© Paul Rutherford | 2019 Sep 5
Following a lengthy investigation, Major League Baseball announced it’s punishments for the Red Sox 2018 sign-steal scandal, and they seem pretty lax.
Red Sox replay operator J.T. Watkins has been suspended for one year and the team has been stripped of its second-round pick in 2020. Alex Cora has also been officially suspended for the 2020 season for his role in Houston Astros’ sign-stealing case, but he was released as Red Sox manager months ago. That is the extent of the punishment.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred wrote in the report 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.” When compared to the Astros, Manfred called the actions “far more limited in scope and impact.”
