Astros Owner Says He Is Immune From Sign Stealing Lawsuit
Houston Astros owner Jim Crane wrote in a legal filing on Monday that Major League Baseball “exonerated” him in the team’s sign-stealing scandal and that he is thus immune from a lawsuit emanating from his team’s actions.
His contention came as part of a series of legal filings from the Astros seeking to either move former MLB pitcher Mike Bolsinger’s lawsuit out of California state court and to Texas, or dismiss it. Bolsinger names Crane as a defendant, and the former Toronto Blue Jay’s lawyers recently served notice on the Houstonian that they planned to depose him on June 1. Crane’s response states that he bore no culpability for the sign-stealing scandal that rocked the sport.
“I was not involved in any alleged rules violations by the Astros,” Crane wrote in his declaration, or legal statement, which is attached to the motion to quash the summons for deposition and move the case to Texas (or dismiss entirely). “Major League Baseball conducted an investigation into potential rules violations by the Astros. That report explicitly exonerated me and stated that I was unaware of and had no involvement in any rules violations by the Astros.”
Bolsinger has not pitched in the majors since an appearance for the Blue Jays in Houston on Aug. 4, 2017. Toronto allowed 16 runs that day, four of which were charged to Bolsinger. He faced eight batters and retired only one, allowing four hits and three walks. That was the game in which trash can bangs could be heard the most, according to research from Astros fan Tony Adams at SignStealingScandal.com. The Astros’ sign stealing involved trash can banging to notify the hitter what pitch was coming.
Bolsinger, who was demoted after the game, blames the sign stealing for ruining his career. He is seeking unspecified damages and for the Astros to return the roughly $31 million in bonuses from their World Series title, and for the money to go to charities.
The Astros in a separate motion to dismiss filing described the pitcher’s financial request as pandering.
“His contention that, should he be awarded ‘restitution’ in the amount of $31 million — a staggering sum he bases on purported ‘post-season bonuses earned from (the Astros) winning the 2017 World Series’ — he would donate a portion of that windfall to ‘charities in Los Angeles’ is both pandering and legally insufficient.”
The Astros in their Bolsinger legal filings swing at his contention his career failed because of the Minute Maid Park appearance.
“Plaintiff, who struggled throughout the 2017 Baseball season — going 0-3 with a 6.31 ERA in 11 appearances — speculates in his lawsuit that alleged infractions caused his poor appearance on the mound in Houston, harming his career,” the team’s lawyers argued in court papers. “Plaintiff wants to have a California judge and jury literally call ball and strikes, and award him money damages based on rank conjecture about what might have happened to him in Houston on August 4, 2017 due to alleged rules violations he speculates may have occurred that day.”
Major League Baseball doesn’t think its notes from the Astros and Red Sox sign-stealing investigations are relevant to a lawsuit brought by daily fantasy sports contestants. The suit alleges that sign-stealing corrupted daily fantasy games and that those involved should be held responsible. The Red Sox and Astros are defendants in the case, along with MLB.
MLB’s lead investigator, Bryan Seeley, argued in a court filing Monday that if the league must reveal greater detail from its interviews and findings, future investigations could be jeopardized. Lawyers for MLB also cited attorney-client privilege and other legal grounds in their objections.
“If players, club officials or the MLBPA suspected that conversations with our attorneys or investigators about potential rules violations could be revealed, it would significantly hamper the Commissioner’s ability to exercise his investigatory and disciplinary powers under the MLB Constitution,” wrote Seeley, a former federal prosecutor. “Interview subjects would be much less likely to voluntarily engage in candid conversations if those conversations, or DOI’s (Department of Investigation’s) legal analysis of them, were at risk of being disclosed.”
The plaintiffs requested a swath of documents pertaining not only to the sign-stealing investigation but MLB’s business structures and its relationship with DraftKings, where the games were hosted.
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Astros Owner Says He Is Immune From Sign Stealing Lawsuit
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