Aaron Judge offers sketchy explanation, but latest sign-stealing controversy should be short-lived

BOSTON -- Somewhere along the line, with the use of cameras and trash barrels and smartwatches and various other instruments, the concept of stealing signs in baseball got thrown out of wack, to the point where any and every attempt to gain an advantage through the tried-and-true use of eyeballs on a field gets thrown into the barrel of cheating.

That's where we seem to be in the latest case of Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees.

Judge was seen taking some peeks away from the pitcher during his at-bats on Monday night in Toronto, and the Blue Jays' broadcast crew made sure to focus on those odd glances. After the looks were pointed out, Judge launched a home run, leading to some suspicious silence on the broadcast.

Clearly, such a look at such a time is peculiar to say the least. So Judge was asked about the dugout glances after the game. His explanation ... well, it reeked. 

"It was kind of a lot of chirping from our dugout, which I really didn't like in the situation where it's a 6-0 game, and I know [manager Aaron Boone] got tossed," Judge said. "I was kind of trying to see who was chirping in the dugout, so it's 6-0. It's like, Boonie got tossed, let's get to work now. ... I was kind of looking like, 'Who's still talking here?' It's 6-0, and our manager got tossed, he did his job, like let's get back to playing ball. ... I feel like after the manager does his thing, it's like, 'Fellas, like, our pitcher's still gotta go out there and make some pitches. We've got the lead, let's just go to work here.' I said a couple of things to some guys in the dugout and especially after the game. But hopefully it won't happen again."

All parents know the power that a sideways glance can have on a misbehaving child, but that effect doesn't really transfer over to professional baseball players. So the explanation, such as it is, raised eyebrows even higher in Toronto.

But really, if Judge's actions were what they appear to have been, then he was simply following the rules that have governed baseball for more than a century. If an opponent can pick up another team's signs with the naked eye and find a way to transmit that information in real time, then it's fair game. As long as cameras or outfield lights or other pieces of modern technology aren't used to move that message along, then it's simply part of the game.

So whether it was a tell from pitcher Jay Jackson or catcher Alejandro Kirk, or whether Kirk was throwing down signs in addition to the PitchCom being used, the Yankees are allowed to take note and try to capitalize. It's up to the players on the field to prevent that from happening.

Blue Jays manager John Schneider's first reaction was to make sure that his team was doing exactly that.

"[We'll] dive into it a little more tonight and tomorrow and make sure we're doing everything we can to make ourselves susceptible to tendencies," he said after the game.

The Blue Jays were no doubt suspicious of the glances, but Jackson himself admitted that perhaps Judge just had him figured out.

"For me, for it to get hit that hard, maybe there is something there, but I also threw six sliders in a row," Jackson said. "He could have been sitting on it."  

Whether or not the public gets the full story is unclear. But if the Blue Jays get to work studying the film and find a flaw in their system, then they're very likely to fix it and move on. That won't stop the internet from blowing the matter out of proportion in the meanwhile, of course.