Schadenfreude 215 (A Continuing Series)

The Commissioner's Office fined the Red Sox for "sending electronic communications from their video replay room to an athletic trainer in the dugout" while relaying stolen signs to batters. (The Yankees were also fined for a somewhat similar infraction in the past.)

Naturally, the Yankee-centric media went a little nuts. (Plus, a couple of them could not get the facts of the case right.)

Amara Grautski, Daily News:

In the wake of iGate, the Red Sox are getting off easy — and now the Yankees are getting punished too.

Major League Baseball announced Friday afternoon that Boston will be fined "an undisclosed amount" for using an Apple Watch to steal catchers' signs; it will then be donated "to hurricane relief efforts in Florida." ...

In addition, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said during the course of its investigation it determined that during an earlier championship season the Yankees "had violated a rule governing the use of the dugout phone," and they too will be fined "a lesser undisclosed amount," which will be donated to the same cause. ...

Dustin Pedroia, Brock Holt, Chris Young and a Red Sox trainer were among those involved in relaying signs from the watch.

Grautski writes twice in her article that the Red Sox used the watch to "steal catchers' signs". That is not true - and shows that she (along with Jon Heyman, below) does not really understand this incident. The watch was used to transmit information about the signs, not to steal them in the first place. The Red Sox were fined specifically for "sending electronic communications from their video replay room to an athletic trainer in the dugout". If the Red Sox had decided to simply yell from one place to the other, all of this would have been legal in MLB's eyes.

Mike Mazzeo, Daily News:

Major League Baseball went way too easy on the Red Sox. ...

Stealing signs on the field of play has been part of baseball forever, yes. But stealing signs with the help of technology is an absolute no-no.

Yet all MLB did during its Friday afternoon news dump was issue a slap on the wrist ...

[Manfred] could've issued harsher penalties for the Red Sox this time around for their proven and admitted violations. And for whatever reason, he chose not to.

This was certainly no 10-game suspension for Michael Pineda for going over the pine tar line in 2014. Or the Astros getting the Cardinals' top two picks and $2 million from St. Louis over its illegal breach of baseball operations data from Houston.

And so here we are, eagerly awaiting the next installment of Yankees-Red Sox after the Boston Cheat Party got off easy, with nothing more than a slap on the wrist.

Jon Heyman, FanRag Sports:

The Boston Red Sox are cheaters. Of that, there is little doubt. ...

Let's not forget, too, that the Red Sox were involved with some serious shenanigans involving the signing of international players within the last year, as well, for which they have already been appropriately punished. MLB people can suggest many others do sign-stealing – and even some illegally use devices, as the Red Sox did – but the Red Sox were also the only ones caught skirting the rules to sign extra players.

So if you are scoring at home, the Red Sox have been caught and outed cheating twice in the last year; everyone else not at all. It's two for them, zero for everyone else. ...

The team should suffer a real punishment. ...

Boston is fortunate it's not my call, because I'd have them forfeit all their games to the Yankees.

Kevin Kernan, Post:

The Red Sox are cheaters. ...

No matter what the fine, essentially the Red Sox got away with the baseball crime of using an Apple Watch in an electronic espionage scheme to give their hitters advance notice of what type of pitch was coming. ...

"Now people will want to cheat more," one AL executive said when he learned of the light penalty. ...

For the Yankees it now comes down to street justice.

The way to get the Red Sox to feel pain is to try to steal the division away from them in the final 15 games. That's a tall order, but the Yankees certainly have even more incentive to beat the Red Sox now. ...

The Red Sox assured the commissioner they will no longer steal signs in this manner. That's nice. ...

The Red Sox got away with it. The Yankees must find justice on the field.

Buster Olney, ESPN :

Any parent who has worked to alter the behavior of a son or daughter understands baseball commissioner Rob Manfred's position as he decided what to do about the Boston Red Sox's violation of baseball’s rules against using technology in the dugout to steal signs. ...

Manfred essentially punted on the discipline and offered the weak refrain of worn-out parents everywhere: Well, the next time we catch you, you’re really in trouble. ...

Manfred's penalty was toothless for a franchise worth billions of dollars, and time will tell whether the get-out-of-jail free card will embolden other teams to try (or continue) to do the same -- and whether they’ll take the commissioner's warning against future violations any more seriously than a teenager who gets off with a warning. ...

Not only did Manfred pull his punches on his discipline of the Red Sox, but he also seemed to provide Boston some cover by simultaneously announcing that the Yankees had been guilty of a much lesser violation at the same time. ...

[I]t's as if Manfred's message is: I'm really punishing both of you, and you can both go to bed early without the sprinkles on your ice cream.

Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY:

Come on, you didn't really expect anything more than a fine, did you?

When the Boston Red Sox were caught illegally stealing signs using their fancy new Apple watches, and Major League Baseball acted horribly offended, did anyone really believe it was anything more than an act?

Sure, MLB and Commissioner Rob Manfred were irritated, but hardly affronted, knowing deep in their heart there were probably 29 other teams violating MLB's conduct policy regarding the illegal use of electronic equipment. ...

For those who thought Major League Baseball was going to strip draft picks from the Red Sox, or comically even force them to vacate victories, it's time to wake up and smell reality. ...

Times have dramatically altered the way we act in baseball [but] ...

You still do everything possible, whether it's legal or illegal, to gain an edge.

It doesn't matter whether you are taking performance-enhancing drugs or getting ADD prescriptions when you don't need it. Or you're juicing the baseballs to increase home runs and attendance?

The game of baseball, and sports, is built on cheating.