The integrity of Major League Baseball has been compromised in recent seasons due to two electronic sign-stealing scandals — the Houston Astros in 2017 and the Boston Red Sox in 2018 — with both teams going on to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series those years.
The Astros’ cheating was more egregious as they planted a camera in center field to pick catchers’ signs and then relayed them to hitters at the plate in real time by banging on a trash can.
The Red Sox used their replay operator to decode signs with a runner on second base, which could then be relayed to the hitter.
Because of that, the Astros’ punishment was much more severe, including suspensions for their now-former general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch, loss of draft picks and a $5 million fine. The Red Sox only lost one draft pick as opposed to four, but were not fined.
Both teams got to keep their championships and none of the players were disciplined, causing an outpour of complaints from teams and players around the league.
With technology continuing to increase in baseball, it is imperative that the league puts some limitations on what teams can use during games to avoid another scandal.
It appears the league and the MLBPA were discussing that and were close to coming to an agreement before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic forced them to put it aside for the time being, per Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated:
After dealing with sign-stealing investigations of back-to-back world champions, Major League Baseball was close to agreeing with the union on stricter technology protocols for 2020 that would include isolation of the replay review room, according to a source familiar with those discussions.
In addition, MLB and the union were close to agreeing on a ban of in-game logging of plays by technology staffers, who typically operate in or near the clubhouse. The two sides also were discussing the blurring or blacking out of catchers’ signs on in-game video available to players, such as reviewing an at-bat. “We were on the two-yard line,” the source said of the talks.
Both of those proposals seem like good ideas, and discussions will likely resume before the 2020 season begins, whenever that is.
It seems that all parties involved are on the same page that restrictions need to be in place, so there shouldn’t be any trouble coming to an agreement when the time comes.
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