A reunion between the Red Sox and Alex Cora may be in the offing. After a year away from the team because of a suspension, their former manager is a candidate to return in the same role. The Red Sox have been in contact with Cora, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reports.
The Red Sox have already interviewed seven other candidates, as shown on MLBTR’s Managerial Search Tracker. Pirates bench coach Don Kelly and Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza have received second interviews, according to Speier, who adds that Cubs third base coach Will Venable and Twins bench coach Mike Bell are no longer under consideration. Diamondbacks bench coach Luis Urueta is also out of the mix, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com tweets. Among known candidates, that leaves Cora up against Kelly, Mendoza, Marlins bench coach James Rowson and Padres associate manager Skip Schumaker. However, Speier writes that there are other names under consideration.
No one from the Kelly-Mendoza-Rowson-Schumaker group has managed in the majors, so they certainly can’t match Cora’s accomplishments in the role. Cora managed the Red Sox to a 192-132 record from 2018-19, guiding the team to a World Series in the first of those seasons. But the Red Sox parted with Cora last offseason after Major League Baseball suspended him for a year because of the Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal. Cora was the Astros’ bench coach that season.
Oh dear
So , everybody place your bets as to who hires Luhknow now. Apparently, there’s slim pickings for managerial candidates or these organizations just have no shame or class. Why is everyone so quick and desperate to hire these cheaters? It’s not as if they’re superstars in their primes.
Why is it so bad to hire them? They paid their debt to MLB. Should they get the death penalty to be banned for life? When can they come back?
They cheated to get the positions they were fired from. The track records that they produced that they were hired based off of and the fact that they continued to succeed is tainted by the reality that they cheated their way to that position.
Cora, in particular, had a terribly defiant attitude, threw other managers and teams under the bus in press interviews, was just deeply unapologetic and cold hearted toward other clubs and to some degree his own players in his quotes to the media and when this all came out, he made it about being Puerto Rican.
The guy can’t take blame, has a bad attitude and is a ruthless competitor- truly ruthless in the technical sense of the word. It’s bad for baseball. It’s not sportsmanlike.
He is an unnecessary and tainted presence.
I used to respect him and appreciate him as a competitor, but now? I see a lazy arrogant blow hard.
I feel as you do. Cora paid his debt took punishment gave the ownership of his poor decisions, what more can you ask?
That he be forever kicked out of the sport, you know, like anyone else in any other job in the universe would. He apologized? How about the adverse affect he and his compadres had on the players’ careers, some of whom may never get another championship shot? Or the millions in revenue that team received in benefits? A simple apology and come back next year? No way. No other career would he be trusted or ever allowed to walk in the door again, particularly with the same organization!
Now, compare this with Pete Rose and you see the devolution of baseball and society. Shameful.
These guys should be banned for life like their predecessors on the Black Sox. The fact that they are even being considered is a a stain in the history of the sport.
@beis, I’m with you. Another stain on Manfred. All 3, Hinch, Cora and Luhnow should have received lifetime bans.
You need to take your Red Sox blinders off Pasha.
Shoeless Joe and Pete Rose did for cheating and gambling.
No he doesn’t. He’s right whether he is a Red Sox fan or not. Why are we so damn determined to continue punishing someone after they’ve served their sentence? Why can’t we just let people move on with their lives?
Served his sentence? He wasn’t tried by a public jury. He was “prosecuted” by a one man tribunal that had conflicts of interest up the ying yang, and he received a sentence that was “life minus one year” shorter than it should have been. This is not water under the bridge and it never will be.
What job in the universe would ban you from the industry for cheating? Cheating in business happens all the time, and if you are caught you pay a fine. Insider trading? Tax fraud? Malpractice? Insurance fraud? None of these actual crimes and forms of cheating get you banned from your industry.
You don’t see the difference between these guys cheating to try and win vs Pete rose who gambled on games he had a direct effect on the outcome? The shame lies with you
You just made a list of things that either carry prison time, or in the case of legal malpractice, yes, a ban from the industry.
Either would suffice for the Astros and Red Sox, be my guest
@salarycapmyth because the sentence served was a joke. The anger is as much on the people assigning punishment for getting the decision wrong as it is on the actual offenders.
Exactly!!
I’m not a Sox or Astro fan but wish people would move on
Thank you moneyman. Totally agree and while I continue to post, the sport has taken the low road and I’ve learned during COVID I no longer need to watch. While I heard the WS was enjoyable, thus was not a season and I just couldn’t get into it regardless of the teams. Anyone see the ratings? I’m wondering how many others were like me.
