said, he-said in the press. You need a lawsuit with discovery, a public record and people under oath to do that.
This dude is never going to have a leadership role in baseball. Hes too openly reviled and the downside reputationally is just too high for any owner given all the other great candidates available.
Had he won like 5 WS or something, maybe he gets the winning over all treatment, but he wasnt succesfull long enough to spin that.
@BKBKBKBK I had not read your comment before I posted. You said in a few words what took me way too many. You are on the money. MLB and Crane will settle this quickly because they don’t want this to reach the discovery stage in the lawsuit.
I like this idea! Court case almost guarantees that details come out. But it also has a chance to be settled out of court/docs sealed etc.
If he’s pissed off and wants revenge it goes to court with MLB & Players Union both pushing to settle while Luhnow goes for the kill.
..or.. he does it to force their hand in writing him a check (not near the full suit amount).
Honestly, he’s a business man like all GM’s are, he’ll push until he finds the money coming his way (probably settle or MLB gets it thrown out somehow). The case is his leverage and he won’t be stupid about it – he’ll get something out of it without much coming to light via court case.
Lunhow is the one making accusations, the burden of proof is upon him..
Lets not forget that Lunhow has been proven to lie to cover his butt.
This is a nuisance lawsuit, just pay him to go away.
I agree they may settle to keep further details from coming out, and just to keep this whole thing behind them. But the lack of integrity you attribute to the organization stems in large part from influence of Luhnow himself on the culture there.
It’ll be a shame to see him get away with further enriching himself from this. It will also just underscore how tepidly Manfred handled this whole scandal to begin with.
It doesn’t matter if he really didn’t know because he absolutely did not supervise his team. He created the atmosphere for it to happen. And now, with his actions, he is ensuring that no other team will ever hire him again.
Tjettman
That’s a load of garbage. The “atmosphere for this to happen” exists all over professional sports, and certainly in baseball. A bunch of grown men banging on trash cans to signal what pitch is coming isn’t some grand conspiracy, and it didn’t take some unique set of people to do it. The desire to win, the team first attitude, the code of silence.
All it took was for one senior player and one bench coach to come up with an idea. You could take any random set of position players from any random team and put them in the same situation and you’d get the same result 90% of the time.
I don’t agree with this. The Astros are absolutely a special case because of how toxic their company culture is, it has been well-noted that that is the case. That same cultures does not exist in most if not all of the other MLB clubs, so this scheme doesn’t make it past the intro stages in a lot of these clubs.
Kind of funny, nobody mentioned anything about a “toxic culture” until Luhnow’s innovations succeeded and proved scouting buddy hires as redundant to winning. He rubbed the old guard the wrong way and it sure seems to me that drubbing out and blacklisting Luhnow was the sole priority of the Commissioner and the moneyed ownership holding his strings in this investigation. There was no proof that Luhnow had anything to do with the player run scheme, and using legal non-live scouting of signs that every team does is a pretty low way to try and force circumstantial proof.
I hope this suit blows the lid off this whole thing. Luhnow has nothing to lose, and has to have some amount of proof to go through with this. Revealing Crane deciding on the Astros punishment and shedding more light on the incompetence of Manfred, along with revealing the extent of these practices league-wide is the best thing for the sport. Using the Astros as scapegoats and hoping it goes away is not, the truth always comes out.
Stan Lee
“Toxic culture”, is that the umbrella statement that explains misogyny, and acceptance of domestic violence, then understood as mutually exclusive with sign stealing and pine tar manipulating spin rates? Every single person in the organization, a low rate human capable of the worst things imaginable?
Cora and Beltran either saw the monitor used elsewhere, or they thought of it themselves. Either way, it’s been made pretty clear that everything that happened in that dugout was driven by the people in the dugout. Luhnow had no reason to know and neither did Crane. That’s not a reflection of organizational toxic culture. It’s a reflection of the people that were directly involved, and again, there was no reason for Luhnow to even know about it let alone be the one driving it.
