MLB's End Date On Red Sox Investigation Curiously Keeps Moving Back, Though Reports Of Severity Have Not Changed
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Just about every report about Major League Baseball's investigation into allegations of the Red Sox using their video replay room to decode sign sequences during the 2018 regular season has suggested that the offenses were far less severe than those of the Houston Astros in 2017 and that any punishment issued will be much less than the hammers dropped on the Houston organization.
And yet ... that investigation just keeps chugging along.
For the second time in a week, a new report has come out that has pushed back the end date of Rob Manfred's investigation. Jon Heyman reported that the investigation is now due to be completed "by the end of the month."
The allegations first surfaced in early January. Previously, Manfred said he hoped to have his investigation completed before teams reported to camp at the start of this week. He missed that unofficial deadline, and a report during the week said the investigation would obviously stretch into spring training. Now the end date has been pushed to the end of the month.
One can't help but channel Chazz Reinhold and wonder ... what's Manfred doing back there?
It is possible, perhaps, that Manfred is ensuring that MLB has new policies in place for teams' use of video during games before releasing his findings on the Red Sox. Considering how many holes have been found in Manfred's report on the Astros, perhaps the commissioner's taking a different tack for his work on the Red Sox.
In any event, the reports on the actual sign-stealing operation remain the same, which has led to quotes like Andrew Benintendi's this week.
"I just think we know what's going on, and we know we didn't do anything," Benintendi said in Fort Myers. "As far as what the report is going to say, whatever it says, it says. We're just focused on this year and that's all we can focus on. I think all of us are confident in what's going to come out."
That much has yet to change. The only question is when that report is actually going to go public.
