Hot Stove Lunch: Red Sox to learn their fate soon

At the close of the owners' meetings in Orlando on Thursday, commissioner Rob Manfred indicated that Major League Baseball was getting closer to wrapping up its investigation of the Red Sox' 2018 sign-stealing scandal.

"I'm hopeful I can get (the) Boston (investigation) done before the camps open,'' Manfred told reporters. "I'd like to have this over. Investigations are funny. You think you know what the timeline is, but that's a day-to-day prediction.''

It stands to reason that everyone involved -- MLB, the Red Sox themselves -- would like things done ASAP. Until findings and discipline are announced, they'll continue to hang over the sport, and in particular, the Red Sox themselves.



The longer this stretches on, the more uncertainty and the more questions Red Sox players will have to answer next week when pitchers and catchers report to Fort Myers.

Manfred confirmed that the players who were interviewed were granted immunity in exchange for information. The same process was used with the Houston Astros, who were caught stealing signs in 2017. That investigation, of course, cost Jeff Luhnow, A.J. Hinch and Alex Cora their jobs while costing the Astros $5 million and four future draft picks.

Manfred also said that baseball will have new guidelines in place to limit access to video rooms. It's alleged that the Sox used a video replay room near their dugout to determine opponents' signs and sequences, then relayed that information from the dugout to runners on base.

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