Rob Manfred suspended the Red Sox video replay system operator and took away the Red Sox second round draft pick this season.
I find that J.T. Watkins, the Red Sox video replay system operator, on at least some occasions during the 2018 regular season, utilized the game feeds in the replay room, in violation of MLB regulations, to revise sign sequence information that he had permissibly provided to players prior to the game.
MLB.com
The conclusion is that all but a few players knew what was going on. The front office and the manager did not know about the operation. However, Alex Cora does get cited:
Alex Cora will be suspended through the conclusion of the 2020 Postseason for his conduct as the bench coach of the Houston Astros in 2017. While I will not impose additional discipline on Cora as a result of the conduct engaged in by Watkins (because I do not find that he was aware of it), I do note that Cora did not effectively communicate to Red Sox players the sign-stealing rules that were in place for the 2018 season.
So the Red Sox get off with a lot less taint than the Astros.
So baseball investigates this for months and months, and the only person to get punished is the replay operator? Are we supposed to believe he did this all on his own, with no prompting by or even knowledge of any club officials? Rob Manfred must have a huge rug to be able to sweep this much stuff under it.
Manfred is a pompous ass. There is nothing there to dissuade clubs from cheating in the future.
Sounds like a whitewash. Cora not knowing. Lol