This “bomb” dropped last night around midnight. Don’t have access to the article but I hope they burn
Meh, I wouldn't expect much. More than likely something similar to the Red Sox. We already know they told clubs to stop sign stealing that season. At this point maybe I shouldn't give Manfred the benefit of the doubt, but if there were a major documented time bomb like this floating around they would have acknowledged it during their "investigation" if they had even the slightest bit of common sense. Now it's basically a death sentence for Manfred and anybody else involved if it's more than they let on.
This is much more than just another small part to the story. This is an entirely new story. The MLB covering for its favorite franchise? Yeah that’s a big freakin deal. Especially when you consider the absolute BS Manfred and several Yankees players have fed us ever since the Astros investigation started. This is a huge story.
Wait--if Manfred and the Yankee players and manager were piling on the Astros with all that higher-ground sanctimonious BS while they were hiding the same BS, I hope that does come to light. Manfred is a freaking hypocrite. Might be worse for the sport than Selig was, and that's saying a lot.
I’ve been saying all along that everything needs to come out. Baseball is a dirty filthy sport. It’s unfair that the Astros are the only team that is getting vilified. Yes, the Astros did something wrong. But, it’s MLB as a whole that deserves to be looked at and investigated.
The vast majority of teams cheated. Beltran and Cora didn’t suddenly learn how to do it once joining the Astros.
Highly doubt this is mentioned at all on ESPN...they even had the audacity to push Cora's doings in Boston on the Astros
And this is what bothered me most about the ny fans. I don't mind the Dodgers and AC Slater complaining. Although Yu knew Beltran was a cheater from their time with the Rangers. There was commentary about the both of them joking about Beltran's ways to steal signs and it's not like games 2 and 7 were here in Houston. I'm sure the Nationals locked in on Will Harris. It happens. MLB like they do every time think we're a pushover. Relocate here, Open your roof, go play an away game vs Chicago 50 miles from Chicago, only you used tech to steal signs.
A New York judge ruled on Friday that a letter sent by Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred to the Yankees addressing the findings of a 2017 investigation into the team should be unsealed. MLB and the Yankees may submit a minimally redacted version of the letter “to protect the identity of the individuals mentioned” by noon ET on Monday, as part of the proceedings in a lawsuit brought against the league by daily fantasy sports contestants in the wake of the sign-stealing scandals in Houston and Boston. The Yankees argue the letter would cause “significant reputational injury,” Judge Jed Rakoff said in his order, and the letter is not to be unsealed until June 19, so the team has enough time to make an emergency appeal. People with knowledge of the case said it is likely the Yankees will do so. “There is no justification for public disclosure of the letter,” Jonathan Schiller, a lawyer representing the Yankees, said in a statement to The Athletic. “The plaintiff has no case anymore, and the court held that what MLB wrote in confidence was irrelevant to the court’s dismissal of the plaintiff’s case. Under established law, this supports the Yankees’ right to confidentiality required by the Commissioner of Baseball.” Added a Yankees official, speaking on the condition of anonymity: “We’re not doing this to cover up some smoking gun.” Although the broader case was dismissed by Rakoff, the plaintiffs on Friday appealed the case to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A lawyer for the plaintiffs and a spokesman for the league declined comment. Prior to Manfred’s discipline of the Astros and the Red Sox in 2020 for electronic sign stealing, he publicly disciplined the Yankees and the Red Sox in 2017, fining both. He announced the decision in a Sept. 15 press release that year. Manfred’s letter to the Yankees from that time is being discussed in a case that was not actually brought against the Yankees. DraftKings players accused the league of defrauding them because of the sign-stealing scandal. Rakoff in April ruled in favor of the defendants, which included the Red Sox and Astros as well as MLB, and the plaintiffs filed a motion to reconsider. Rakoff denied that motion, as well, but it contained an allegation that MLB had falsely represented its 2017 investigation into the Yankees when the league revealed its findings. The plaintiffs