Coldgold,
The only way Luhnow “blows the lid” off of league wide cheating is if he and the Astros had been gathering proof over the years. The people releasing that information would never put their names on it, and Luhnow would burn every bridge by bringing the league down. Hopefully for the game this sign stealing stuff if swept under the rug for a few years.
oldoak33 says in part “All it took was for one senior player and one bench coach to come up with an idea. You could take any random set of position players from any random team and put them in the same situation and you’d get the same result 90% of the time.”
probably all true; however it was not just one senior player, coach or any random players or any random team – it was the Houston Astros and the specifically named players at least. I believe management and ownership were all well aware of what was going on. Every owner has a snitch or two on their team and report back to him with stuff that is going on and I am sure Crane is no different and knew about everything.
We know where Beltran got his cheating ways. It rhymes with hankies.
@oldoak33 I sincerely hope you are wrong that 90% would cheat. I hope there are more than just 10% of players and coaches that have good character.
Desire to win is fine, team first is fine. Cheating just makes the winning empty, worthless.
stan lee: if your logic is correct then why did Boston re-hire Cora? Why did Detroit hire Hinch? Was it because their “company culture” was so “toxic”?
If the culture to do electronic sign stealing didn’t exist elsewhere then why were the Yankees and Red Sox fined for it during the 2017 season and why did the Commissioner’s Report say 9 additional teams also had been using a similar system? That is 12 of 30 that we know for sure were doing the same thing the Astros were.
@luckyh
“We know where Beltran got his cheating ways. It rhymes with hankies.”
Pure hater speculation. We might as well say it came from you.
Koamalu – why do you REFUSE to get your facts straight. Because at base you are just a hater swinging wildly. The Yanees and Red Sox were NOT fined for electronic sign stealing in 2017. The Red Sox were. The Yankees were fined for having a phone in the dugout. Not for sign stealing. Why do you REFUSE to tell the truth? You are a very small person.
Those pinstripe blinders are all the rage in Yankee land.
Empirejim
I agree with the sentiment of diluting victory with cheating, but I don’t think most major leaguers play baseball just to win, in fact I think most do it for the money. So no, I don’t think individuals that cheat in baseball do it for the team. I don’t think that at all. They do it for individual merit and to get paid.
I will say that the circumstances in Houston presented challenges to every individual on that team, and certainly the younger guys, or guys that felt like they didn’t have much leverage in the situation. That doesn’t mean they have no character, and this absolutism regarding morality is absurd. Good people make bad choices. It happens every single day.
@ oldoak33 So what do you call a person that sees what is right, but declines to act on it? Cowardly? Weak? Apathetic? If you think that holding yourself to the highest standards of morality is absurd then you are likely part of the problem, and not part of the solution.
Doug.daniel, you must not be paying attention to the election.
It’s really not about being “innocent” or guilty or whatever, though.
The issue is whether the Astros* (& Crane) did – or did not – fulfill the contract the two sides signed. That’s a different thing entirely.
I’m certainly *not* a lawyer. Although as a contractor I have one, of course (he actually writes the contracts). This could be a mildly interesting story. Curious to see how it plays out. My guess is that Lunhow will be due some additional compensation.
How much? Pretty much depends on his attorney.
He is trying to get a settlement. Imagine what discovery will bring.
He probably suspects he’ll never be hired again in MLB, so his goal now is probably a settlement where he gains $5 or $6M. He certainly could raise heat in Crane and thus MLB by drawing Crane into this.
I can’t speak for Luhnow specifically but I have worked in enough corporate lawsuits to say it is quite common for lawsuits to be filed without any real merit to the case.
There is a lot of game theory involved in these things. Even if Luhnow is easily guilty, Astros have to prove it in court. The fallout from that might be less desirable than simply paying Luhnow to go away. For example, if the one that had the evidence is the owner, then releasing that evidence could also be confirming that the owner knew the whole time.
There are a thousand ways this could spiral into something that hurts the Astros. Luhnow knows that. So even if he is guilty he might benefit from a lawsuit.
Obviously I am only speaking from experience and assumption and I don’t have any firsthand knowledge of the Astros.
Players still play, managers still manage. Luhnow is the public face of the “fall guy” for this issue based on his apparent, continuing unemployability within the sport.
This looks like a leverage move because his other option would appear to be writing the book. Since it’s about a subject he claims to know little, MLB is in a spot. Proving his complicity will undermine the lawsuit but improve credibility as a source of information for the book. I think MLB will buy a non-disclosure agreement from him, even tho that probably just delays/changes who the source is
Yeah, even frivolous lawsuits get settlements. Remember the woman who sued AND WON when she spilled her HOT chocolate was to hot.
