Red Sox's 2018 World Series Championship Not Tainted, Says President Sam Kennedy

Major League Baseball concluded Wednesday that Boston Red Sox video replay system operator J.T. Watkins "utilized the game feeds in the replay room, in violation of MLB regulations, to revise sign sequence information that he had permissibly provided to players prior to the game" in 2018, according to ESPN.

But team president Sam Kennedy said Boston's World Series title that year should not be considered tainted despite Watkins' actions:

Watkins has been suspended through the 2020 postseason without pay, while the Red Sox were stripped of their second-round pick in this year's MLB draft.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred noted that he didn't believe former manager Alex Cora—already suspended for a year for his role in the Houston Astros' sign-stealing scandal—was aware of Watkins' transgressions and didn't levy any additional punishment against him. The Red Sox cut ties with Cora in January. 

Manfred also said the Red Sox sign-stealing tactics didn't rise to the level of the Astros:

"Unlike the Houston Astros' 2017 conduct, in which players communicated to the batter from the dugout area in real time the precise type of pitch about to be thrown, Watkins' conduct, by its very nature, was far more limited in scope and impact.

"The information was only relevant when the Red Sox had a runner on second base (which was 19.7 percent of plate appearances league-wide in 2018), and Watkins communicated sign sequences in a manner that indicated that he had decoded them from the in-game feed in only a small percentage of those occurrences."

He added that the violations were "isolated to Watkins and a limited number of Red Sox players only." Red Sox players who cooperated with the league's investigation were granted immunity, though Manfred added that none would have been punished anyway. 

Several members of the Astros also maintained that their 2017 title should not be tainted, including slugger Carlos Correa and former manager A.J. Hinch.

Hinch said in February, per Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times:

"I hope over time, it's proven that it wasn't [tainted]. But I understand the question. It's a fair question. And people are going to have to draw their own conclusions.

"Unfortunately, we opened that door, as a group. That question may never be answered. We may never know. We're going to have to live and move forward and be better in the sport. Unfortunately, no one can really answer that question. I can't pinpoint the advantages, or what exactly would have happened otherwise. But we did it to ourselves."