Jeff Luhnow filed a lawsuit against the Astros over the money he lost by being fired with cause:

In an interview on Ben Reiter’s podcast “The Edge”, Luhnow said Crane fired him with cause, which cost the former general manager more than $20 million in guaranteed money. The lawsuit makes similar claims, saying he was fired “in order to save more than $22 million in guaranteed salary.”

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Baseball’s investigation cited evidence, including emails Luhnow had replied to, as proof that he should have known about the activities of his staff and players. Luhnow has said he replied to those emails without reading them in their entirety.

Chron.com

I assume James Click, who replaced Luhnow, makes a healthy salary, so the Astros didn’t really save $22 million. I can’t find a number for Click’s salary, but I assume it’s pretty good. The Astros could have simply let Luhnow sit out a year without pay, then bring him back to the team, as the Red Sox did with Alex Cora.

Even if Luhnow is correct that he is being scapegoated, the fact that he didn’t realize what was going on works against him. He had the ultimate responsibility for went on with baseball operations. I suspect that if Luhnow had figured things out and fired some people, he’d still have his job. That goes for A.J. Hinch as well, who at least complained about the cheating enough to destroy a monitor.

One thing that may come of this is a more complete picture of who was involved. I assume Luhnow’s lawyers will depose everyone involved. Those names and what they did will likely become public. A fandom that did not get a chance this season to express their displeasure with the Astros will have fresh reasons to do so, and very specific targets.

Of course, this suit could backfire on Luhnow. I assume at this point he doesn’t believe he will work in baseball again, as I doubt anyone would hire a GM who has sued a team. If the defendants in the case show Luhnow knew enough, his career in this business will be over for good.

It may be wise for the Astros to settle the suit to make Luhnow go away, rather than have their team’s reputation in the spotlight again. That may be Luhnow’s strategy in bringing the suit.