⚾ Astros fined $5M, lose four draft picks; Hinch, Luhnow suspended

Final score: Astros 0, Rulebook 1. On January 13, 2020, Commissioner Rob Manfred announced that the Houston Astros had illegally used a camera system to steal signs, and the league handed down penalties USA Today called the most severe in its history against a team: a $5 million fine, no first- or second-round picks in 2020 and 2021, and one-year suspensions for manager A. J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow.

Sports Illustrated reported the $5 million was the maximum allowed under the MLB Constitution. The Astros' owner, Jim Crane, fired Hinch and Luhnow about an hour after the announcement, telling reporters, "Neither one of them started this, but neither one of them did anything about it," per ESPN.

What the filing found

Manfred's nine-page decision says that at the start of the 2017 season, employees in the Astros' video replay room began using the live center-field camera feed to decode opposing catchers' signs. Later, players watched a monitor outside the dugout and banged a trash can with a bat to tell the batter what was coming. Manfred called the banging scheme "player-driven." He also wrote that his investigation found no evidence Crane knew of it.

No players were punished. Manfred wrote that discipline would be "difficult and impractical" because virtually all of them had some involvement or knowledge, according to The Washington Post's account of his statement. The Wall Street Journal reported that the league had offered players immunity in exchange for their cooperation.

The two managers' side of it

Hinch accepted the ruling in a statement released through MLB. "While the evidence consistently showed I didn't endorse or participate in the sign stealing practices, I failed to stop them and I am deeply sorry," he said. Manfred wrote that Hinch had "full knowledge" of the conduct and let it continue through the 2017 postseason, though he credited Hinch's remorse.

Luhnow took a different line. "I am not a cheater," his statement said, adding that he did not know rules were being broken. Manfred's decision says Luhnow denied knowledge but that investigators found documentary and testimonial evidence that he "had some knowledge" of the efforts and "did not give it much attention."

The lawsuits

The penalties did not close the file. On November 9, 2020, Luhnow sued the Astros for breach of contract in Harris County, Texas, district court, according to the Los Angeles Times. The suit alleges Crane and Manfred negotiated a settlement that made Luhnow "the scapegoat for the organization" so the team could fire him "in order to save more than $22 million in guaranteed salary." Neither MLB nor the Astros immediately responded to requests for comment when the Times reported the filing.

Earlier, on February 10, 2020, pitcher Mike Bolsinger filed a civil suit in Los Angeles Superior Court accusing the Astros of unfair business practices, negligence and intentional interference with contractual and economic relations, USA Today reported. He says the Astros knew his pitches on August 4, 2017, the night he was cut from the Blue Jays' 40-man roster. The suit counts bangs on 12 of his 29 pitches. He wanted the roughly $31 million in 2017 postseason bonuses donated to charity. Astros spokesman Steve Grande said the team was not commenting on the suit.

That first case was dismissed. Bleacher Report, citing the Houston Chronicle, says Bolsinger refiled, seeking more than $1 million and arguing the signs were trade secrets under Texas law. It reports that Judge David Cowan said there was "no single contact between California and this case."

"I don't think the punishment has fit the crime."

Mike Bolsinger, to USA Today, February 2020

Crane's view, as quoted in Bolsinger's own Washington Post essay, was: "We've dealt with it, we've said we're sorry, we're moving forward." The lawsuits are the part of the scoreboard that kept running.