Major League Baseball on Wednesday suspended Boston Red Sox video replay system operator J.T. Watkins without pay through the 2020 postseason and stripped the team of its second-round draft pick this year after completing its investigation into allegations the team illegally stole signs during the 2018 season.
Former Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who was fired in January as part of the fallout from the Astros sign-stealing scandal, is suspended through the 2020 postseason as well, but only for his previous conduct as Houston’s bench coach. Cora and former Astros player Carlos Beltran were the key individuals in a scheme to place a camera near Houston’s dugout and have players bang on a trash can to signal breaking pitchers. Cora left Houston after the 2017 season and managed the Red Sox to the 2018 title.
Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred wrote in his report that he does not believe Cora was aware of Watkins’ actions, and would not impose additional discipline.
As with the Astros investigation, the Red Sox players who testified to MLB were not punished by the league.
Manfred wrote in his report that Watkins “on at least some occasions during the 2018 regular season, utilized the game feeds in the replay room, in violation of MLB regulations, to revise sign sequence information that he had permissibly provided to players prior to the game.”
Manfred found Boston’s conduct far less egregious than that of the Astros, noting, “Unlike the Houston Astros’ 2017 conduct, in which players communicated to the batter from the dugout area in real time the precise type of pitch about to be thrown, Watkins’ conduct, by its very nature, was far more limited in scope and impact.
“The information was only relevant when the Red Sox had a runner on second base (which was 19.7% of plate appearances league-wide in 2018), and Watkins communicated sign sequences in a manner that indicated that he had decoded them from the in-game feed in only a small percentage of those occurrences.”
Manfred wrote that that he did not find that Cora, his coaching staff, the front office or most of the players on the team “knew or should have known that Watkins was utilizing in-game video to update the information that he had learned from his pregame analysis.
“Communication of these violations was episodic and isolated to Watkins and a limited number of Red Sox players only.”
Manfred called Watkins, a former minor league player, a “key participant” in the 2017 Apple incident, when the Red Sox used a smartwatch to relay decoded signs from the replay room to the dugout.
Besides his suspension, Watkins also is barred from serving as a replay room operator for the 2021 season and postseason.
Although Cora was not punished for his role in the Red Sox’s scheme because Manfred found that he was not aware, the commissioner did note in his report that Cora did not effectively communicate to his players the sign-stealing rules that were in place for the 2018 season.
“As an organization, we strive for 100% compliance with the rules. MLB’s investigation concluded that in isolated instances during the 2018 regular season, sign sequences were decoded through the use of live game video rather than through permissible means,” Red Sox president and CEO Sam Kennedy said in a statement.
“MLB acknowledged the front office’s extensive efforts to communicate and enforce the rules and concluded that Alex Cora, the coaching staff, and most of the players did not engage in, nor were they aware of, any violations. Regardless, these rule violations are unacceptable. We apologize to our fans and Major League Baseball, and accept the Commissioner’s ruling.”
The major league season is on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic. Spring training was halted in March and opening day has been postponed at least until mid-May.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.