Heyman: Red Sox Sign-Stealing Investigation May Be Delayed Amid Coronavirus

The Boston Red Sox are still waiting for Major League Baseball's punishment for allegedly stealing signs electronically, and that announcement may be pushed back even further as the league will focus its efforts on preparations for the coronavirus outbreak. 

"Coronavirus response is taking precedent for now," Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweeted. "So Red Sox result may be delayed a bit more."

While the league already punished the Houston Astros by fining them $5 million, stripping them of their first- and second-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021, and suspending then-general manager Jeff Luhnow and then-manager AJ Hinch for a season for their sign-stealing scandal, Boston is still under investigation.

The Red Sox are yet to be officially punished for the scandal, but they already parted ways with manager Alex Cora following the Houston announcement. Cora was the Astros' bench coach in 2017 during their World Series championship run.

Cora led Boston to a World Series title in 2018, but Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich of The Athletic reported the team was using the video replay room to help steal opposing signs.

In February, Bob Nightengale of USA Today cited multiple high-ranking officials who were part of the investigation and reported "they believe that the Red Sox will receive no more than a light punishment, with little evidence of cheating."

However, the investigation has still not reached its conclusion and MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters after Nightengale's report, "There have been a couple of developments in the Boston thing that slowed us down."

As for the league's reaction to the coronavirus, Rosenthal and Drellich reported there are no plans in place to delay the start of the season but that may change if needed. ESPN's Jeff Passan also reported the league issued a memo to baseball officials saying as much.

The memo suggested players should not sign autographs using balls and pens from fans. 

According to CNN at the time of publication, the COVID-19 outbreak has led to the deaths of more than 3,800 people and infected more than 108,000 people.