@Prospectnvstr- in regards to the lady spilling hot coffee and suing, there was a documentary on her (called Hot Coffee). She actually was elderly, in a parked car on the passenger side, and accidentally spilled the coffee in her lap and got 3rd degree burns through her clothes on her inner thighs. McDonalds coffee is supposed to be 120f and the coffee was found to be 190f. Due to operations she had as a result, she ended up passing.because she was never really able to fully recover.
It always makes me a little sad for her family that people are still using her as an example of a frivolous lawsuit like she was stupid or something.
Agreed marking. I felt bad for her as well. McDonald’s treated her horribly. She only wanted the medical bills paid. Comedians were despicable the way they went after her.
Oh, this has NOTHING to do with his being guilty or innocent–that won’t be decided in this case, really.
Probably thought he’s get a new job but his phone didn’t ring
@MWeller
Hahaha that is old school to remember the 1 Dollar settlement for the usfl
Sometimes it is the principal of the matter. Also honestly I wouldn’t mind seeing Elias of the Orioles hiring Luhnow as a specialty consultant. Luhnow did his time, ….so let him do what he wants if he wants
Agreed!
Chutzpah (n.) See “Luhnow, Jeff”
*grabs popcorn
Hope you brought enough for the rest of us!
Can’t wait to hear his arguments for this one. This guy seems like a great person
Agreed. He’s up there at saint level, should be in Cooperstown, etc.
Luhnow or later?
Save that joke for Luhlater.
Watch even more truths come out (or about to) and then the wallet of hush money.
I thought my non-self imposed soap opera was a mess. LOL.
…and then Cora and Hinch lose their jobs. Again.
The Astros were totally going to not breach his contract but they didn’t actually read the email about it
well played
According to Lunhow, one of those three emails was 1500 words long and filled with pictures. Based his email timeline, he claims he can show that he barely had time to read the email and just wrote, “good job.”
I have no idea if his claims here are valid.
That is about the worst defense I’ve ever heard lol
It’s not my fault, I didn’t see the red light because I was too busy to be bothered looking at it
Bwaahaaaahaaaahaaaaa.
This suit makes no sense. He’s going to get paid the amount his contract was worth. When people inside the game said Jeff was a real piece of garbage they were not kidding.
No he’s not. Why would you sue if you were getting your cash.
Lol clearly his contract is not being fulfilled or he wouldn’t be suing for breach of contract. It’s a similar situation to when A-roid was suspended 162 games but still had 3 years left on his deal. The Yankees wanted out but that didn’t matter, they were obligated to fulfill the contract. Obviously, he was not entitled payment while suspended but the Yankees were obligated to fulfill the rest of the contract after that.
You really can’t compare a player contract with the backing of a union to a GM’s contract. If there was a moral clause in Luhnow’s contract, based on MLB’s findings, they owe him nothing. Luhnow is probably just hoping the threat of more info coming out pressures MLB and Crane to give him a settlement.
Yea that’s true, TBH Luhnow shouldn’t be rewarded 3 years of pay for nothing but the Astros also shouldn’t be off the hook as it would be rewarding the direct benefactors of the cheating. The money should be forfeited to charity.
I still think he’s actually innocent. Nobody goes this far out of their way to try to prove themselves innocent when they’re guilty. Especially since he would probably get another job fairly soon since he can build a dynastic team. Now the final thing left to do is to come over to the Rangers so he can terrorize the Stros’ for years to come!
Btw, I’m in a very small group of people who actually think he should be hired back. I still like what he has done, and I think he deserves a chance back.
You’re incredibly naive.
Second that motion
I third this.
Lol, my point is this: He would’ve been hired anyways even if he didn’t fight this tooth and nail. He is convinced that he has done nothing wrong, so he is going to try to prove his innocence. Of course he looks like a terrible person by fighting this and not just saying he did wrong (even if he didn’t) and moving on. Though I think this just shows his perseverance, and nobody can take that from him. That’s why I want to see him get hired again, not only because he’s great at what he does, he also has an UN-dying drive to try and prove what’s right. It’s whether or not that’s true which is the question.