Well if we are going to ban these guys for life then the players need to go as well. They are the ones who actually participated. The coaches can come up with the scheme, but if the players do not participate then it does not work. You act like it was just these two guys, well 3 with Hinch, and no one else had anything to do with it.
Shoeless Joe hit very well in that World Series for someone trying to “throw” the series. There is a lot of controversy around Shoeless Joe Jackson and no one will ever know the truth. One thing is for sure, he never took money to throw the World Series unlike the other 7 players.
Yeah Cora only acknowledged his part in the cheating once he had no choice.
Two types of people- the self righteous who have never done anything wrong who want to dole out lifetime bans for whatever they think is wrong but yet if it was them in that situation they would want and expect mercy. And people who think once you’ve paid you’re debt you should move on with life. I fall into the second category mainly because everyone is human. To say these guys all cheated their way into the positions they were in is comical. All of them had high level positions prior to this scandal and they all had stellar track records prior to as well. They did a dumb thing and got caught and just like players who get suspended for PED’s you can come back after your debts been paid. No one has to hire you if they don’t think you’ve acknowledged it properly but there’s no reason to end their careers.
Don’t forget the Yankees
Players were given immunity to get to the truth. I don’t mind Cora taking a minor league gig, riding a bus and re-earning his right to manage in the big leagues.
Agreed Shannon from what I read, it sounds like he didn’t sell out.
MLB is different than society in general. In MLB, people HAVE been given lifetime bans for intentionally altering game results and putting the integrity of the game in jeopardy. Same thing with other sports, look up Tim Donaghy. Most are unhappy that Cora’s punishment was insignificant compared to prior punishments dished out over the years. I think if his suspension had lasted 3-5 years a lot more people would be on board.
Didnt pay enough of a penalty. If a bank robber got 6 monthsin jail, would you sayhe paid his penalty?
It’s interesting reading all this misplaced vitriol against Cora here. Just because all the players involved in Houston’s cheating got to skate with no penalty whatsoever don’t take that frustration out on Cora. He WAS penalized and paid his price.
Why do you keep trying to compare MLB with the rest of the world? Sports is a totally separate world. You need to keep things in context.
Shoeless Joe didn’t get it for cheating. He got it for being accused of throwing a game that he didn’t throw.
UNTRUE, AJ did the tossing under the bus!
Says you. MLB says differently.
(I was replying to Cokeman, FYI.)
So if you ever used poor judgement and did something you shouldn’t have done, you should be banned for life from whatever career you’ve worked so hard to attain, even after you’ve paid the price through the punishment handed down to you.
You guys need to look into that unforgiving mirror. You wouldn’t like what you see.
Perhaps you’ve never heard of a doctor losing his medical license, lawyers being disbarred, surely a train engineer would be banned for life for drinking on the job. Wtf are you talking about people get banned from their jobs for life all the time.
Poor judgment? Is that what you call it when a priest harms a child, when a cop murders a criminal, when a man beats his wife. You can’t just call every transgression a poor judgement and expect to be forgiven, there are consequences to actions, and missing 1 season of covid baseball is not enough. They cheated fans, they ruined careers, they stole a championship and they made a mockery of the game.
Cavan – Well, if a doctor loses his license for life, then he committed an egregious act of malpractice. If a lawyer is disbarred for life, that means he violated the Constitutional rights of his client or a defendant with aggravating circumstances. If a train engineer was drinking on the job and got caught, that means someone probably died in a train crash. All of those examples involve life, liberty and death. Cora was involved in a scheme involving banging a trashcan to cheat in a game. If you think they are all on the same level, then you need to re-evaluate some things.
Again, as already stated, there is a huge difference between molestation, murder, and assault and cheating at a game. Keep it in perspective.
Of course all those things are far worse, the point is they are professionals who violated their respective fields. When you’re in the MLB you represent your Organization, the Fans , the league and the sport. They damaged the sport they claim to love so much, as the guys who were supposed to be in charge. If a teacher was caught helping his whole class cheat on SAT’s he would be fired and lose his teaching license, why should these clowns be an exception. I’m not saying he should go to jail for life but he should not be able to manage again. Period.
Do you not realize many of Cora’s victims may have been hurt for life? Aaron Judge may never experience winning an MVP because of Cora. Many members of the 2017 Yankees may never experience playing in the World Series because of Cora. Many members of the 2017 Dodgers, such as Puig, may never experience winning a World Series because of Cora. There is a HUGE lifetime ripple effect from what Cora did. But you go right ahead supporting and sympathizing with the offender instead of with his lifetime victims. Sheesh …
Youre just wrong.
Cora’s victims? You mean he did all that all by himself. Just because all the players involved got no punishment whatsoever don’t take all that out on Cora.
