The 2018 Boston Red Sox are a memorable team, to say the least. But now some of those memories forever will be tied to the sign-stealing investigation.
Major League Baseball released its findings Wednesday noting video replay operator J.T. Watkins, not former manager Alex Cora, was utilizing in-game video to update the information that he had learned from his pregame analysis.”
General manager Brian O’Halloran, along with CEO Sam Kennedy and chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, held a conference call Wednesday to discuss the findings and that 2018 season. Kennedy believes that year isn’t tainted, noting how talented the team was.
And when O’Halloran was asked how much — or how little — Watkins relaying information helped Boston in 2018, he didn’t hold back.
“I think that’s an impossible question to answer,” he said during the call. “Whatever advantage you’re seeking, whether permissible or impermissible within the current rules of the game, you wouldn’t be doing it if you didn’t think it would give you an advantage. We’ll never know how much — if any — can get by legal or illegal means.”
The Houston Astros, as you probably know, also were involved in a sign-stealing investigation. The findings were a bit more serious on their end, though, as both GM Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch were suspended for a year (and later fired by the organization), while losing their first- and second-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021 and being fined $5 million. Players also allegedly were banging on trash cans to relay signs to the batters.