Or….. he saw how the owner colluded with the commissioner on an amenable punishment that affected everybody except the owner….the commissioner works for the ownership, and he should’ve had that conversation with the other 29 owners, especially the Dodgers. I’m sure they would’ve had a different sentiment regarding punishment as it pertains to the championship
I’m sure he did talk to the other owners. I’m sure the other owners did not make much of an issue out of it because then their teams would have to be investigated as well.
He’s not that big of a martyr looking to prove his innocence. He would have slinked off in shame if he was still getting his money to leave quietly. He is causing this stink only because his contract is not being paid out.
You think he’s persevering sure, and he is but not for the reasons of upholding his good name. It’s to get all that cash he believes he can win. This all comes down to whether he was fired with cause to terminate the compensation plan in his contract.
I can’t fathom how you would want this guy running anything for your org. He’s certainly smart, but he’s proven himself to be the very worst kind of leader. He’s unable to take responsibility. Even if he were innocent it’s still part of his job to be responsible for this exact kind of thing.
Saying ‘I didn’t have time to read the emails that laid out the entire cheating scheme’ is not a point in his favor. It’s negligent.
Fighting tooth and nail to prove yourself right is not something to be praised in this situation, it’s just an indication that he’s looking out for himself, the world be damned. Good leaders can’t do that, no one wants to work for that guy. I’ve worked for that person and it’s brutal, they never have your back unless it’s convenient for them. This is what people talk about with toxic culture in that org.
If he simply accepted that cheating went on under his watch, whether or not he knew about it, and took responsibility saying something along the lines of ‘there was evidence of the cheating that I overlooked at the time and accept responsibility for what went on’ he’d probably have already have a job again.
But everyone knows what kind of character Luhnow has at this point through his words and actions so it’d be no surprise if he never makes it back into the league and if he does it’ll more than likely be as a consultant/advisor not a GM.
That’s an assumption based on little evidence. What evidence we do have is that players across MLB were upset by the news of sign stealing. This indicates that sign stealing was not widespread but instead contained with teams which were well known for it and had been complained about for years. So owners probably would not have been concerned about backlash.
Mo: I don’t see how you can say whether or not sign stealing was widespread based on some comments in the media by some players. You may be right, but I think that’s a pretty big assumption at this point.
Sorry, it’s the opposite. Only a guilty man goes this far. An innocent man moves on from this sort of thing, gets a job elsewhere. It’s not like some other team wouldn’t give him a job.
Not so sure about that. Hinch and Cora both got hired back ASAP after they served their suspension. Yet nary a rumor about Luhnow’s job prospects. He very well might not have any decent job prospects for some time within the game.
An innocent man lets his name be drug through the mud and made an outcast? Doesn’t defend himself or seek to rectify wrongs made?
What?
An innocent man with good character would accept responsibility because it’s part of his job to be responsible. All Luhnow really had to do was say “while I was not aware of the cheating at the time, I see now that I overlooked a number of indicators and accept responsibility that my lack of action played.”
He’s not clearing his name, he’s looking more and more than an ***hole.
No, only a man who believes the money he could gain by suing is worth his effort does this, innocent or not.
The case isn’t really about how innocent he is or not. It’s whether the Astros dismissed him with legal cause to break the contract and not pay him millions and millions and millions of dollar bills.
People with extreme narcissism and a non-existent moral compass would go that far.
I wonder if this is for breach of some sort of a non-disclosure agreement.
I’m assuming there was no provision in his contract for separation under any circumstances outside of the accepted “for cause” circumstances delineated within the agreement. There are multifarious offshoots of contract law but the relative framework is the same.
I’m not sure a non-disclosure agreement even applies here, it was a suspension within the league, which is within their rights to do.
I don’t want to dismiss this out of hand as Luhnow just being a foolish clown. For something the player’s partook in, there’s still some uncertainty how much Luhnow did or didn’t do or know based on what has been made public from MLB’s investigation. As they fired him for just cause, they saved $22 million from not having to pay his contract.
In all likelihood, they’ll be a private settlement for Luhnow to get a portion of that $22 million back. Can’t see either he nor Jim Crane (and my extension Manfred and MLB) wanting more media attention or other things we don’t know coming to light.
Does make me think Luhnow’s days in baseball are in jeopardy if he’s trying to recoup some lost money. No one will ever pay him that much money again, so can’t blame him for trying to pocket a few million here.