So Fever, if I understand your point, we are supposed to feel bad for Aaron Judge, the millionaire baseball player, in the same way we should feel bad for victims of murder, molestation, legal and medical malpractice, etc. I’ll let you and others stew on the ridiculousness of your comment.
Without Cora, there wouldn’t have been players cheating in 2017. That’s a fact. Leaders get punished when they instruct players to do wrong, as it should be.
You don’t know they wouldn’t have cheated. Beltran, fresh from the Yanks and their methods, was there.
Cora has always been arrogant and smug. He would make the most ridiculous decisions, like his Club Med approach to ST last year, then talk down to people who legit questioned him, then never admitted he screwed up. Remember he’s the one who insisted on keeping Swihart and playing him at first base, which caused the serious injury to ERod. And he also divided the team by refusing to make the WH visit last year for selfish reasons. .
@Fever Pitch
Erm – I’m not going to defend Cora much – I feel he & others got off lightly – but to state “he also divided the team by refusing to make the WH visit last year for selfish reasons”. .is simply incorrect.
Agreed. Not a fan of politicizing WH visits, but players and coaches can do as they please when it comes to that stuff.
Regardless of diverse individual experiences and backgrounds, teams are supposed to do things together. Cora influenced certain players to not attend, Google “Red Sox racial divide visit” and learn, the only ones denying it were Cora and Sox management. I won’t comment further on the subject as I know how the modding is here. LOL
Cheating pays!
Exactly. For all we know Cora and Hinch would be losing managers without the cheating. Astros in 2020 post-cheating: losing record. Red Sox in 2020 post-cheating:dead last place. Beyond disrespecting the game and rewarding disgusting fraud, any team that hires these guys may be getting an actual managerial dud. And it would be so well deserved!
2020 Red Sox had nothing to do with Cora, but look at how badly he mismanaged the 2019 Red Sox beginning with ST. That 2018 team was loaded with talent, highest payroll in baseball, a chimp could have managed that team to the World Series.
The 2018 team wasn’t much better than the 2019 team. The difference was cheating.
That’s ridiculous. The pitching was the issue. That being said I don’t want the Sox to bring Cora back.
Fever Pitch Guy – A cheating chimp did manage the team in 2018!!
Also, the highest in season payroll was not the Red Sox. Past ownership mistakes took them to the top of the list because of retained salaries.
You are right about how talented they were and almost all the starters had career years or at least above average years except Devers. In 2019, injuries and Cora screw-ups put them 10 games back in April and ruined the season. There was no reason to NOT expect a bounce back year in 2020 until COVID showed up. Instead, we dumped a major portion of our talent for a fictional luxury tax ruse and 2020 was ruined. The tax avoided was less than JBJ’s salary. With all the profits the Red Sox made in 2018 and other years, a $10M hit to keep Mookie or trade him at the deadline to maximize value made a lot more sense than what we did.
The Red Sox have no integrity if they hire Cora, Hinch or Beltran.
For all you Cora apologists that say he did his time, Cora didn’t do his time, he simply took time off. Was he rehabilitated as a two time offender (oh wait two time accused one time convicted offender)? NOPE.
He added to his resume which is supposed to be reviewed by management and ownership the words CONVICTED CHEATER. Any reasonable company wouldn’t touch a person who was suspected of two crimes and only convicted in one. There are so, so many better candidates than Cora that if he gets hired it’s because he took a hush agreement with ownership. He knows he cheated in Boston and if they hire him back everyone needs to ask why? The answer may lie in what Cora didn’t tell the commissioner about the ownership’s knowledge of his cheating. That’s the only logical way a great organization stoops so low to hire a CONVICTED CHEATER. That’s my theory. I’m trying to rationalize the colossal stupidity of an action that brings him back.
That’s inaccurate
Sale and Price were injured for a significant portion of the 2019 season. And their two best relievers from 2018 were lost and never replaced as the Sox took a “throw against the wall and see what sticks” approach to the bullpen that year. But Cora’s managing certainly didn’t help either, he openly stated that winning games wasn’t all that important … and his managing showed it.
The commissioner investigated the 2018 Red Sox for months – emails, video, people interviewed multiple times – and not one incident of cheating could be documented. There was no proof that even a single at bat was affected. If you read the report, you will see that the Red Sox were penalized a 2nd round draft pick because they “may have benefitted” and “potentially benefitted” from Watkins’ supposed actions. You will also read that there was “largely no direct evidence” against Watkins. Go check it out.
all in the = Your summary of what happened isn’t exactly accurate. Many months past but we have no idea how many hours were put into the Red Sox investigation during that time period. The players (thanks to the Players Union) chose to not testify they did NOT say he didn’t do. They refused to go on record. BIG DIFFERENCE.
