BOSTON — Of all the issues Rob Manfred has mishandled during his tenure as MLB commissioner, the issue of sign stealing — and the resulting discipline — might top the list.
By punishing certain teams for certain infractions and ignoring some of those same infractions from other teams, Manfred helped create a distorted perception of what was happening in MLB and the seriousness of some of those infractions. It’s not great, and the release of Evan Drellich’s book “Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball’s Brightest Minds Created Sports’ Biggest Mess” brings the topic to the forefront as camps around MLB open.
This is a compelling topic for the Dodgers, who have been on both sides in recent years. Their hiring of JT Watkins – the former Red Sox video replay coordinator who MLB suspended for a season – made him even more relevant.
With that in mind, Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times spoke with Mookie Betts, who is obviously a current member of the Dodgers and a former member of the Red Sox, who beat the Dodgers in the 2018 World Series. Betts was asked if the Red Sox used live video to steal signs during the 2018 regular season.
“Yes, everyone was,” Betts replied.
Betts later argued against the notion that the Red Sox’s success came primarily from trying to steal opponents’ signs.
“No! That’s what I’m trying to say. People are trying to make it look like we’re cheating. Give us credit,” Betts said. “We had a good team. Give us credit. We had Cy Young winners. We had MVPs. We had Gold Glove winners. We had Silver Sluggers. We had all of that. Take this into account.”
Betts didn’t say it…but the Dodgers got busted for doing it something during this 2018 World Series. MLB chose not to punish the Dodgers for anything that was found at the time. The Red Sox were later punished for sign stealing during the 2018 regular season. This probably helps explain why Dodgers veteran Clayton Kershaw has no problem with his team hiring Watkins. And that’s likely why Betts feels comfortable confirming that Red Sox players contributed money to Watkins during his one-year suspension.
The more openly players talk about what happened before MLB stepped up enforcement, the more Manfred is likely to squirm. But it will also help paint a better picture of what exactly was going on during a time when MLB was clearly not properly responding to what was a growing problem in the league.