The $22 million number makes this make sense. He’s basically saying “pay me or we’ll go to discovery and it will be laid wide open who knew what and when.” Definitely the move of a man who is pretty sure his days of seven figure salaries are over.
If MLB is done with him, it absolutely makes sense to try and get a chunk of that money. As they say, this is a business. I think Lunhow is simply making a business decision.
Siri play Loser by Beck.
End of the day, these are business men. If my contract gave me a loophole in the midst of an icky termination, I’d exploit it too. You can’t fault people for trying to protect their bottom lines,
Probably the same guy that tells the employees he works to death they shouldn’t be doing it for the money……..
This should be good.
Maybe if he’d just kept his mouth shut like Cora and Hinch and accepted his punishment he’d be back in baseball like both of them
Hard for Hinch and Cora to say they didn’t know when they were in the dugout as it was happening. Luhnow, wasn’t allowed in the dugout when it was happening, so unless Hinch was telling him, could very easily not have known.
I’m sure this will endear him to other organizations and they’ll surely be lined up to hire him. As if he didn’t have enough of a reputation as a complete piece of garbage human being to begin with.
So all the defenders of Cora v Hinch v Lunhow? Astros are successfully Jerry Springering MLB – again.
I hope one of those three just finally comes out with the whole truth, after which Cora and Hinch will be fired – ahem, mutually agree to part ways- for a year, and get rehired. Instead these dirty-birds will write books when they’re done taking advantage of MLB, and then Canseco everyone involved just to make more money.
Thanks Astros, stay classy, my friends.
Yankee Clipper…
Ya love Yankee fans acting like this. I’d be real worried about this if I was a fan of another team, especially a team with rumors of them doing the same stuff.
Yeah not to mention trading for Aroldis Chapman right after his little incident and then being cool with him intentionally throwing 100 mph fastballs at batters heads repeatedly. Or refusing to allow the contents of a disciplinary-related letter from MLB to be released. Clemens throwing a bat at Piazza, Brett Gardner beating up the dugout day after day. Oh yeah, the Yankees are a model of class
Whitey Ford threw put illegal substance on his pitches.
Again, goatstros, nothing illegal happened. They violated MLB rules, not the law.
Not only rumors, but former players admitting it (Tex), and others bringing it from them to other teams – Beltran. It is beyond amusing.
This lawsuit actually makes a lot of sense to me. Put yourself in Luhnow’s shoes. His reputation within the league was bad before the scandal and he knows he isn’t going to get another GM job. If he can get a chunk of the unpaid wages from a settlement, he’ll set for life financially.
Also, the discovery efforts by his lawyers would probably turn up lots of bad press for the Astros (he probably knows about a lot of shady stuff related to the owner). There’s no way MLB or the Astros want that to happen. So, they’ll settle with him to make this go away quietly.
yep
Well said. He just wants to draw attention again to something MLB wants everyone to forget about unless they pay him to go away.
Get paid to go away. Classic.
Ya’ll are over thinking this. Lunlhow is a practical guy and he knows he’s never gonna get his reputation back, so he’s basically telling them, in going to drag this thing out indefinitely or you can pay me a life’s wages and the settlement will serve as a bit of a symbolic gesture of public vindication.
So there are scumbags still in the Astros organization?
He is going to get a settlement because if this goes to discovery MLB and the Astros are going to get MASSIVE black eyes.
Excellent point with respect to discovery.
Here’s hoping Luhnow is determined to get every cent or more out of rage against how he feels wronged — and demands retribution, so that this show can have many acts and twists. This show could rival any product MLB can put out and hey, it still gets baseball in the press. It may yet profit from this courtroom drama.
I am aware of Lunhow’s reputation, but I always loved the guy. Seriously. He re-invented the rebuild, and made all sorts of genius moves. Having said that, I think he deserve the suspension, even if he was unaware, because negligence isn’t an excuse.
However, MLB should have given him a job. It’s ridiculous that Hinch and Cora are immediately welcomed back, but Lunhow isn’t.
Lunhow was quiet and did his time. If MLB wants to blackball him, it’s going to cost millions to keep him silent. Imagine if he successfully proves that most of the playoff teams in 2017 were stealing signs, which is suspected? MLB is going to have to pay him off with a non disclosure agreement.
