HOUSTON — Former Houston Astros president of baseball operations Jeff Luhnow does not believe he is “blackballed” from returning to Major League Baseball, but he said he’s “moved on” following his dismissal in 2020 and subsequent yearlong suspension for Houston’s illegal sign-stealing scheme in 2017.
Appearing on the “Crush City Territory” podcast Friday morning, Luhnow acknowledged that “two or three” MLB owners have contacted him to gauge his interest in returning. He declined to identify the owners — and also declined their overtures.
“I don’t think I’m blackballed from baseball like some people think,” Luhnow said. “I know I would do a good job. I know that for a fact. But the reality is I’ve moved on. I’m very happy.”
Luhnow also discussed his highly criticized 2018 trade for Roberto Osuna, who was serving a league suspension for violating MLB’s domestic violence policy. Luhnow admitted he underestimated the impact the move would have on fans.
Luhnow is now chief executive officer of Blue Crow Sports Group, which he founded in July 2021. The company owns soccer clubs in Spain, the Czech Republic, the United Arab Emirates and Cancún. During his podcast appearance Friday, Luhnow revealed that the group just acquired another team from France.
“I’ve had two or three owners contact me and ask me if I was interested in either a role as GM or another, different role where I’d oversee the sporting operation,” Luhnow said. “In all cases I said no because, at the time, I was raising money and starting my company.”
Astros owner Jim Crane fired Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch in January 2020 following a league investigation into the team’s illegal sign-stealing scheme in 2017.
Luhnow later filed a $22 million lawsuit against the Astros for breach of contract, claiming a “negotiated resolution” between Crane and commissioner Rob Manfred led to his firing. The suit was dismissed in February 2021 after both sides “resolved their differences.”
On Friday, Luhnow said he has not attended an MLB game or visited Daikin Park since his dismissal, though he is amenable to returning under select circumstances.
“If the organization ever felt like inviting me, I’d be more than happy to,” Luhnow said. “I don’t want to distract from what’s going on there, and I think me being there would attract some attention.
“I am very proud of the fact that the Astros… there is no dynasty in the 21st century that comes close at this point. I know I wasn’t there for the whole thing. I was just there in the beginning but put them on a good course and am very happy about what happened.”
Luhnow discussed several other topics in the 54-minute episode, including the agreed-upon 2018 deal with the Washington Nationals for Bryce Harper that failed when the Nationals’ ownership didn’t approve, in addition to Houston’s trade for Osuna.
The Astros were heavily criticized for the Osuna trade. When the team clinched the American League pennant in 2019, Astros assistant general manager Brandon Taubman was heard yelling “Thank God we got Osuna! I’m so f—— glad we got Osuna!” during the postgame celebration. His comments were reported by several outlets, including Sports Illustrated’s Stephanie Apstein, and the Astros initially accused reporters of fabricating the incident, which was corroborated by several witnesses. The team eventually fired Taubman.
In the podcast, Luhnow detailed the vetting process he went through before acquiring Osuna, but he admitted that he should have asked for more opinions about adding a player serving a domestic violence suspension beforehand.
“I didn’t take into account as much as I should have the impact it would have on our fans, especially our female fans and how they would feel,” Luhnow said. “And that was a mistake. And I did talk about it with female friends and family, but I probably should have spent a little bit more time thinking about it.
“Yes, I made the decision to trade for them. I did not do it unilaterally.
“The talent checked the box for sure. Everybody that was around me that I collaborated with was — there was nobody saying, ‘Don’t do it.’ Because if someone had said, ‘Don’t do it,’ I mean, obviously, we wouldn’t have done it.”
From a talent perspective, Luhnow isn’t ready to say the deal, which sent Ken Giles to the Toronto Blue Jays, was a mistake.
“That’s a tough one. I mean, I will say, he’s been a pretty good pitcher,” Luhnow said. “He got injured, and he hasn’t been really able to pitch in the U.S., but he’s been a good pitcher.
“Did he help us accomplish our goals on the field? To a certain extent, he did. I still think he could have been better.”
Luhnow says if he had to do it again, he wouldn’t have made the deal.
“I learned a lot from that experience,” he said, “and I think I would do things differently today than I did then.”
(Photo: Bob Levey / Getty Images)