The Boston Red Sox are in the market for a new manager. According to a statement released by the organization, Boston and manager Alex Cora, whose name was heavily tied to the Houston Astros’ sign stealing scandal during his time with the franchise, have decided to mutually part ways.
Statement from the Boston #RedSox and Alex Cora: pic.twitter.com/qXsUhSobSy
— Red Sox (@RedSox) January 15, 2020
All of this comes back to Cora’s one year as the bench coach for the Astros. In his report on the team’s sign stealing that was released on Monday and led to the suspensions and, eventually, firings of Houston’s manager, A.J. Hinch, and general manager, Jeff Lunhow, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred identified Cora as one of the architects of the plan.
“Early in the season, Alex Cora, the Astros’ bench coach, began to call the replay review room on the replay phone to obtain the sign information. On at least some occasions, the employees in the replay review room communicated the sign sequence information by text message, which was received on the smart watch of a staff member on the bench, or in other cases on a cell phone stored nearby. Approximately two months into the 2017 season, a group of players, including Carlos Beltrán, discussed that the team could improve on decoding opposing teams’ signs and communicating the signs to the batter.
“Cora arranged for a video room technician to install a monitor displaying the center field camera feed immediately outside of the Astros’ dugout. (The center field camera was primarily used for player development purposes and was allowed under MLB rules at the time when used for that purpose.) Witnesses have provided largely consistent accounts of how the monitor was utilized. One or more players watched the live feed of the center field camera on the monitor, and after decoding the sign, a player would bang a nearby trash can with a bat to communicate the upcoming pitch type to the batter.”
They were major allegations against Cora, and considering that Lunhow and Hinch received one-year suspensions, the belief was that the league was not going to hesitate to bring the hammer down on Cora at the conclusion of its investigation. As for the status of that, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that Cora won’t be able to avoid reprimand now that he’s out of a job.
I have been told that the disimissal of Cora does not stop MLB’s investigation into the #RedSox alleged cheating in 2018 nor does it stop MLB from suspending Cora for his parts with the ’17 #Astros and the ’18 #RedSox
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) January 15, 2020
#RedSox were worried about the distraction of having Cora, who guided them to a WS. What do the #Mets think of Beltran, who has given them zero games as a mgr to date and whose accomplishments as NYM mgr to date is lying to reporters about what he did when he was with Houston.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) January 15, 2020
Cora spent two years at the helm of the Red Sox, including leading the team to franchise-record 108 wins and a World Series during the 2018 campaign (his first in charge in Boston). His second year, one that was hampered by injuries to the starting pitching staff, an unreliable bullpen, and the team’s decision to not address these issues on the trade market, wasn’t quite as kind — the Red Sox went 84-78 and missed the postseason.