Lunhow should then go to the NFL. I’d love to see what he can do in that league if given the chance.
Agree completely. He was a fantastic GM.
Luhnow’s not going to prove that most teams were stealing signs in 2017 because they weren’t. This is why ballplayers across the sport were so upset about Astros sign stealing. It wasn’t widespread. Saying it was is sour grapes conapiracy.
The moral of the US story here is that cheating works. The 2020 season was proof that rampant cheating can take a team from Good to Title Holder (Astros 2017). For executives, you bank millions. Get caught? If you’re a player you go online, count your millions then crawl into your fraternity cocoon and weather the public storm. If an executive, lawyer up….
Oh boy here we go, how much did the Astros bet on those games with the trash can bangs? Details in the civil suit to follow. Theres something to an executive hacking your dataframe because you came from there. What was Chris not to be confused with Carlos really looking around for?
Should’ve bet on the 2017 road team Astros without the trash can scheme, as those guys were better than the trash can guys.
You know, even before the trash can became public knowledge, I saw a lot of bad swings that looked like the hitter was “guessing” what was coming instead of watching the pitch.
Maybe something will pop up in discovery that shows MLB helped cover up the owner’s knowledge of the cheating. That might prove that Luhnow was a pawn used as a scapegoat. This is complete speculation on my part. I was never satisfied with the resolution of the investigation. It seemed more about proving that ownership wasn’t involved than what actually happened.
I think Manfred tried to make it seem like a much smaller issue than it was. Lunhow didn’t have a great reputation so it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that he was just a fall guy. Obviously he knew, but I’d guess Crane know too. Hopefully the whole thing gets out, including names of everyone involved and the other teams doing the same thing.
He’s trying to get as much $ as he can since he’s probably the only one from the HOU scandal that won’t get another gig in MLB
Would future earnings enter into it or would paying out the full value of his original contract be a fair price for the NDA Luhnow will have to sign?
All of this could of and should of been avoided if the Commissioner would of done the right right thing and banned all guilty parties in the first place.
It was a whitewash and nothing more
So we would have to replace hundreds of players/front office personnel/coaches? It is really naive to think only a select few players on one team participated in this. That is the reason the players didn’t get punished.
Maybe we will find out why Altuve didnt want to get his shirt ripped off???
If Luhnow had knowledge of the cheating and did nothing to stop it, it shows how bad his character is. So, why does it surprise anyone that someone with such low character would file a lawsuit and double down on the innocent through ignorance defense? It’s the perfect next step for someone with no integrity.
Of course it also makes sense as a next step if he had no knowledge of the cheating. So either way, no one should be surprised by this.
Luhnow would go with the Hinch defense if he actually believed what he’s been saying. I think that one of the main reasons Hinch didn’t do more to stop it, when he knew about it and didn’t like it, was that he knew he wouldn’t get support from Luhnow.
“double down on the innocent”… Who’s innocent? Certainly not the Astros. Very doubtful Crane knew nothing. And yes, there is a lack of character throughout the Astros organization. Management, front office, players… no character
empirejim – nice attempt at taking what I said out of context. I never said anyone was innocent.
“why does it surprise anyone that someone with such low character would file a lawsuit and double down on the innocent through ignorance defense?”
So, what I’m saying there is that he is suggesting he is innocent because he wasn’t aware of the scheme (ignorance).
Maybe just read my whole comment again and it will be clear.
How silly of me to have a private lawyer when I could get all the brilliant legal advice I’ll ever need in the comment sections here!
Live and learn, man. Fancy lawyers are for suckers! All you need is access to the internet…
Big money comes if he can prove or at least make a viable case that the owner knew about the cheating. That could even cost him his ability to continue as the owner
The only good that can come from this is he will take down Manfred and the other teams doing it. He could share enough to make it similar to the PED era. Striking similarities for side.
I don’t blame the guy because of the $22 million, plus the profit sharing he was scheduled to get. However, with as much control as he had in the organization he knew 100% what was going on.
Maybe someone else can answer this though – with Texas being a “right to work state” how does this effect this lawsuit? The lawsuit was filed in Harris County.
