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Red Sox re-hire Alex Cora as manager despite cheating scandal
What I Hear: Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY Sports shares the latest news on the Red Sox’s decision to re-hire Alex Cora as manager despite a cheating scandal.
Former Houston Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow filed a civil action on Monday against his former team, alleging that Major League Baseball’s investigation into the sign-stealing scandal that cost him his job was a “resolution negotiated ”between the league and Astros owner Jim Crane, who guaranteed Luhnow would be fired and the team would retain their tainted 2017 World Series title.
Luhnow received a one-year suspension from MLB on January 13, upon completion of his investigation, and was fired later today by Crane. Now that his suspension has been served, Luhnow is seeking the remaining $ 22 million on his franchise contract which he says in his legal record he “went from the worst team in Major League Baseball to one of the best. in less than a decade. . “
The MLB and the Astros both declined to comment on the suit.
Luhnow’s well-documented teardown and build-up to the Astros – who have lost at least 106 games in three consecutive seasons, including two under his watch from 2012 – culminated in a 2017 World Series Championship, three consecutive titles in the American League West and a 2019 AL pennant.
Luhnow’s hyper-efficient management doctrine has spread to other franchises and even to MLB’s central office. Yet Luhnow went from visionary to villain just weeks after the 2019 World Series, when Athletic first reported that the 2017 Astros Championship was won as a complex and illegal electronic sign theft scandal was carried out in the bowels of Minute Maid Park.
The MLB investigation was launched soon after and found that Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch had failed to properly brief staff and players of the league’s warrants against illegal sign theft. The league also claimed that Luhnow, in acknowledging emails from lower-level staff members, had first-hand knowledge of the system – which involved illegally watching a TV screen and hitting a trash can to pass on signs of opposing teams. .
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Luhnow’s lawsuit, filed in Harris County District Court, paints a different picture: MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and Crane – who hired Luhnow in December 2011 – struck a deal that would exonerate Crane from liability while ensuring that Luhnow takes the fall.
“The MLB investigation,” says Luhnow, “was actually a negotiated resolution between Astros owner Jim Crane and MLB commissioner Robert Manfred that kept the team going. World Series Championship, went to great lengths to exonerate Crane and Luhnow’s scapegoat for a sign-stealing scandal he had no knowledge of and played no part in.
The lawsuit provides no evidence of an agreement between Manfred and Crane to save the team’s World Series title.
Luhnow’s trial comes days after Hinch – suspended and fired the same day as Luhnow – was hired to manage the Detroit Tigers. Additionally, the Boston Red Sox have rehired manager Alex Cora, who they split with two days after his role in the sign-stealing scandal as the Astros bench coach was revealed.
Luhnow’s future in the game is much bleaker. His trial, therefore, fires a few punches.
He insists that no credible evidence exists of Luhnow’s knowledge of the scheme and that, despite the questioning of 68 witnesses and the examination of voluminous electronic communications, “produced only one unworthy source. Trusted – the true leader of the Astros’ sign-stealing schemes who “ involved ” Luhnow in saving his own job. “
It would be Tom Koch-Weser, the team’s director of advance information who remains employed by the club. Luhnow’s lawsuit berates MLB for failing to refer in its report to one of 22,000 text messages Koch-Weser sent and received – messages which it claims do not refer to Luhnow.
The lawsuit claims that the Astros told Koch-Weser he would keep his job “as long as his actions were sanctioned by his superiors, including Luhnow,” and that Koch-Weser’s MLB testimony that Luhnow knew about of the scheme remains unsubstantiated.
Luhnow says Manfred “ignored his findings that the players and video room staff – not the Astros front office – were responsible for the sign theft schemes. That’s because the commissioner looked at potential sanctions with Crane, and the two exchanged a series of proposals.
MLB fined Crane $ 5 million and stripped the club of four draft picks, but allowed the Astros to retain their title.
“I don’t think I should be held responsible,” Crane said in February, when the Astros players apologized for their role in the program on the first day of spring training.
Crane was certainly emboldened by the MLB report, which noted that “our investigation revealed absolutely no evidence that Jim Crane, the owner of the Astros, was aware of any of the behaviors described in this report. report. Crane is extremely disturbed and upset by the conduct of the members of his organization, fully supported my investigation and provided unhindered access to all requested information.
Ultimately, Luhnow said he believed his dismissal was without cause; of the four conditions that would warrant dismissal for cause in Luhnow’s contract, the Astros are likely to argue that Luhnow was dismissed for “any material breach or refusal by the employee to follow the club’s material and legal instructions relating to his functions. “
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