Red Sox sign-stealing findings will be out by the end of next week
“There have been a couple developments in the Boston thing that slowed us down, people who had to have been re-interviewed.’’
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said on Sunday afternoon in Florida that findings in its investigation of the 2018 Red Sox and illicit sign stealing will be released by the end of next week.
“We always want the investigations to go as quickly as possible. Never, however, at the expense of making sure we have pursued every possible lead, and done everything we can possibly do to get the facts right,’’ Manfred told reporters during a press conference dominated by the sign-stealing scandal. “There have been a couple developments in the Boston thing that slowed us down, people who had to have been re-interviewed.’’
On Jan. 7, The Athletic cited “three people who were with the Red Sox during their 108-win 2018 season’’ in reporting that “during that regular season, at least some players visited the video replay room during games to learn the sign sequence opponents were using.’’ Sports Illustrated reported Manfred had learned of the accusation in the process of investigating the 2017 Houston Astros, and had planned to pursue it privately until he learned of the upcoming report.
A week later, Manfred’s nine-page report on its Astros investigation was released, which ultimately resulted in one-year suspensions for Houston manager A.J. Hinch and GM Jeff Luhnow, both of whom were subsequently fired, and the departures of both Red Sox manager Alex Cora (Houston’s bench coach in 2017) and new Mets manager Carlos Beltran (who played his final season with the team).
At the press conference following Cora’s departure, Red Sox management repeatedly urged observers withhold judgment about the accusations until after MLB’s investigation, and have in subsequent weeks repeatedly claimed they will be largely exonerated by it.
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