After a winter of accusations and investigations, MLB finally put the sign-stealing allegations to rest on Wednesday. Three months after Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich of the Athletic reported that the Boston Red Sox had violated league rules with their use of the replay review room, commissioner Rob Manfred released his Red Sox investigation.
The Red Sox were the second franchise accused of cheating during a championship-winning season, joining the Houston Astros. The Department of Investigation conducted a thorough report, and they interviewed 65 witnesses, including 34 former or current Red Sox players.
The Red Sox investigation reports the following punishment:
- The team loses their second-round pick in the 2020 First-Year Player Draft.
- J.T. Watkins, a replay review room employee, will be suspended through the 2020 postseason, and he will be prohibited from returning to the role in 2021. No other personnel were punished
- Alex Cora is suspended through the 2020 postseason.
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
Misuse of the Review Room
MLB’s findings indicate that the Red Sox were at some fault although their actions were not as severe as the Astros in 2017. While the Astros developed a player-driven scheme to steal signs with technology, and relay them to the batter in real time, the Red Sox did not take it that far. Rather, Watkins concocted it, with management, coaches, and players mostly unaware.
“I do not find that then-Manager Alex Cora, the Red Sox coaching staff, the Red
Sox front office, or most of the players on the 2018 Red Sox knew or should have
known,” Manfred said.
While the Astros failed to relay MLB’s stance on technological sign stealing, the Red Sox made sure to relay these policies to their non-player staff.
The Role of J.T. Watkins
Watkins worked two jobs that blended together for the Red Sox. As a member of their advance scouting staff, he had exceptional skills at using video to decode signs before and after games. He would then go over such signs in pre-game strategy meetings.
However, he also worked in the replay review room for the Red Sox, signaling whether the team should challenge certain plays. The investigation found evidence that, at times, he would update his findings as the games went along. Even in games where Watkins did this, the Red Sox only used information given by him once a runner reached second base.
“The information was only relevant when the Red Sox had a runner on second base (which was 19.7% of plate appearances leaguewide in 2018),” Manfred said. “Watkins communicated sign sequences in a manner that indicated that he had decoded them from the in-game feed in only a small percentage of those occurrences.”
Most witnesses denied that Watkins did this in a game. However, eleven witnesses revealed four instances, either verbal or non verbal, that Watkins did this in a game.
“While I acknowledge that most of the Red Sox players and staff members said
that they had no reason to believe that Watkins, who admittedly knew the rules, did not
follow them, they also did not provide information that exonerates him,” Manfred said. Some witnesses said that they received in-game sign sequence information from Watkins but had no idea about whether the source was pregame research, other baserunners, or impermissible in game video review.”
Past Offenses and Postseason
Additionally, Watkins played a role in the 2017 Apple Watch incident involving the Red Sox and New York Yankees. This incident was the first to reveal the gray areas surrounding technological-sign-stealing.
There is no conclusive evidence supporting that Watkins continued these tactics in the 2018 postseason or the 2019 regular season. That is due, in part, to the Commissioner’s Office placing full-time Video Room Monitors in the rooms.
The Red Sox and Alex Cora
Although these actions were unknown to most, the team still benefited from them. That is what led to the team losing their second-round draft pick. Given the change to the draft because of the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, that loss proves larger than usual.
Manfred notes that the Red Sox front office made clear efforts to comply with the league and communicate these rules to non-players. However, Manfred finds that Cora did not effectively communicate to this to the players. Cora’s suspension does not pertain to any involvement in this situation. Despite that, his history with the Astros scandal in 2017, abd his inability to effectively communicate led to his punishment.
Manfred granted the same immunity to the Red Sox players as the Astros players. Despite that immunity, he feels that no players would have been suspended if it were not granted.
Technological sign stealing continues to grow as an issue in MLB. As the CBA is renegotiated after the 2021 season, it should be a big talking point.
Main Photo: Embed from Getty Images
