MLB fines Red Sox; Yanks also fined for earlier rules violation

Major League Baseball fined the Red Sox Friday in connection with the sign-stealing incident from earlier this season, but imposed no further discipline on them.

It's believed that the fine was in the low-to-mid six figure range.

The New York Yankees filed a complaint with the commissioner’s office in August. The allegations were revealed earlier this month.

The Yankees charged that the Red Sox utilized an elaborate plan to steal signs, utilizing Apple Watches to relay information from their video operation in the clubhouse to the dugout.

Commissioner Rob Manfred assessed the fine, which will go toward hurricane relief efforts in Florida.

In a release from his office, Manfred noted the sign stealing per se “is not a violation of any Major League Baseball Rule of Regulation. Major League Baseball Regulations do, however, prohibit the use of electronic equipment during games and state that no such equipment ‘may be used for the purpose of stealing signs or conveying information designed to give a Club an advantage.'

“Based on the investigation by my office, I have nonetheless concluded that during the 2017 season, the Boston Red Sox violated the Regulation quoted above by sending electronic communications from their video replay room to an athletic trainer in the dugout.’’

Manfred warned that all 30 MLB clubs had been notified that "future violations of this type will be subject to more serious sanctions, including the possible loss of draft picks.''

"The investigation's been closed, the ruling's been made and we're looking forward to moving beyond,'' said manager John Farrell. "That's the extent that I can comment any further.''

"The commissioner's office did a thorough investigation and ended up giving fines to both clubs,'' said president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. "The situation's over and we'll move forward. There's really not much to say on it. We've had numerous conversations and we were pretty much alerted that this would be the scenario. But until it's officially decided, which was today, do you really know what's going to take place.''

Manfred also fined the Yankees, though not in connection with this incident. While the Red Sox charged that the Yankees were using YES Network cameras to help them steal signs, Manfred said he found “insufficient evidence’’ to corroborate that allegation.

"They investigated and came up with their conclusions,'' said Dombrowski.

However, Manfred did find that sometime before the 2017 season, the Yankees had violated a rule governing the use of their dugout phone, and fined them an undisclosed amount as well.

Dombrowski said the Red Sox won't conduct any further internal investigations into what happened.

"There won't be any internal findings,'' he said. "The topic's been discussed internally and addressed and I'm sure it will not happen again.''