Because I was GM, figured I'd get some punishment. I figured I was looking at some suspension. Was not expecting a year long suspension. Wasn't expecting the team that I spent 8 years building to fire me. It was tough. I didn't know we were cheating. I wasn't involved. Felt like on that day I was getting punished for something I didn't do. It didn't feel right.
You would've been wrong. Hinch lost the clubhouse in Oakland and was unwilling to take a chance on losing the clubhouse in Houston.
Clear to me from the beginning players wouldn't be punished, that Jim Crane wouldn't be punished. I asked for a meeting. I refuted with facts, documents, testimony. I told him I'd like to take a lie detector test. They extended the investigation for 2 weeks just so they could find more evidence about me. You are the target of this investigation.
Dodgers and other clubs but Dodgers for sure were adamant about big punishment. They wanted the GM and manager to go down and they got it.
(Taubman incident) So disappointed that happened. Should have never happened. More disappointed in how Astros reacted. The night the organization found out this was going to be a story, several people were actively conversing about what to do about it. As GM, I don't write press releases. I see them before they go out if they have to do with baseball operations. I'll approve a quote if it supposedly my words but even my quotes are written by someone else. This particular response was crafted, edited & written by the person that runs legal operations for the Astros & the person that runs marketing/PR for the Astros. Those two wrote it, edited it and sent it out. 2 days later, we're in DC. That morning I had fired Brandon. I was asked if I would talk to the media about firing Brandon. I agreed to do it. No one else was willing to do it. About 20 seconds before I walked into a room filled with baseball reporters who were looking to attack somebody, I was instructed by one of the people that wrote the response to not disclose who wrote it and to make everyone understand it was an Astros response. I followed those instructions, sat there for 20 minutes and was attacked by every media outlet in the country. I know I didn't handle it as well as I could have but didn't want to lie so I told them I had seen the response before it went out which made me the face of the response because no one else was willing to face the music. When that interview was over, I received a text message from the other person who had been involved in writing it & crafting it thanking me for taking one for the team. I shouldn't have taken one for the team. I didn't write that response. It was a horrible response. Should have never happened. Unfortunately I did. I take my responsibility in it. I should have stopped it but that's not my area of expertise. I was preparing for the World Series. There are people in the company, the legal department, the marketing department, the PR department, they're involved in crisis management & botched it big time.
"I took one for the team and I shouldnt have. There was a pr member who even said, "Thank you for taking one for the team.". The Astros have legal and pr to handle crisis management."
So he said someone from MLB whispered to him that there might have been something going on but he didn't go further because he didn't give it any credence... Ummm yeah Lunhow you just showed your ass. GTFO
If Luhnow truly didn't know (and I tend to believe he didn't), then he can't really be faulted for the cheating scandal. However, he should absolutely have been involved in the PR response to the Taubman incident. Deflecting blame on this wasn't a good look
Biggest regret? The success has been stained by what happened in 2017/18. Why we have to soil that with ridiculous cheating executed by people who are...they didn't ask for permission. They just did it. Whether it's the players or video staffers, they decided on their own to do it. That's a shame. Had they came to ask for permission, I would have said no. My other regret is I looked forward to and enjoyed the challenge of taking a terrible organization and turning into a dominant team. I was looking forward to the challenge of keeping the team dominant over an extended period of time. It's been 6 years of really good baseball in Houston & that's wonderful for our fans, city. I was looking forward to how do we take that 6 and turn it into 12. James Click will do a terrific job. They have a good chance of keeping this team relevant for another couple years.
He okayed "codebreaker". What are they gonna do with codesigns they break, just sit on them and not relay them? That was bs on his part.
Still rooting for this team? Very much so. All the players on the team, you develop strong relationships with players over time. I feel close to them & some of the coaches & some of the people in the front office. Absolutely I root for the Astros. Talked to the players, Hinch, anyone in the franchise? I have. I keep in touch with AJ, many of the players. They've been supportive to me. When you go through something like this, you realize who your friends are and who was just hanging around because I happened to be in a position that I could get them tickets or tell them fun stuff. There have been several players & staff members that care about what happens to me. Last 9 months? Nothing I wish on someone else. In some ways, the worst of times. At the same time, given me an opportunity...getting fired for the first time, I've been working since I was 16. Working or going to school. To get fired at this point in my career was stunning. I never took vacation days. It was nice to get time at home.
From many of the responses, it sounds like he felt the organization threw him under the bus and thus he feels no loyalty to the organization at this point to stay silent. I can't say I blame him. Crane took a holier-than-thou "none of this is acceptable" stand in firing Hinch and Lunhow - which is fine - but then to keep and promote people directly involved in the cheating does seem pretty hypocritical.
