ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Dave Dombrowski didn't have much reaction, at least publicly, to baseball commissioner Rob Manfred's ruling on the Apple Watch flap.

Then again, what was the Boston Red Sox head honcho supposed to do? Gloat?

The Red Sox tried to bring the ancient art of sign-stealing into the internet age by slapping an Apple Watch on the wrist of assistant athletic trainer Jon Jochim and having him relay decoded signs to veteran players on the bench.

And for that, they got a slap on the wrist.

No, Manfred said, it's not OK to use technology to steal an opposing catcher's signals. But apparently it's punishable only by a fine.

Manfred couldn't strip the Red Sox of victories because even the most exhaustive investigation couldn't possibly determine which games were affected and to what extent. He could have made them forfeit draft picks, and in a statement outlining his ruling, he threatened that future incidents of electronic sign-stealing would result in "more serious sanctions, including the possible loss of draft picks."

But the Red Sox? They got off easy. After all, there isn't precedent for such sophisticated espionage. An MLB investigation also concluded that team officials at the highest levels of the organization -- namely ownership, Dombrowski and manager John Farrell -- weren't aware of the scam.

The amount of the fine was not disclosed, but for an organization that recently swallowed $48.3 million to make third baseman Pablo Sandoval go away, no monetary penalty is too much to handle.

Dombrowski didn't exactly laugh off the punishment, as he did the suggestion that the Red Sox did anything wrong when evidence of the Red Sox's sign-stealing operation came to light in a Sept. 5 article in the New York Times. But he didn't act surprised by it, either.

"This is not a new issue now at this point," said Dombrowski, the Red Sox's president of baseball operations. "We've been having numerous conversations from front office, myself, [team president] Sam Kennedy, ownership. We've pretty much been alerted to this scenario, but until it's officially decided, which was today, you don't really know exactly what's going to take place."

Meanwhile, Dombrowski said the Red Sox have not and will not conduct an internal investigation into what happened, nor will they take action against any personnel that was involved in hatching the Apple Watch plan.

"I know what happened, so no, I don't have to do any more investigation into what took place," Dombrowski said. "There won't be any internal fines. The topic's been discussed internally and addressed, and I'm sure it will not happen again."

Well, at least not so brazenly.

Sign-stealing, in its most rudimentary forms, always has been part of the game. Typically, it involves a runner on second base peeking in at the catcher and trying to decode his signs. As technology crept into the game -- last year, each dugout was equipped with iPads that were connected to an MLB-specific app but not the internet -- it only made sense that players would try to put it to use in an attempt to steal signs.

It would be naive to think Manfred's decision to punish the Red Sox with a fine would deter any team from discussing new and less clumsy ways of doing it.

Let's also note that the New York Yankees were fined, albeit to a lesser degree, Friday for misuse of the dugout phone before this season. Manfred said MLB didn't receive any complaint from another team, nor did the specific use of the phone violate a rule.

But if any team was thinking of using the bullpen phone for anything other than calling down to the bullpen, well, not so fast.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox will take their punishment, happy it wasn't more severe.

"Going back to what was being done and what was taking place, we were in violation by using an electronic device, so that was against the rule," Farrell said. "It's a situation that generated a lot of attention. The commissioner's handed down this ruling on it. We're looking forward to moving beyond."