The scope of Major League Baseball’s investigation into the Houston Astros allegedly stealing signs during the 2017 season will be larger than initially thought.
On Wednesday, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred acknowledged the investigation into the Astros will involve looking into the 2018 and 2019 seasons as well as 2017, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
Previously, Manfred said he thinks the scandal is limited to the Houston organization even though some coaches from the 2017 team have gone on to manage other teams, such as Alex Cora with the Boston Red Sox.
Calling the allegations a “serious matter” that “relates to the integrity of the sport,” the commissioner promised “thorough investigation” into whether or not the team did in fact position cameras in the outfield and trained on the catcher to steal signs during home games in real-time.
“Right now, we are focused on the information that we have with respect to the Astros,” Manfred said. “I’m not going to speculate on whether other people are going to be involved. We’ll deal with that if it happens, but I’m not going to speculate about that. I have no reason to believe it extends beyond the Astros at this point in time.”
The commissioner did say the penalties he can dole out if the investigation’s findings warrant it can exceed standard fines and draft pick penalties if necessary.
Since taking over, the biggest penalties Manfred has issued were a $2 million fine and loss of two draft picks after a St. Louis Cardinals employee who used to work for the Astros stole data from Houston’s database.
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