Everyone knows he was guilty in both cities but without documentation from any players he couldn’t be penalized so he got away with it. By not confessing and no testimony from players Cora cheated twice and only got caught once.
Since he didn’t do rehab and he’s a serial cheater, if it was a different crime like robbery would you hire a guy who was convicted once, got caught twice and didn’t do any rehab to run the same convenient store he stole from in his second robbery? The only way he gets hired is if he has something bad on Ownership or they simply have lost all their integrity.
KD17: Please provide something to support your assertions. “Everyone knows” is not evidence. Players were given immunity in exchange for their testimony. Here is more from the commissioner’s report on the 2018 Red Sox:
“The DOI interviewed 65 witnesses, including 34 current and former Red Sox players. Some witnesses were interviewed multiple times. The Major League Baseball Players Association (“MLBPA”) also provided DOI with an attorney proffer on behalf of 10 players who played 20 or fewer games for the Red Sox in 2018, each of whom provided no material information. As a result, every player who was on the Red Sox’ Active Roster during the 2018 season was afforded the opportunity to provide information. The DOI also reviewed tens of thousands of emails, text messages, video clips, and photographs. The Red Sox fully cooperated with the investigation, producing all requested electronic communications and making all requested employees available for interviews. Upon request, certain Red Sox employees provided their cellular telephones to be imaged and searched.”
If you read the report, you could never say that players refused to testify. You should really read the report. JD Martinez was correct when he said they didn’t find anything.
Cora participated in cheating in Houston for sure, but there was no cheating proven to have happened in Boston in 2018 after a very extensive investigation. That is why the commissioner could only say that he was punishing the Red Sox because they “may have benefitted” and “potentially benefited” from Watkins’ supposed actions.
Don’t forget the Astros record in 2019, it was pretty good…
Yeah, not like there was any “nudge nudge wink wink” deal here…
disaster
We know you cheated, so as punishment, you don’t need to worry about exposing yourself to Covid-19 during this tw0-month season. See you in 2021.
It would be a sweet if Manfred swooped in after the Redsox reinstate Cora and said nope I suspended you guys for 162 games, you still got 102 games to serve. The redsox and tigers would look like complete morons hiring and interim manager for 2/3 of a season. They shouldn’t pro-rate suspensions, the fans want to see these two dix serve the full 162 games.
Jimminny Cricket, they had no idea about Covid when they got the suspension!!!!!!!!!
His point is that this suspension, which was a woefully inadequate penalty to begin with, was shortened to almost nothing by the pandemic. Manfred should be working as a cashier at a gas station.
I agree that Cora shod have been suspended for life. Will clemens or Sosa ever get into the hall of fame? the fact they won’t is on SUSPICION not actual facts that they cheated. Cora cheated and got slapped on the wrist and his attitude made it worse. As usual, in America, the punishment fell short of the crime.
Clemens will.
The Red Sox have interviewed 7 different People and two of those twice, so if Cora is the next manager why waste their time and the time of 7 people. If it is just show then the Red Sox went way overboard……
Or they’re just trying to make it look like they really did a deep search but Cora was still the “best man”. A question I heard that was asked to each candidate was what is your plan on how to cheat nowadays? Lol
Yankees have not been in a World Series in 11 years.
Dodgers 1-2
Red Sox 2-0
Houston 1-1
Texas 0-2
San Francisco 3-0
St. Louis 1-1
Tampa 0-1
Washington 1-0
Kansas City 1-1
Cubs 1-0
Cleveland 0-1
Detroit 0-1
Mets 0-1
13 teams have played in the WS….no Yankees lol
I played ball with Don Kelly. He’s such a sold dude. I hope he gets a shot somewhere at some point.
People . Get over it
If there’s one thing we should all have gotten past by now, it’s the hope that justice exists anywhere.
Meh, why bother complaining now? If fans really wanted the league to know of their displeasure they would have collaborated with active protests instead of complaining about it online.
I’m just as guilty of that, but frankly I am more concerned with my own life then I am the “moral state” of baseball as an whole.
Baseball fans tend to be on the conservative side, which means they aren’t into protesting or activism. But that doesn’t stop us from voicing our opinions online.
Wow shocker i don’t care if he comes back he did a good job but he’ll be place with a big difference no cheating and no Betts let’s see how he really does because their going to blow next yr to without pitching
“yes Pat, can I buy some punctuation?”
Did anyone else hear about that NHL draft pick for Coyotes? Apparently, he rubbed a push pop in a urinal and gave it to a mentally challenged kid.
