Yankees Rumors: NY Judge Says MLB Hid Yanks’ Sign-Stealing Scheme

The Yankees were fined in 2017 for violating a rule in using a dugout phone, but there’s a new development.

This is just what Yankee fans needed on a Saturday morning, right? Waking up to (seemingly) more allegations of sign-stealing dating back to 2015 and the fact that Major League Baseball worked to hide them to preserve the organization’s reputation is not what anyone wants to hear especially with the ongoing stagnant negotiations regarding the 2020 season.

According to Yankees insider, Brendan Kuty of NJ.com, a New York judge has ruled that a letter supposedly detailing these allegations should be unsealed, though it will be redacted and the Yankees have time to appeal the decision.

However, while enemies of the Bronx Bombers, such as the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox, are pointing the finger to assess blame elsewhere given the fact they were found guilty of much more significant cheating infractions, it’s perhaps time we read beyond the headlines and get into the details of the story.

According to Andy Martino of SNY, said letter isn’t going to reveal much. Let’s not forget the MLB made sweeping changes to the rules surrounding electronic sign-stealing and the use of replay rooms AFTER all of this alleged wrongdoing occurred. The letter reportedly focuses on actions committed during the 2015 and 2016 seasons — campaigns in which the Yankees completely missed the playoffs and lost in the AL Wild Card Game to the Astros.

So perhaps it’s also important to understand a lot of the circumstances here.

The world already knows the Yankees were fined in 2017 for violating a rule after misusing a dugout phone. And whatever happened in 2015 and 2016 came before the league instituted new restrictions in wake of the new 2017 electronic sign-stealing rules.

It’s certainly valid for fans to know Major League Baseball swept this under the rug, but don’t think is anywhere close to the widespread operation the Astros instituted that won them a World Series.

The baseball world certainly doesn’t need something as seemingly as minor as this to take away from what the Astros and Red Sox did, especially since both were punished for their actions that ultimately helped them win a World Series in illegitimate fashion.