It appears that Luhnow’s plan was to read the Wikipedia article about “Plausible deniability” then say things
I hate luhnow but would be very satisfied if through discovery his suit shows the cover up to protect Crane and gets Manfred fired
It is completely legal for a runner on second to relay pitch calls to the batter. To accomplish this the runner must know the opponent’s signs ahead of time..
Every team employs scouts to identify opponent’s signs and inform the players. This is standard.
The illegal part is passing information during the game by people not on the field. Whether that is by trash cans or an apple watch (red sox)..
Is it possible that Luhnow was unaware of what the players/coaches were doing with that legal scouting information? Yes.
MLB definitely tries to wave away scandals as quickly as possible so they can go back to making money with publicly funded stadiums.
If Luhnow has emails or other proof that someone else is the culprit Lets see it, guilty or innocent more information is better.
and guys like Rose and Arod aren’t in the HOF…
Rose shouldn’t have broken the Golden Rule of sports and shouldn’t have signed a sheet agreeing to his punishment. Also, gambling on your team is 10000x worse than stealing signs.
Should be interesting. I do not believe Luhnow is innocent in all of this. But lets see where this goes. My suspicion is that a settlement is reached because that is how most of these types of disputes are resolved. Each side will usually be content to minimize their risk (and legal fees). My other suspicion is that Luhnow’s job prospects were not all that good in baseball after this. He would not sue the Astros if he had another GM jobs lined up. No owner will touch him now that he has sued the Astros.
But like most fans, I’d love to see this played out because we might actually get a lot more information on what went down. Maybe Luhnow has a point that he was scapegoated. The only reason I feel that could be a possibility is because I just don’t trust Manfred. But he is a sneaky POS and a lawyer so can’t imagine he did not cover his tracks well.
Couple days ago I woulda scoffed at this guy. But Hinch, and especially Cora (I say “especially” since it is right back to the same team) basically just got to opt out of Covid season, and they’re right back at it with no punishment. Chances are he’ll never work in baseball again, or at least not for a long time and he was farther removed from it than the other guys. I hope he wins.
Luhnow has no shame.
I will cast aside my shame to collect tens of millions of dollars. Where do I sign?
All I have to do is not care if I gain more detractors in the public eye and I’m financially very comfortable to live a peaceful life all because I wanted to get paid the money my lawyers say I’m still entitled to get after accepting blame as the top executive of organization that conducted a big scandal I had no direct participation in? Let’s go get that money.
“Accepting blame” – Luhnow, at best, has been playing dumb throughout. Further, Luhnow only made things worse by saying he had no idea what was going on in the dugout. Beyond the fictional basis of such a claim, it is specifically Luhnow’s duty to know what is going on with all facets of his team – general managers should be generally aware.
So to wrap up the week that was, two managers do their time, and land new jobs. A former general manager throws an underling (who he could have reprimanded, penalized, or otherwise corrected while he was employed by him) under the bus, and basically cries himself out of ever working in the game again.
Everyone involved in this is trash. That includes Luhnow, the Astros organization in general and, yes, Manfred.
Also the fans, the broadcast organizations who televised it, the corporations that endorsed it through advertising what was a winning organization, the children of all these scum and the food services industry connected to any of these people. Did I miss anyone? Everyone involved in this is trash.
All their pets, too.
Yes, screw their emotional support animals. They were complicit too.
There are guilty hamsters out there, for sure.
Orbit.
Crane should have been ultimately held responsible. It’s his team. Manfred has no backbone. He caved to pressure from Crane. Crane is a coward for and a hypocrite for firing Luhnow and Hinch, while resolving himself of any responsibility.
He had to pay $5 million….
What is obvious is a whole lot more is going to come out. I look for Hinch and Cora to be fired (again) by Spring.
Clearly a money grab. “Send me some money to make it go away. Or else I’ll take everyone down with me.”. Luhnow has the leverage since mlb so desperately wants this to disappear.
If one single person got fired for this scandal and lost wages, then every single player, staff, coach should be treated the same if they were involved. Players still kept their contract, so should the GM.
What I think is that you can’t punish and take this dudes cash from him and let the players involved still get paid! No punishment, nothing! This all is garbage. This was handled terribly by MLB. Pete Rose has been booted from the game, but these kids get to still play after robbing a ring and trophy! What’s the matter with this picture?
Manfred should resign.
