Report: Red Sox Illegally Stole Signs From Yankees
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Call it "Spygate, Part 2: Red Sox Edition."
Major League Baseball determined that the Red Sox "executed a scheme to illicitly steal hand signals from opponents' catchers in games against the second-place Yankees and other teams" recently, according to a report from The New York Times.
The Yankees accused the Red Sox of using an Apple Watch in the dugout as a means of relaying information to players in the dugout regarding the Yankees' signs. MLB investigated the claims with video and "corroborated the Yankees' claims."
"The video provided to the commissioner's office by the Yankees was captured during the first two games of the series [from Aug. 18-20] and included at least three clips," the report, written by Michael S. Schmidt, stated. "In the clips, the team's assistant athletic trainer, Jon Jochim, is seen looking at his Apple Watch and then passing information to outfielder Brock Holt and second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who was injured at the time but in uniform. In one instance, Pedroia is then seen passing the information to [Chris] Young."
Stealing signs on the field has long been a part of baseball, but the involvement of technology has always been considered as being a step over the line.
The Red Sox responded to the Yankees' claims by accusing the Yankees of stealing signs via the YES Network feed, the Times report stated.
The report also stated that the Red Sox "that their trainers had received signals from video replay personnel and then relayed that information to some players" but that manager John Farrell and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski were not aware of the operation.
"Aware of the rule," Farrell said when asked about the story on Tuesday at Fenway Park. "Electronic devices are not to be used in the dugout. But beyond that, the only thing I can say is it's a league matter at this point."
???? John Farrell on NY Times report #RedSox used an apple watch to steal signals against the Yankees #WBZ pic.twitter.com/Yom8ZLahAM
— Joe Giza (@JoeGiza) September 5, 2017
No punishment has yet been decided by commissioner Rob Manfred.
In 2015, MLB officials spoke with Royals manager Ned Yost to ensure that the Apple Watch he was wearing in the dugout was not used to receive any data.