Small fine, large scrutiny
Sox hurt image in sign-stealing caper
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Not so fast, Red Sox.
Thanks to a slap on the wrist(watch) and a wag of the finger to never, ever do it again, the Sox yesterday wiggled out of paying any serious consequences for their iSteal signs episode.
It’s over as far as they are concerned.
They lost their “but they did it, too” case against the Yankees, and paid an undisclosed fine to the office of commissioner Rob Manfred for their transgression but that’s all there is to it and hey, it’s no big deal.
The money will go to hurricane relief efforts in Florida, and who’s against that? Their trainers won’t wear Apple Watches anymore, so their players can go back to stealing opposing catchers’ signs the oldfashioned way from second base and their team can now turn its undivided attention to what’s left of the regular season.
Wait one minute. Before the Red Sox shut and lock the door and melt the key on a matter that they view as a piffle involving misguided but scrappy scoundrels, don’t let them off the hook just because they want to get off it.
That doesn’t mean go jump on a soap box and start moralizing about the vastness of the sin the Red Sox committed.
In the court of baseball, the Red Sox did not commit a capital crime.
In the court of public opinion, however, they deserve more scorn and a more skeptical eye about how tight and wise a ship they’re running than they and the commissioner’s office want.
First, let’s point out that while the Red Sox bungled this misdemeanor to a degree of stupidity that ranks as epic, one year ago they were handed a far more serious punishment — international prospects they signed were “unsigned,” and the team was banned from signing such players for a year for intentionally circumventing international bonus pools.
The Red Sox complained privately then like they did now in public that all teams play fast and loose in the international market. Yet for some reason it was the Sox who got caught and it was the Sox who paid the price.
That’s twice in two years they have been caught breaking the rules. Knock yourself out trying to judge the seriousness of each crime but what’s that rule in baseball, the one about one, two and three strikes you’re out? How should we apply that to the Red Sox?
Thanks to the Patriots’ escapades in the shadows and blurred boundaries of the rule book, Boston, outside of New England, is already viewed as a haven for sports cheaters.
And now we’ve got the Red Sox involved in backto-back “scandals” that they were caught in stone cold guilty fashion. That’s a terrible look. Here’s another one. How dumb were the architects of AppleGate?
What’s being whispered to us about the Rube Goldberg-like theft device — all it took was studying video, breaking down opponents’ signs code, sending that code to the trainer in the dugout with the Apple Watch, that trainer telling a nearby player what’s up and that player yelling in code to the runner on second base what signal to relay to the batter at the plate — was that it was the players who hatched the plan, and they ensnared others to be their accomplices.
Well, it was a stupid plan, and worse, the Red Sox botched it considering how the Yankees were able to crack it relatively easily.
At least the Sox looked into the matter — there either was or was not an internal investigation, it’s not quite clear — and they’re sure this is the last of it.
“I know what happened, so no, I don’t have to do any more investigation into what took place. There won’t be any internal fines,” said president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. “The topic’s been discussed internally and addressed, and I’m sure it will not happen again.”
That the Red Sox lost their CSI case against the Yankees being equally as guilty is not at all surprising. The quality of that evidence sounded sketchy from the start. In what sounded almost like a pity punishment, the commissioner did discover a past misdemeanor involving improper use of a dugout telephone by the Yankees. They were fined as well, a smaller amount.
And this from Manfred: “All 30 clubs have been notified that future violations of this type will be subject to more serious sanctions, including the possible loss of draft picks.”
If any team, even the Red Sox, are caught using electronics to steal signs, that addendum from the commissioner sounds like an appropriate punishment. This time, the Red Sox got off easy.
That doesn’t give them an excuse to wipe the mud off their face. It’s not a flattering look, but they’ve got to wear it longer.