The New York Yankees will appeal the unsealing of a 2017 letter from commissioner Rob Manfred regarding sign-stealing, according to The Athletic's Evan Drellich. The appeal will be filed either Friday or Monday, which is the deadline. Last month U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Judge Debra Ann Livingston ruled the letter should be unsealed.
Here are more details, from Drellich:
The public release of the letter is expected to wait until the court decides whether to grant the new hearing. That decision could come quickly, as these petitions are frequently rejected.
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Inherently, the new appeal is a long shot. An en banc review "is not favored and ordinarily will not be ordered unless" either "necessary to secure or maintain uniformity of the court's decisions," or if the proceeding presents "a question of exceptional importance," per federal rules guiding the appeals process.
Manfred sent the letter to Yankees GM Brian Cashman after the team made a complaint to MLB regarding the Red Sox and their Apple Watch scandal in 2017. The letter detailed the league's investigation and findings, and is standard procedure.
In June 2020, SNY's Andy Martino reported the letter "does not allege that the Yankees participated in sign-stealing, because the league concluded that the team did not steal signs." The Yankees have claimed the letter would damage their reputation if it is unsealed, hence the appeal.
The letter had become a matter of some significance in a class action lawsuit filed against the league, the Astros, and the Red Sox by DraftKings users. The plaintiffs previously stated that they believed Manfred's letter to the Yankees proved his "duplicity" on the matter of improper sign-stealing.
