Major League Baseball has completed its investigation into allegations the Boston Red Sox were involved in a sign-stealing operation during their 2018 World Series-winning season, suspending replay operator JT Watkins for one year and stripping the team of a second-round draft pick. The team’s former manager, Alex Cora, is suspended for the 2020 season but only for his part in the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing operation, which MLB had already investigated.
The punishment will be met with relief by many Red Sox fans. MLB handed down heavy penalties – including a $5m fine and a loss of first-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021 – after the league concluded the Astros stole signs during their own title-winning season in 2017. The scandal has tarnished the Astros’ reputation and provoked anger from players around the league.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred concluded that Cora was unaware of Watkins’ wrongdoing during the 2018 season. Manfred said that Watkins “on at least some occasions during the 2018 regular season, utilized the game feeds in the replay room, in violation of MLB regulations, to revise sign sequence information that he had permissibly provided to players prior to the game.” However, unlike the Astros, Watkins’ missteps were “far more limited in scope and impact.”
Manfred added that Cora, the coaching staff and most Red Sox players did not know “that Watkins was utilizing in-game video to update the information that he had learned from his pregame analysis.”
The Red Sox did not contest the findings.
“As an organization, we strive for 100% compliance with the rules. MLB’s investigation concluded that in isolated instances during the 2018 regular season, sign sequences were decoded through the use of live game video rather than through permissible means,” the Red Sox president and CEO, Sam Kennedy, said in a statement.
“MLB acknowledged the front office’s extensive efforts to communicate and enforce the rules and concluded that Alex Cora, the coaching staff, and most of the players did not engage in, nor were they aware of, any violations. Regardless, these rule violations are unacceptable. We apologize to our fans and Major League Baseball, and accept the Commissioner’s ruling.”
MLB’s punishment for the Astros was more severe because it concluded the club had used cameras to steal signs from opposing teams, allowing batters to tell which pitches to expect.
