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The Boston Red Sox sign stealing punishment has come down, as well as Alex Cora’s suspension for his actions while with the Houston Astros.
Cora, who was Boston’s manager in 2018-19, was suspended a year due to conduct he engaged in while with the Houston Astros as their bench coach in 2017. Cora stepped down after the report on the Astros’ sign-stealing escapades resulted in Houston being fined $5 million, Jeff Luhnow and A.J. Hinch being suspended for a year, and the team being stripped of four draft picks. Cora was identified in the report as being one of the ringleaders of a system that used real-time video feeds to pick up a catcher’s signals, which were then relayed to the hitter by banging on a trash can.
The report on the Red Sox assigns primary blame on the team’s video replay system operator, J.T. Watkins, who has been suspended for a year, finding that Watkins improperly used live video to help players during games in 2018, though apparently there was no evidence of improper conduct in the 2018 postseason or the 2019 regular season.
Boston is also loses a second round pick in 2020.