Column: Red Sox get what they deserve - a monetary slap on the wrist

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

As “scandals’’ go, WatchGate -- or AppleGate, or ISign or whatever your preference -- never had much staying power.

In fact, had it not involved the Red Sox and Yankees, it may have been little more than a footnote. But because it featured one rival diming out another, it got some attention for a while.

In reality, this was largely much ado about nothing. Stealing signs is a long-running practice in baseball and that won’t change in the wake of this. What was different was that the Red Sox used technology to aid them in their efforts.

It was only a matter of time before some team took advantage of the technology of the day. Teams are always looking for ways to gain a competitive edge, and damn the ethics. We don’t know if the Red Sox were the first. What we do know is that they got caught.

And despite some hyperventilating by some that the Sox should or would be dealt with harshly – with a few going so far as to advocate for the team vacating wins – that was never going to happen.

How do we know this? Because when commissioner Rob Manfred – who was in charge of disciplinary measures – visited Boston on the day the story broke, he privately told Red Sox officials that the controversy was good for the game.

It got Major League Baseball on the front pages of newspapers, was discussed endlessly on talk radio and even led some local and national newscasts. Normally, baseball can’t buy this kind of media attention. Indeed, once the NFL kicks off, baseball runs the risk of being marginalized in the media, but this kept baseball front and center.

What’s the old saying? There’s no such thing as bad publicity. And because this one involved two high-profile teams from big media markets, that axiom was never more apt.

Publicly, of course, Manfred had to be a bit of a scold. He had to stress the importance of the game’s integrity and highlight the need for teams to follow the rules.

But having already delighted in the attention the controversy had brought to the game, Manfred couldn’t turn around and dole out any sort of death penalty here.

So he did the next best thing: he assessed the Red Sox a fine – thought to be in the low-to-mid six-figure neighborhood – and issued a warning that the next team caught violating these rules could be subject to the loss of draft picks or more.

Do you think it was a coincidence that MLB announced the news at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon? Hardly. This was a textbook Friday afternoon news dump. Nothing to see here, folks.

MLB could not have – and should not have -- ignored the undeniable fact that the Red Sox broke the rules. And while Manfred’s investigation found no evidence to support the Red Sox’ counter-claim that the Yankees used YES Network cameras for their own illicit sign-stealing means, his investigation revealed that the Yankees – sometime prior to 2017 – had improperly used their dugout phone for communication. They, too, were fined.

In the end, Manfred sent two squabbling siblings to bed without any dessert.

That sounds about right.