Yeah sure like we needed a million more headlines about all this…
I think the issue driving this is that, according to the podcast about the scandal by the guy who wrote Astro Ball, when Luhnow asked for his data from his phone, the Astros sent him everyone’s info. So he has all emails, slack messages and texts that were reviewed by MLB. He is pretty hot that people with direct ties to the cheating didn’t get any punishment.
Does his case have merit?
I’ve heard good things about that podcast from my dad. He says it is very balanced, sober and comprehensive.
A few tidbits from Luhnow’s complaint that I hadn’t seen reported anywhere else. Take these with however many grains of salt you think are appropriate:
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Manfred’s rationale for suspending Luhnow was that, regardless of whether Luhnow knew about the cheating efforts, Luhnow had not taken adequate steps to address in-game electronic sign stealing after the Red Sox/Apple watch incident. Luhnow alleges that, immediately after the teleconference where Manfred announced the Red Sox punishment, he had a verbal discussion with Hinch, who assured him that no one was using Apple Watches or other technology in the dugout, but Hinch didn’t tell him about the video monitor setup.
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Luhnow lobs some blame at Taubman, asserting that “as with many teams, the primary responsibility for imparting MLB rules fell to Assistant General Manager, Brandon Tabuman.”
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Luhnow lays out a number of steps he took to convey the no-in-game-electronic-sign-stealing rules to the team and staff, but the earliest one listed was in March 2018.
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Luhnow claims that the steps he took are essentially the same that led Manfred to absolve the Red Sox GM of wrongdoing in the Apple Watch scandal.
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Luhnow’s contract had an arbitration clause in it. He argues that he shouldn’t be held to it because the clause says that disputes should be arbitrated by the MLB Commissioner (or someone he picks). There’s a chance that the Court appoints a neutral arbitrator and we don’t get any more public information about all of this.
This could get interesting if people (other staffers, players, those from other organizations) start getting deposed or have to testify under oath. I’ve said all along that while I don’t condone what the Astros did, the clutching at pearls by the rest of the league is ludicrous Let’s just get it all out in the open.
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I strongly encourage the podcast. The final episode drops this week. So if you have a long drive coming up, you can binge it.
FWIW, Luhnow comes off as tone deaf in the interview with the podcast even more so than he did with the TV reporter.
Ben Reiter, correct?
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That’s fucking nuts.
Shocking - shocking, I tell you - that the Astros will continue to get shat upon for years while the court of public opinion has already forgotten about the Red Sox’s transgressions.
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Red Sox flinging a middle finger right and left.
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Apparently, the lesson here is to not piss off the media. Long gone are the days of reporting the facts, and they have been replaced with an era that empowers reporters to shape and control the narrative of a story.
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Drehlich, for instance.
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Worth a read I think for those like me who have not actually been listening to the podcast…
What we learned from ‘The Edge’ - a six-part podcast about Astros cheating scandal
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Spoiler alert from final podcast
Summary
In the final episode of the podcast, it begins talking about a hedge fund manager who was raking in millions/billions due to asking his underlings to find an “edge”. When they came to him with their info, he never asked them where they got it, he just would ask for them to rank their confidence on a scale of 1-10. Several of his underlings got busted for insider trading. The head guy walked away paying a fine that would break all of us but was a drop in the bucket for him. The equivalent of a $5 million fine when you own a business worth billions. The hedge fund manager… now is the owner of the Mets - Steve Cohen.
In light of that story, the big deal MLB made of the fact that Crane (who benefited from all the edge the Astros were gaining) was totally absolved was then focused on.
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Oh fucking, please. An edge, eh? Knowing the next pitched gained him millions? So every pitch they knew resulted in a big hit?
Oh fucking, please.
Have you listened to the podcast?
I can buy the claim that Crane sacrificed Lunhow at the behest of MLB to keep the WS.
I’ve speculated on that in this hallowed forum. And the motivation for getting rid of Lunhow had almost nothing to do with illegal sign stealing.
But none of that will come to light.
This will go behind closed doors and a check will get cut.
And that’ll be good for Lunhow, because even if the facts are on his side, he comes across poorly.
The powers that be in baseball and the rank and file also wanted to deep six Luhnow for years before the “scandal.” Trash-banging only gave them a reason other than they could not stand him.
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