MLB Players Can Be Suspended For Stealing Signs, The Athletic Reports

Individual baseball players can now be punished for stealing signs electronically, according to The Athletic.

The reported agreement between Major League Baseball and the Players Association gives commissioner Rob Manfred the authority to suspend players without pay or service time, which he failed to do for the Houston Astros’ cheating scandal.

The news comes in the wake of the league suspending Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Joe Kelly for eight games. The reliever threw a pitch near the head of Astros’ hitters Alex Bregman and Carlos Correa Tuesday, seen as retaliation for Houston’s sign-stealing scheme.

Kelly is appealing the suspension. If upheld, the punishment will cost the pitcher close to $400,000 and 13% of the season in the truncated 60-game schedule.

An eight-game suspension this year is equivalent to a 21-game suspension in a typical season. Relievers are usually only suspended a handful of games for trying to hit a batter.

The decision to suspend Kelly was ridiculed by fans and players alike, considering no Astros were punished for the scheme that helped Houston win the 2017 World Series. Astros’ players were given immunity this past offseason for admitting they stole opposing catchers’ signs by using the live feed of the center field camera and banging on a trash can to indicate which pitch was being delivered.

Makes zero sense Ken. He wasn’t even thrown out of the game. MLB siding with/protecting a team that openly and knowingly cheated their way to a World Series. He doesn’t deserve to be suspended at all. Hoping he wins his appeal. Looking forward to seeing you back out there JK! pic.twitter.com/Lekx8NHLRp
— Marcus Stroman (@STR0) July 29, 2020

A reminder: MLB chose to grant Astros players immunity in exchange for honest testimony. Also, Manfred determined in Sept. 2017 he would hold team’s GM and MGR accountable for sign-stealing misconduct. Potential grievances were another obstacle in issuing penalties to players.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 29, 2020

Had Manfred tried to suspend Houston’s players, a grievance likely would have been filed by the MLB Players Association. In 2017, the commissioner said that club officials, not players, would be punished for stealing signs.

The league stripped Houston of its first and second-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021. Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch were banned from the league for a year for their roles in the scandal. Both Luhnow and Hinch were subsequently fired.

The entrance to each team’s video replay room, which Houston used to cheat instead of simply challenge an umpire’s call, will now be policed by an outside security firm, according to The Athletic. Each team has one guard this season, but there could be two guards next year when more people are allowed in the clubhouse.

The report states that each team’s video operator will be monitored if he or she leaves the room. MLB reportedly plans to edit out opposing teams’ signs from video in the replay room.