J.D. Martinez Is Confident Investigators Will Not Find Much Evidence Against 2018 Red Sox

Most Red Sox players and coaches attending the annual Winter Weekend did not talk directly about the on-going MLB investigation into whether the 2018 Red Sox were guilty of illegally stealing signs.

J.D. Martinez did. The Athletic, WEEI, and MLB.com reported his comments:

I'm excited for the investigation to be over with just so that they can see that there was nothing going on here. [A reporter asked: That's what they'll find?] I believe so, yes. ...

I was in there [the video room], so I saw straight up. Everyone seems to forget that in 2016 and 2017, this was a really good team. They won 93 games those two years and then we just got better. Like I said, I'm excited for it. Really not allowed to comment on it, but we'll see what happens.

Rafael Devers also had a fairly direct answer. When asked if the team had done anything wrong, he said: "No. I don't think so."

I want to think Martinez would not have bothered to say anything if it wasn't true. We will know for sure in a couple of weeks.

Rob Bradford writes:

While Martinez's comments were on-the-record, out in front of cameras and microphones, multiple sources involved in the 2018 championship run have been echoing the same tone as the designated hitter/outfielder behind the scenes, suggesting that the Red Sox are innocent. ...

One major league source said there is currently a belief that MLB's findings are trending to be released sometime in the first week of February.

Other comments:

Christian Vazquez:

I don't want to talk about what happened. ... [I]t's tough to make comments on that. I know our manager got fired, but it's tough to answer those questions.

Jackie Bradley:

[W]e'll find out when you all find out. Your guess is as good as mine.

Nathan Eovaldi:

I feel like it's going to pass and everything is going to be fine.

Ron Roenicke (bench coach):

[T]o have an allegation made that deters from that feeling of what we accomplished, it's hard. Your friends hear that. Your family hears that. And they question, like everybody else has. So to do something that good, and then have it maybe tarnished some, it's tough.

Carlos Febles (third base coach):

It's an ongoing investigation. We're not allowed to comment about that at this point.