Astros owner Jim Crane claims MLB’s investigation into the team’s sign-stealing “explicitly exonerated” him. Crane made the claim in a legal filing in response to a lawsuit brought by former MLB pitcher Mike Bolsinger against Crane and the team. Daniel Kaplan of The Athletic reports that Crane’s filing is an attempt to avoid being deposed and either dismiss the case outright or move it to Texas from California.

Per Kaplan, the relevant part of Crane’s filing reads: “I was not involved in any alleged rules violations by the Astros. 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.”

In MLB’s report, commissioner Rob Manfred wrote in part: “At the outset, I also can say our investigation revealed absolutely no evidence that Jim Crane, the owner of the Astros, was aware of any of the conduct described in this report. Crane is extraordinarily troubled and upset by the conduct of members of his organization, fully supported my investigation, and provided unfettered access to any and all information requested.”

Astros owner Jim Crane is expected to meet with the full roster Wednesday to discuss how Houston will publicly address the sign-stealing scandal which has resulted in the team hiring a new manager and general manager, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

Passan notes that while only pitchers and catchers were expected to report Wednesday, position players have also flown to Florida to participate in the meeting. The first media availability of the spring is set for Thursday.

News regarding the team’s sign-stealing has dominated baseball conversations in recent weeks. On Jan. 13, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred released a nine-page report detailing how Houston cheated during the 2017-18 regular seasons and postseasons. Manfred suspended Astros manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow through the 2020 World Series, but Crane subsequently fired them.

The Red Sox and Mets later parted ways with managers Alex Cora and Carlos Beltrán after both men were named in MLB’s report. Cora served as the Astros’ bench coach in 2017, while Beltrán was a member of the World Series-winning roster.

HOUSTON—The Astros will apologize for the role they played in the recent sign-stealing saga when they assemble in West Palm Beach, Fla., next month, team owner Jim Crane said while addressing reporters at the Houston Sports Awards in downtown Houston on Tuesday.

Crane, noting the criticism select Astros players have taken for not making more contrite public statements at FanFest last weekend, said the players will “come out with a strong statement as a team and apologize for what happened and we’ll move forward.”

Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman were the only marquee players from the 2017 World Series champion team to attend FanFest last Saturday. They each addressed the media but said little to clarify the role they and others played in the sign-stealing scandal from 2017 and part of ‘18 that led to Major League Baseball’s suspensions—and subsequent dismissal by Crane—of president of baseball operations and general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch, in addition to other penalties.

Bregman opted to repeat variations of a pre-planned statement that said, in essence, that MLB made its decision, the Astros made theirs, and he’d have no other comment on the matter. Altuve, while slightly more forthcoming, did not offer insight as to what role the players had in the sign-stealing scheme that led to the sanctions.

HOUSTON (AP) — Houston Astros owner Jim Crane expects to hire a new manager by Feb. 3.

The Astros need a new manager and general manager after AJ Hinch and Jeff Luhnow were fired Monday, hours after both were suspended by Major League Baseball for a year for the team’s sign-stealing scandal.

Crane said Friday that he’s interviewed a number of candidates this week and has some more to talk to in the coming days.

Crane refused to answer directly when asked if former Astros player and Hall of Famer Craig Biggio was a possibility for the job. But he did say that he had spoken to Biggio, fellow Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell and former Astros star Lance Berkman in the days since the firings.

The kneecapping of the Houston Astros went off Monday in exquisite fashion. Big names were fired. Draft picks were revoked. A record fine was levied. Pounds of flesh were exacted from egregious cheaters. The optics worked. The Astros’ comeuppance was here, and it was severe. Major League Baseball was righting an obvious wrong.

As the day rolled on and people around baseball pondered exactly what had happened, a less obvious version of the story emerged. It was all so tidy, all so clean, so carefully orchestrated and meticulously calibrated—like something the Astros, ever lauded for their efficiency and ruthlessness, might concoct.

Gone were general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch, first suspended by the league for a year, then fired by owner Jim Crane, even as MLB’s investigation into Houston’s sign-stealing scheme determined it was “player-driven.” Gone too were their first- and second-round draft picks for 2020 and 2021, painful but not crippling. And that record fine? All of $5 million, couch-cushion change for every owner in baseball—and the most commissioner Rob Manfred can levy under the MLB constitution, which speaks to the limitations of the position.

It is a job of extreme compromise, of politicking, of figuring out how to appease the 30 billionaires who are his bosses, and Manfred’s handling of the cheating scandal—the biggest of his commissionership so far and one that cut to the heart of the game’s integrity—offered remarkable insight into how he runs the sport. As much as MLB played the big, bad monolith in delivering the ruinous news from on high, this was not some unilateral punishment for the Astros. It was a sneak peek inside the sausage factory of power and the anger that Crane’s relative acquittal caused across the league.