Red Sox receive penalties from MLB for their own sign stealing scandal in 2018

Boston Red Sox (Wikimedia Commons)

Major League Baseball came down on the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday. They did not come down as hard as they did on the Houston Astros in January for sign stealing, but they have been penalized nonetheless. According to ESPN, the people who have been penalized are Video Replay System Operator J.T. Watkins and former Red Sox manager Alex Cora.

Both Watkins and Cora have been suspended throughout the 2020 Major League Baseball regular season and postseason. Watkins also cannot be the Red Sox video replay system operator for the 2021 Major League Baseball regular season or postseason if the Red Sox still have him as an employee.

However it should be noted that Cora is being suspended for particular violations while he was with the Houston Astros organization as their bench coach and is not receiving further punishment for his role during the 2018 Red Sox sign stealing scandal when he was Boston’s manager. After it was determined that Cora was actively involved in the Astros sign stealing scandal, he was relieved of his duties as Red Sox manager on January 14.

Watkins meanwhile was accused of using game feeds in their replay room to provide Red Sox players signals used by opposing teams. According to ESPN, the information was only valid when opposing teams had runners on base.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred also stated Watkins was involved in the 2017 Red Sox cheating scandal. Here, the Red Sox organization used Apple watches to relay signs from the replay room to the dugout.

In addition to the two suspensions, the Red Sox are losing their second round draft pick in the 2020 Major League Baseball Draft. The 2020 MLB Draft will be unprecedented. Due to the fact that we are in an era of coronavirus and Major League Baseball teams are not generating any revenue at the moment, the draft is expected to see a significant drop to only five rounds, where it normally is 40 rounds.