Red Sox cheating investigation will stretch into spring training

The Boston Red Sox are waiting to see if Major League Baseball will punish them after investigating allegations that they cheated during their World Series season in 2018, but they are not going to learn their fate before the start of spring training.

MLB’s investigation into the Red Sox will not be concluded prior to Wednesday, Jimmy Golen of The Associated Press reports. Pitchers and catchers reported to the team’s spring training facility in Fort Meyers on Tuesday, and the Red Sox are scheduled to have their first official workout on Wednesday. Their first spring training game is on Feb. 22 against Northeastern University.

The Red Sox have yet to officially name a new manager, and that is almost certainly because they have been holding out as long as possible to see what the sign-stealing investigation uncovers. That could also explain why they are expected to promote bench coach Ron Roenicke to interim manager rather than giving him the full-time position.

Alex Cora was relieved of his duties by the Red Sox last month after MLB heavily implicated him in the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scheme from 2017. The assumption has been that he will face at least a one-year suspension like the ones the league handed down to former Astros manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow. MLB has chosen to wait until the conclusion of the Red Sox investigation to make a decision about Cora.

The Red Sox have been accused of illegally using the video replay room to help steal signs, and apparently they were not the only team that did that. The biggest question will likely be whether or not they continued to do it after MLB made it clear to teams that it was not allowed. A report from earlier in the week claimed whatever the Red Sox were doing was not as bad as what MLB found with its Astros probe.