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Yankees gain a measure of satisfaction in Red Sox's embarrassment

 
New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi speaks with members of the media during a news conference at the team's baseball spring training facilities, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2017, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) FLMR111
New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi speaks with members of the media during a news conference at the team's baseball spring training facilities, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2017, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) FLMR111
Published Sept. 6, 2017

BALTIMORE — The New York Yankees have been trying to catch the Boston Red Sox in the American League East standings for a while now. On the other hand, they have already caught Boston cheating, but how that will play out in the final weeks of the season remains to be seen.

In any case, there was neither shock nor outrage in the Yankees' clubhouse on Tuesday afternoon after the New York Times revealed that Major League Baseball agreed with a Yankees claim that the Red Sox had violated league rules by using electronics to help steal signals.

What Yankee players did convey, however, was a general sense of satisfaction that the Red Sox had been caught in their misdeeds and now stood embarrassed in front of the rest of the sport. But genuine anger at what Boston had done? No.

"If you're not cheating, you're not trying," said a shrugging CC Sabathia, who pitched in the last series the Yankees played against the Red Sox at Fenway Park, the one that became the heart of the complaint the Yankees filed against Boston. "It's baseball. It's been going on forever. It's up to us to protect our signs."

The Times article detailed how the Yankees sent video evidence to the MLB to back up their contention that the Red Sox used an Apple Watch to quickly relay information from their video staff to an assistant trainer in the dugout to players on the field.

"I don't want to go into specifics, but it's something that we suspected," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said before the Yankees played the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night.

It is not illegal to steal signs, and for some players and coaches, it amounts to an art. But it is illegal in baseball to use electronics or binoculars in the process. The Red Sox admitted their transgression to baseball investigators, and also alleged that the Yankees were using a YES network camera to do the same, which the Yankees quickly denied.

"I don't know anything about that," Yankees leftfielder Brett Gardner said of Boston's counterclaim. "That's kind of silly."

Girardi was more blunt.

"No chance," he said, and added, "No, we're not doing that."

Girardi said the Yankees not only worried about the Red Sox. He said he spends time during games looking around to detect methods of cheating elsewhere, too. The Yankees have long suspected the Toronto Blue Jays of relaying signals from their outfield, and during the 2015 playoffs, the Kansas City Royals also accused the Blue Jays.

Gardner, meanwhile, admitted he once was picked off first base because he was so intent on peering in to the catcher to get the signs. After the pickoff, he stopped doing so.

"It's part of the game within a game," he said of the effort to steal signs. "But obviously, the use of electronics, whatever was going on with them, I guess some kind of watch, I'm sure it's pretty frowned upon."

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Most teams use different sets of signs to make it more difficult to steal them. They may use them when opposing players are on base, or in opposing ballparks where they suspect illicit methods are being used to decipher signals.

"We assume that everyone is doing it, just to protect ourselves," Girardi said. "Now, I'm not saying that everyone is doing it. But as a team, we assume that everyone is trying to do something."

Asked if the Yankees are trying to steal signs within legal means, Girardi responded, "You can assume what you want."

Girardi also said sign-stealing efforts contribute to pace-of-game issues because nervous teams repeatedly send their catchers to the mound — not for strategic conferences but to discuss which signs to use.

Austin Romine, a Yankees catcher, said the threat of sign stealing had led the Yankees to take extra precautions at Fenway Park.

"Now you know why there are so many mound visits," he said.

To speed things along and combat the espionage, Girardi suggested using some form of electronic communication between the catcher, pitcher and middle infielders, whether a headset like quarterbacks use in the NFL or a version of text messaging.

"Electronics is the world we live in," he said. "It has changed the world we live in. It will continue to change as we move on."