THE STANDINGS ARE WRONG, THE RED SOX ARE LOSERS

I feel bad for the Red Sox. They have gone from the chicken and beer scandal to making racial statements about how Masahiro Tanaka should't have a translator and needs to learn "baseball language" to cheaters and disgracing the game. They got caught with their hand in the baseball cookie jar again. This team is a PR nightmare.

I'm a blunt girl. I call it like I see it and I don't mince words. From now on I will no longer associate the Red Sox and Yankees as one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports. Instead, I will associate it as a team that disgraced the game and does not value integrity and the Yankees. The Yankees are by no means perfect and have had their own indiscretions (a.k.a Alex Rodriguez) but not like this.

So now we all know that the Red Sox cheated. They stole signs and THIS is how they did it. To be clear, my beef here is with using technology to steal signs. Granted, stealing signs has been a part of baseball for a long time and it is an art. I'm okay with that. If there is a runner on second base and the catcher doesn’t hide his signs well enough and the runner figures it out then that's on the catcher. If the third base coach doesn’t change his signs and someone in the dugout picks up on it, then blame the coach. That's HIS fault the other team figured it out but when sign-stealing goes high tech and team personnel (not players) get involved that is poor sportsmanship and disgraceful. It sends a bad message to fans, the league and worst of all young impressionable kids....which is a whole other topic that I won't even get into.

Photo of: Jon Jochim

And if using technology to gain an unfair advantage isn't enough for you to top it all off, Red Sox personnel blatantly decides he is too good to follow league rules. Just by wearing an Apple Watch in the dugout, Red Sox assistant athletic trainer Jon Jochim was in violation of the MLB decree against having a device capable of texting in the dugout. This rule is communicated to all 30 teams before the start of the season and even posted around all of the stadiums for internal use. Rules clearly state no electronic devices are allowed in the dugouts except for league issued iPads that have limitations (like the Internet) so teams can review plays thanks to Instant Replay nowadays. Players can't have their phones in the dugouts, or in the tunnel but Jochim is too good for MLB rules. He may not be the Red Sox manager, but he is still a leader in that organization.....and a poor one at that.

Since the series Brian Cashman filed a detailed complaint with the commissioner's office and Rob Manfred is reportedly investigating. He also held a press conference at Fenway Park (shocker!) on it that you can find HERE and unsurprisingly he is remaining neutral. The Red Sox made a weak attempt to defend themselves by filing their own complaint against the Yankees on Tuesday claiming that YES Network uses a camera to steal signs and relay that information for the Yankees to use. There is no evidence to support this so it makes the Red Sox look even more pathetic.

So now that the Red Sox have been caught red handed they should suffer some sort of consequence but what exactly? Based on Manfred's interview anything is possible but I have a hard time believing that they would strip the Red Sox of a division title if they got it (please no) or even wins. I guess MLB could give them a big fine or take away a draft pick or two. No matter what though, I can't imagine the punishment fitting the crime.

It's sad that the Red Sox have to cheat to be competitive. They can't just play the game the right way....with integrity. It's sad that leadership ALLOWS scandals to surround the Red Sox and it stems from two people. First, it comes from GM Dave Dombrowski who defended his team as I would expect. "Do I think sign-stealing is wrong? No, I don't. People are trying to win however they can. It’s an edge they are trying to gain. Sometimes your sophistication of signs can make a difference." All fine, but then he started to sound like a whining kid, "this is not new, this has been something that has been going on for 10-12 days. Something like that. Maybe two weeks. The Yankees decide they want to give it today, for whatever reason. I think maybe because it just so happened the commissioner is in town today. I’m not sure there is a direct correlation to that." Oh quit trying to cover it up Dombrowski, you DO think there is correlation to that. You just won't man up to it. That's bad but the bigger criminal here is owner John Henry. This is Henry's team. It's HIS culture he has built with the idea that winning at any cost including cheating is acceptable. They don't love the game. Red Sox leadership needs a lesson on ethics.

I don't care what the AL East standings say. The Red Sox are losers. They may be at the top of the leader board but they had to cheat to get there. They don't have what it takes to win fairly and have lost all credibility. It's sad you have to cheat Dirty Sox.....but you lost the series and you will lose at the end of the season too.



--Jeana Bellezza

BYB Managing Editor 
Follow me on Twitter: @NYPrincessJ

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