NEW YORK - The Boston Red Sox were stripped of their second-round pick in this year's amateur draft by Major League Baseball for sign stealing in 2018, and former manager Alex Cora was suspended through the 2020 postseason for his previous conduct as bench coach with the Houston Astros.
Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announced his decision Wednesday, concluding Red Sox replay system operator J.T. Watkins broke rules by using in-game video to revise sign sequences provided to players. Watkins, who denied the allegations, was suspended without pay through this year's postseason and prohibited from serving as the replay room operator through 2021.
The Red Sox won the 2018 World Series, but Manfred said the misdeeds didn't occur during the postseason. He found Boston's conduct far less egregious than that of the Astros, whom he determined used video to steal catchers' signs during their run to the 2017 championship and again the following season.
Manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow were suspended through the 2020 postseason on Jan. 13, and Houston was fined $5 million, the maximum under MLB's constitution. The Astros were penalized their next two first- and second-round amateur draft picks.
Baseball's season is on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic, and this year's draft may be cut to as few as five rounds. Manfred said he was mindful "this penalty may have a more significant impact on the Red Sox than in a normal year." The pick lost was No. 52 overall.
"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," Manfred wrote. "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."
In a released statement, Cora said he was "relieved'' the investigations were finished and that Manfred found he "did not violate any MLB rules as a member of the Red Sox organization in 2018 or 2019."
"I also take full responsibility for the role I played, along with others, in the Astros' violations of MLB rules in 2017," Cora said. "The collective conduct of the Astros organization in 2017 was unacceptable, and I respect and accept the commissioner's discipline for my past actions."
The Red Sox upgraded the status of Ron Roenicke, who had been their interim manager pending the outcome of the investigation.
"That interim tag is removed," chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said. "Ron is now our manager."
Both Bloom and team president Sam Kennedy dismissed suggestions Cora could be welcomed back - especially if the coronavirus pandemic wipes out the entire 2020 season. Roenicke, who was hired on the eve of spring training after a shotgun job search, is signed only for one year.
"Since we parted ways with Alex, we were clear that that was the result of his role with the Astros. That's still the case," Bloom said. "All the reasons that we parted ways with him then are still the case."
Kennedy, during a conference call with reporters, expressed relief the months-long investigation is over.
"To be clear, we're not taking any victory laps. A violation was uncovered, and that was wrong and we're being punished for it," he said.
The 30-year-old Watkins is a 2012 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy who is from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The catcher was selected by Boston in the 10th round of that year's amateur draft and played in the Red Sox system until 2015.
Manfred called Watkins a "key participant" in the 2017 Apple Watch incident, saying he relayed decoded signs from Boston's replay room to the dugout, at first with a runner and then with the watch to an athletic trainer.
Watkins compiled advance scouting information in recent years, and part of his job was to decode opposing pitchers' sequences ahead of series. His replay room was moved from a remote location to adjacent to the dugout in 2018.
Manfred said the latest misconduct occurred during the 2018 regular season but not in the postseason, when MLB began to place staff in video rooms to monitor conduct.
AP file photo / Alex Cora, who managed the Boston Red Sox to the 2018 World Series title and also skippered the team in 2019, is suspended through the 2020 postseason for his role as a coach in the 2017 Houston Astros' sign-stealing scam. The Red Sox have been punished for a similar scandal that took place in 2018.MLB said it interviewed 65 people, including 34 past and present Boston players. Manfred concluded Cora did not know and had no reason to know of Watkins' conduct, but "did not effectively communicate to Red Sox players the sign-stealing rules that were in place for the 2018 season."
Cora, who was an infielder for the Red Sox when they won the 2007 World Series, was mentioned 11 times in Manfred's decision on the Astros, which said Cora developed the cheating system. However, Manfred held off on a penalty until after investigating the Red Sox, the team Cora joined when he left Houston after the 2017 season.
Fallout from the January penalties caused Cora and newly hired New York Mets manager Carlos Beltrán to lose their jobs. Beltrán, the senior player on the 2017 Astros, was the only player mentioned as participating in the scheme to place a camera near Houston's dugout and have players bang on a trash can to signal breaking pitches.
The Red Sox seem to have largely escaped being labeled as tainted champions, but it still adds controversy to Boston's professional sports legacy. The NFL's New England Patriots were found to have stolen signals in their 2007 AFC championship season by videotaping opposing coaches. The league fined the Patriots $250,000 and docked them a first-round draft pick, and coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000.
"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," Red Sox president Sam Kennedy said in a released statement. "Regardless, these rule violations are unacceptable. We apologize to our fans and Major League Baseball."
Red Sox players were promised immunity in MLB's investigation, but Manfred said even if players had been subject to discipline, none would have been punished.
He wrote "11 witnesses identified features of Watkins' in-game communications that indicated to them that Watkins had at times acquired the sign sequence information from the replay room during the game."
Manfred said six witnesses claimed they observed Watkins writing signs during games and four said they saw him use gestures or notes to communicate signs when a video monitor was present, which made them think he was trying to conceal prohibited conduct.
Watkins told MLB that any information he provided during games was obtained from advance scouting. He said any gestures he made were innocuous and suggested the possibility players may have been confused by his providing information during games, not understood his preparatory work or may have accused him in a competitive move only after moving on to other teams.
"Watkins did not provide a persuasive explanation for why the information he provided to players during the game differed from information provided prior to the game," Manfred wrote. "I am significantly troubled by Watkins' admissions that he knowingly attempted to conceal his communications with players from the video room monitor."