submitted a letter Manfred sent to Yankees general manager Brian Cashman. “Plaintiffs alleged that the 2017 Press Release falsely suggested that the investigation found that the Yankees had only engaged in a minor technical infraction, whereas, according to plaintiffs, the investigation had in fact found that the Yankees engaged in a more serious, sign-stealing scheme,” Rakoff wrote Friday. Rakoff wrote that “much of the letter’s contents have already been revealed in the 2017 Press Release.” But the plaintiffs claim the letter is revelatory, arguing it “proved Manfred’s duplicity.” Both MLB and the Yankees are seeking to keep the letter under wraps. Schiller said that the conduct the Yankees were cited for occurred in 2015 and 2016. MLB significantly updated its rules regarding electronic sign-stealing after the 2017 season. “It is the Yankees’ understanding that the press release about the investigation reflects the Commissioner’s final determinations,” Schiller said. “Those determinations were that the Yankees had committed a technical violation of MLB’s rules by misusing the dugout phone. The Yankees were not found to have violated any rule involving sign stealing. The press release is accurate and states MLB’s conclusions. “The Yankees are not a party to the case. There is no basis for the confidential Yankees letter to be disclosed or reported on in a case that was dismissed with prejudice on grounds unrelated to this letter or this press release.” Rakoff, however, wrote in his order that the letter is relevant because it ultimately informed the proceedings. MLB and the Yankees’ efforts to keep the letter sealed add to the intrigue: What are they protecting, if anything? Manfred in January touted MLB’s commitment to transparency in his nine-page report issued publicly on the Astros’ conduct. “MLB primarily argues that it will be injured by the disclosure of the Yankees Letter because such disclosure will undermine its ability to conduct internal investigations in the future by undermining teams’ faith in their confidentiality,” Rakoff wrote Friday. “The Yankees argue that they have a strong privacy interest because public disclosure of the Yankees Letter would cause the Yankees significant reputational injury. While this may be the case, the gravity of this concern is again lessened by the fact that the contents of the Yankees Letter have already been discussed in some form by the 2017 Press Release.” At the least, however, the league’s 2017 press release about the Yankees’ conduct lacked specificity. The league determined in 2017 that the Red Sox had illegally transmitted signs via a wearable device, in what became known as the Apple Watch scandal. But in the press release announcing the findings of the investigation into both the Red Sox and Yankees, Manfred did not detail exactly what the Yankees did, noting only that it included the use of the dugout phone. “We learned that during an earlier … season (prior to 2017) the Yankees had violated a rule governing the use of the dugout phone,” Manfred wrote in the release. “No Club complained about the conduct in question at the time and, without prompting from another Club or my Office, the Yankees halted the conduct in question. Moreover, the substance of the communications that took place on the dugout phone was not a violation of any Rule or Regulation in and of itself.” The Athletic has previously reported that in 2017 MLB determined that the Yankees had engaged in conduct related to sign stealing similar to the Red Sox’. “The letter, like all of the Commissioner’s disciplinary proceeding letters, is confidential,” Schiller wrote. “That’s why MLB sealed this letter, the Red Sox letter, and the Astros letter. None of those letters are public. MLB required the Yankees to keep the letter confidential and the Yankees did. MLB designated the letter as Highly Confidential under the Court’s protective order in the litigation, consistent with that confidentiality.” The letter was initially submitted under seal as requested by the defendants. “In the ordinary course, the Court would have unsealed the letter at that time,” Rakoff wrote Friday. “However, defendant MLB and third-party the New York Yankees (the “Yankees”) requested continued sealing of the letter.” In a 12-page explanation of his decision to unseal the letter, Rakoff called the privacy interests of both the Yankees and MLB “modest at best, and not nearly strong enough to overcome the robust presumption of access that attaches to the Yankees Letter.” Rakoff is allowing the letter to be redacted in part because he believes certain individuals mentioned “possess a strong privacy interest in maintaining anonymity.”