The MLB has butchered every single controversy that they’ve faced over the past few years as badly as they could have and there’s one common denominator: Rob Manfred
Yet more evidence that Manfred is inept and in no way suited to run baseball. As long as he remains, baseball will continue to shoot itself in the foot.
Why all the hate for Manfred? What would you have expected a different commissioner to do?
While I think Manfred is wholly incompetent… no reasonable commissioner would have gotten any info out of the players without granting immunity and I find it unlikely any commissioner would get into doing unprecedented things that the internet suggested like vacating titles, banning them from playoffs, nuking Houston, etc.
Vacating would make sense in a different sport that isn’t as centrally organized as baseball (like individual sports, or NCAA conferences where there’s multiple titles teams can qualify for)
In an ideal set up for your MLB team, you want a GM who puts the team together, makes trades, signs and drafts players. You’d also like that GM to stay out of the dugout and not meddle in the affairs of the manager and coaches. Your GM watches the games from a luxury box, not the dugout or dressing room. Why are people thinking he would necessarily have known what was going on down there during games? Why is he any more responsible than say the Commissioner who has let similar things happen over several years and teams?
This is awesome. We are FINALLY going to get the raw truth about what happened during this whole thing. I get the feeling that the MLB report regarding this whole thing wasn’t necessarily truthful or was “filtered” in some regards. Now that this is going to court we’ll see evidence and such we were shielded from before haha. I get the feeling MLB is going to do everything in their power to keep this guy and the Astros from going to court because there is absolutely no positivity that can come out of this for MLB. Anything that comes out will only make it look worse I’m sure and I’m completely excited for it haha.
Cora and Hinch have jobs; Luhnow doesn’t. There must be another reason. It can’t be just because of the cheating scandal alone and nothing else.
Methinks hiring Brandon Trautman and Roberto Osuna hurt his career a lot more than anyone could have ever realized.
You knew this was coming. Luhnow was screwed over. Entire league was jealous and angry because of how he went about his Winning business. Then the players steal signs, and oh yeah! That’s their chance to bring down the guy that fired all those “valuable” scouts and old timey nutbags, and replaced them with technology and people that were actually smart.
Wrong person took the fall here and I hope luhnow wins and brings down some other organizations, that were doing similar things, along the way.
I hope Luhnow wins – MLB needs a league-wide probe into electronic sign stealing. They are content, as an organization, to ruin peoples’ lives. It is time for MLB to be brought to justice for protecting itself from the truth being revealed.
Several years ago Jeff Luhnow gave a great interview on the Jay Mohr podcast. He really let on about how making a successful baseball team can be done from an office. His theories proved to be right in STL and HOU. The guy is hard to like but he appears to be one step ahead of most everyone else. I hope he takes Houston and MLB for a fourtune because ther eneeds to be consequences for cheating then pinning it on another guy. Crane stole a ring and millions of dollarsin the process.
He’s a brilliant roster builder. He’s somewhere between incompetent and a reeking dirtbag as a leader of people
Fired without cause………
Um… This is the US…. you can be fired for almost anything…
Also, you know, Texas and labor rights, so…
Reading this article I was thinking how it is impossible for any of us to have an informed opinion about the merits of Luhnow’s suit because none of us knows what language in his contract the Astros believed gave them the right to void it. A couple hundred posts later I can see how true this is.
The biggest punishment would take the title away.
Oh, boy … a fight between disreputable, underhanded people.
If this unsurprising tale about Manfred’s deal with Crane is true, Manfred’s as much of a malfeasant as I suspected. But Luhnow is still a shameless sleaze too. “I’m a crook but they are too!” is hardly an exonerating argument. Have the decency to be ashamed of what a dirtbag you are, man.
What kills me is that Luhnow worked for the Cardinals’ front office and then moved to the Houston job. I believe it was his password that Cardinals employee Chris Correa used to access Houston’s database, and now I don’t think it’s farfetched that Correa trespassed Houston’s database to find out if Luhnow had taken Cardinals’ proprietary data with him to Houston, as Correa claimed. Whatever the truth of that might be, Houston brought the hammer down on Correa in court and he was sentenced to nearly four years in jail, a stiff fine, and a couple years of supervised release — and all the while the people accusing him were dirtbags themselves. So Correa gets hard time and Luhnow just loses his job … and now he’s crying about it.