#Fed. judge isn’t buying Yankees’ plea to keep controversial letter private

The Yankees’ argument that releasing a letter sent from commissioner Rob Manfred to general manager Brian Cashman would cause “significant reputational injury” has been deemed “unpersuasive” by a federal judge.

Overseeing a lawsuit filed by DraftKings bettors who claim the letter contains information not disclosed during Manfred’s 2017 press release regarding Yankees sign-stealing, U.S. District Court Judge Jed S. Rakoff said the letter should be unsealed because of the team’s “inconsistent arguments.’’ The Yankees and MLB are appealing the decision, which won’t be enforced until a ruling from the Court of Appeals.

“The New York Yankees appreciate the judge’s decision to maintain the letter under seal pending appeal and look forward to being heard by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals,’’ the Yankees said in a statement.

Rakoff has doubts the letter should be sealed.

“Although the MLB defendants had earlier argued that the letter was wholly in accord with the Commissioner’s public statement and now argued that release of the letter would harm the Yankees’ reputation, these mutually inconsistent arguments, as well as other arguments offered by the MLB defendants and the Yankees, were unpersuasive,” Rakoff wrote. “Indeed, one might be tempted to conclude that there is no justification for keeping the letter sealed.”

As previously reported by The Post’s Ken Davidoff, industry sources said the letter — written after an investigation launched of the Red Sox “AppleWatchGate” scandal — notes a pair of offenses related to sign-stealing, including the Yankees improperly using a dugout phone prior to 2017. The letter also states that Yankees players used the replay room to steal signs and relay them to runners on second base in 2015 and 2016.

DraftKings bettors, who are suing the league, the Red Sox and the Astros for $5 million due to sign-stealing scandals, argue the letter proves the Yankees were involved in a “more serious, sign-stealing” scheme than the league has disclosed. In the 2017 press release, Manfred wrote that the Yankees “violated a rule governing the use of the dugout phone,” but that the “substance of the communications [over the phone] was not a violation.”

Rakoff has twice dismissed the lawsuit, which argues that sign-stealing should nullify the results of the games.