MLB Sign Stealing: League To Discipline Astros And Investigate New Red Sox Cheating Claims

Major League Baseball has been marred by accusations of sign stealing for a few seasons now with the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox at the center, there is currently pieces of big news on the horizon for both franchises.

According to Jeff Passan of ESPN, MLB is nearing its decision on what to do about the Houston Astros, who have been caught stealing signs at Minute Maid Park in recent seasons. Meanwhile, The Athletic reveals that the Boston Red Sox have used their video replay room to steal signs of visitors to Fenway Park.

The Astros are the first franchise to get caught using technology to cheat, so their punishment will serve as a marker for how MLB will handle such situations in the future. Commissioner Rob Manfred has two questions to mull; whom to punish and to what degree.

The allegations against Houston center around stealing catcher’s signs and relaying them to the batter before the next pitch. The Astros accomplished this using a camera in the center field and one of a number of communication methods, for example banging on a trash can.

Jeff Passan cites three players who were interviewed in his report which claims that MLB may punish front office members as well as on-field coaches but will not discipline the players themselves. The franchise may also face a monetary fine for the infractions.

Astros GM Jeff Ludlow, manager A.J. Hinch, former bench coach Alex Cora as well as other front office staff are the likeliest to receive punishment as Passan’s sources mention them explicitly. Cora is no longer at the organization since he is the current manager of the Boston Red Sox, a post he took before the 2018 season.

According to The Athletic, the BoSox used their video replay room to steal opponents’ signs during their 2018 World Series-winning campaign. The report claims players would use a live video feed to decipher signs and communicate them to the dugout.

The dugout would then communicate with a baserunner who would in turn use body language signs to communicate with the batter. According to the report, the system was only used during the regular season as MLB employed in-person monitors in all video replay rooms during the playoffs.

MLB told the Athletic they plan to fully investigate these allegations while the Red Sox say they plan to cooperate with the league.