The Letter's A Nothingburger, The Balls Are Another Story

Two stories from baseball today:

First, the Yankees letter is out.

All That For THIS???

SNY, who broke the Yankees letter story, finally has revealed the letter in earnest.

And if this was what all the fuss was about...  Hmmmm...

I know a lot of us did feel this would be showing Yankee preferential treatment.  If it does, could someone please show me exactly WHERE it does?

The letter basically says the Yankees were fined $100,000 for using the video room (and the phones in the dugout) in the 2015 and 2016 seasons to decode sign sequences, which were then relayed to runners on second, who then signalled the batters.

(It does also state that MLB asked the Yankees to send the fine to Hurricane Irma relief, but what's the problem with that -- knowing fines are usually sent to charity in the first place?)

But THIS is what all the fuss was about?

Seriously?

First off, the biggest (relevant) concern of any team is that a runner on second would steal signs -- so, before the "mound visit limit" era, the first runner on second would usually mean a mound visit to switch up sign orders, etc.

Second, the team was fined six figures for the scheme -- and the letter, additionally, does NOT accuse the Yankees of any further sign-stealing, especially when the Commissioner said he would increase penalties (2017 season).

So unless people can identify the penalty being out of line for the situation (and the pre-2017 timeframe), what the fuss?

Why ask this letter not be put out?  Yes, it basically states the league caught them doing something illegal -- they were fined (unless the penalty is light, and I am not aware of other precedent in that regard -- some help would be nice).

So, any help from the helpful commenters on why all the fuss here?

(Reddit, where I found this, commenters basically state that the fuss was actually to prevent someone using precedent from this case to deal in a hypothetically more damaging case.  OK.  I can get that.)

And then, some discussion on why scoring is down in MLB this April...

We have an admission...

That .232 batting average?  It's partly due to a de-juiced ball.

The Athletic reports today that two balls were used last year -- the first of them was designed to reduce hitting distance by at least two feet.

That ball is the only one in use now.

One purported top-five player is reporting that it actually feels like trying to hit a rolled-up pair of socks, in a comment to Will Middlebrook.

So now, how long before Manfred switches to the juiced balls...

May need to.  Word is that, much more of this in Oakland, there'll be more feral cats in the stadium than fans!