League to investigate reports 2018 champion Red Sox stole signs
BOSTON (AP) >> Major League Baseball says it will investigate allegations the Boston Red Sox illegally used their video replay room to steal signs between opposing pitchers and catchers during their 2018 World Series championship season.
The claims were made Tuesday in a report by The Athletic. The website cited three anonymous sources it said were with the Red Sox during the 2018 season who said some players visited the replay room during games to get information on sign sequences.
Those sources told The Athletic that the Red Sox weren’t able to do it during the postseason because of in-person monitors used by MLB in those games.
“The Commissioner made clear in a September 15, 2017 memorandum to clubs how seriously he would take any future violation of the regulations regarding use of electronic equipment or the inappropriate use of the video replay room. Given these allegations, MLB will commence an investigation into this matter,” the league said in a statement.
The Red Sox said they will cooperate as MLB looks into the allegations.
“We were recently made aware of allegations suggesting the inappropriate use of our video replay room,” the team said in a statement. “We take these allegations seriously and will fully cooperate with MLB as they investigate the matter.”
The incident that prompted MLB’s 2017 warning from Com
missioner Rob Manfred to teams came after the Red Sox were fined an undisclosed sum for “sending electronic communications from their video replay room to an athletic trainer in the dugout” during an August 2017 series against the rival New York Yankees.
The New York Times reported that general manager Brian Cashman filed a complaint with the commissioner’s office regarding that incident which included video. The newspaper said it showed a member of Boston’s training staff looking at his Apple Watch in the dugout and relaying a message to players.