Luhnow says Astros 'try and follow the rules' amid sign-stealing inquiry
On Tuesday, Houston Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow addressed allegations that his team used technology to illegally steal signs during the 2017 season.
While Luhnow admitted that the Astros "haven't done everything properly," he insisted that the team has attempted to stay within the guidelines of the game.
"I think that when an organization has success, there's going to naturally be critics trying to figure out things that might not be right, or things that the organization may have not done properly," Luhnow told reporters at the GM meetings in Arizona, according to Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle.
"We haven't done everything properly, but I do feel confident that in general, most of the time, we did things right and we try and follow the rules. We try to be good citizens and we try to compete as hard as we can."
The Astros are being accused of stealing signals through the use of a center-field camera at Minute Maid Park by several people who were with the team during the 2017 campaign. Pitcher Mike Fiers, who played for the Oakland Athletics in 2019, went on the record to detail how the Astros used the camera and relayed the signs to their hitters.
"I just want the game to be cleaned up a little bit because there are (opposing pitchers) who are losing their jobs because they're going in there not knowing," Fiers said. "Young guys getting hit around in the first couple of innings starting a game, and then they get sent down. It's (B.S.) on that end. It's ruining jobs for younger guys."
Major League Baseball is investigating the claims, and the Astros have said they're cooperating.
"We're going to find out as much as we can, whatever there is to find out, and we'll make a determination after that how we handle it and how MLB handles it," Luhnow added.
Sign-stealing accusations against the Astros aren't new. During both the 2018 and 2019 playoffs, similar claims from opposing teams were investigated, although the Astros were never found to have violated league rules and were not punished.
Meanwhile, the new allegations are just the latest scandal to envelop the Astros since the end of the 2019 regular season. Assistant general manager Brandon Taubman was fired for comments he directed at a group of female reporters regarding closer Roberto Osuna following Houston's ALCS win. The team drew heavy criticism for its initial handling of the Taubman incident leading up to the World Series.
"I know in the last couple of weeks, there's been a lot of news surrounding the Houston Astros and it's not been good news. I'm disappointed in that," Luhnow said, according to Forbes' Barry M. Bloom. "I think these incidents and topics are not tied together, but they obviously have come one after another, it seems like.
"It is disappointing and if there is an issue we need to address we will address it."