NEWSLETTER
At long last – weird timing – MLB is handing down its punishment for the OTHER sign-stealing team. And it turns out, at least according to MLB’s investigation, the Boston Red Sox did a whole lot less than the Houston Astros did.
The Athletic has the scoop:
BREAKING: #RedSox penalties:
*Loss of 2020 2nd-round pick.
*Ban of replay operator J.T. Watkins through 2020 playoffs and from doing same job in ‘21.
*Ban of Alex Cora through ‘20 playoffs, but only for conduct with #Astros.
Story with @EvanDrellich: https://t.co/6Ysn9hsRFa
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) April 22, 2020
Basically, the Red Sox’s replay official was sometimes decoding signs during games and then sharing that information with players, who would pass it on to runners on base so they could relay it to the batter. The front office and even the coaching staff, apparently, were not involved, and clearly it was much less systematic than the Astros’ cheating. Even Alex Cora, surprisingly, was not involved. Thus, the punishments here are far less significant.
Moreover, the finding was that the Red Sox did not cheat in the postseason in 2018, when they won the World Series. I know we liked to joke about the Cubs being the last honest World Series winner (at least before the Nationals won it), but I actually am pleased that the Red Sox’s cheating wasn’t more widespread. It was bad enough when the whole Astros thing was going down.
(I’m sure a lot of folks are going to note that the suspensions are for the 2020 season … which is a season that may or may not happen. I wouldn’t get too excited about this being a sign that MLB is confident the season will happen, as there’s zero chance they would announce a punishment like this and explicitly pair it with “oh, by the way, these suspensions will happen in 2021 if we have to cancel this season.” They pretty much have to proceed as though this year is going to happen right now. Also, the Jeff Luhnow and A.J. Hinch suspensions are going to be deemed served this year even if the season is cancelled. So, again, don’t take anything bigger away from this.)
