Report: Yankees Not Implicated in Sign-Stealing Scheme After 2017 Investigation

The New York Yankees were not involved in a scheme that reached the same levels as the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal.

TheYankee Letter obtained by Andy Martino of SNY includes details from MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred regarding an investigation into mutual sign-stealing allegations between the Yankees and RedSox.

The letter does not implicate the Yankees in a sign-stealing scheme similar to the one for which the Houston Astros were punished, when batters received the signs in real time without the help of a runner on second base.

The Yankees asked the league to investigate Boston after one of their replay coordinators noticed that a Red Sox trainer was wearing an Apple Watch.

The league was asked to investigate the Yankees for sign-stealing.

The Yankee Letter is expected to be made public at some point this week after the team lost its final appeal.

The team was fined $100,000 for using a video-replay room in 2015 and 2016 to break down signs and pass the information to players, as well as the revelation that New York did not match Houston in its sign-stealing scope.

The YES Network cameras were cleared to steal signs by the team, but New York did not participate in any sign-stealing actions after Sept. 15, 2017, when Manfred said there would be harsher penalties for electronic sign-stealing.

Houston received the most severe punishments when it came to sign-stealing.

The league fined the Astros $5 million, stripped them of their first and second-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021, and suspended then-general manager Jeff Luhnow and then-manager AJ Hinch for one year.

The Astros fired Luhnow and Hinch after the scandal broke, and the Red Sox fired Alex Cora for his role in the scandal when he was the Astros bench coach.

Boston lost a second-round draft pick in 2020 and had a video replay monitor suspended for the 2020 campaign.