Maybe one day he will get hit so hard that he becomes a mentally challenged kid. What goes around comes around…life.
I think that’s a little harsh, you’re saying someone should hit him so hard it causes him brain damage for a mistake he made when he was 14, 4 years ago. I’m not sticking up for the kid but that’s just mental, mate.
I’m not saying that someone should. I am saying that often times in life, what goes around comes around. There’s many stories in the world of scenarios like that playing out.
Not sure it was a mistake… supposedly had been harassing him and being racist to him since the second grade.
Still…
I wouldn’t excuse that kind of action as a “mistake.”
Yea, you’re right. I wasn’t aware of the racism aspect and whole story. I came here hoping to learn more of what actually happened but I found an article and it’s heinous to say the least.
Without racism you were willing to overlook it?
Where do you get that from?
to the point that he not play hockey, yes.
Why is this being brought up here? Go to nhl rumors
I honestly didn’t even know that was a thing. Lol
yep he is/was a punk at 14. I bet you were too. what he did was wrong no doubt but let’s not ruin his life for it. so funny society wants to crucify a 14 year old for being a punk and bullying, but a 16 year old kills someone, gets charged as a juvy and goes home to mom.
I agree, and I was definitely a punk kid at 14. I thought the punishment seemed a little excessive but maybe there’s more to the story then what we know. All I know is that Antonio Brown was given another chance after all his accusations, same goes for Roberto Osuna, Aroldis Chapman and they were full grown men when they violated code of conduct policies.
He’s coming back IMO. You either do it or rule it out and they haven’t done the latter. Only thing I see here is then floating it around to gauge reaction but with Hinch in Detroit it opened the gates. I don’t think Luhnow will be a GM but could see him back in a front office too.
The Red Sox run the risk of alienating A LOT of people if this is there move… suspect AT BEST.
Red Sox President Sam Kennedy wants his own man
Red Sox Chief Baseball Operator Chaim Bloom wants his own man
Red Sox GM Brian O’Halloran wants his own man
Owner John Henry wants Alex Cora
“Nuff said.
There is a difference between what Cora did and what Hinch did. Cora lead the charge with regards to the cheating. Hinch didn’t have the balls to stop it. Neither scenario is really acceptable. There is however a difference.
Agreed
I agree with this. Hinch isn’t as culpable, just a coward. I believe Hinch would run a clean operation on another club, given another chance. I think Cora will try to figure out how to go back to playing as dirty as possible without getting caught.
Problem is that put Hinch in a clean operation and it ends up dirty because he doesn’t have the balls. Problems find people like that because they never deal with them at the lowest level. People with follow the strongest leader, even if it’s a bad one.
Noooooo AJ turned his in approval by NOT stopping them he gave approval. He threw everyone under the bus n played innocent when he was the manager.
Agreed, but his inaction makes him a poor leader.
Yup. Cora concocted the scheme. Cora was the ringleader. If not for Cora, there wouldn’t have been an Astros cheating scandal.
They waited for someone to hire A.J. trash can first, so it wouldn’t look as bad!
Let’s use some common sense here. The fact that AJ and Alex are going to be managing a major league baseball team in 2021 shows you this “cheating scandal“ is a bunch of BS! What it shows you is that most teams understand that this is prevalent in the game and the only people that are angry with this are the chat comment Twitter world! Wake up people!
Hmm .. and every other MLB player.
If this doesn’t tell us what BS this “scandal” that a crappy pitcher made is then I don’t know what to say. The fact that these 2 managers who orchestrated the whole thing or were part of the situation and they can get a job a week after the World Series after their suspensions are over shows how weak this “scandal” is!
Or how weak morals are …
Yeah to say the scandal is “weak” is completely ignorant. If it was weak why did the majority of players, including guys like Trout and Kershaw, who never speak out negatively about anything, blast the Astros?
Yes… it mattered so much to Kershaw and Dodgers players and fan base that they embraced Mookie and Kelly who helped “cheat” them out of the 2018 WS.
Do I really need to list all the players who have committed a variety of known offenses, and were still pursued by teams. Winning is all that matters to teams, and their fans.
Bingo
Cora is a bad choice, not just because of the “cheating” stain but more importantly for his lack of accountability for 2019. He made a decision to almost totally skip spring training and even after the disaster the season was with pitching that never showed up and injuries, he wouldn’t admit it was a bad plan and learn from it. Need a better leader for the team.
I don’t think that was totally on him. You are giving him far too much credit. Just like I don’t think it was Boone’s call for the opener. These guys have less say than you think they do.
Cora repeatedly said it’s not important to try and win games during the first half of the season, he said all that matters is keeping the players “fresh” for September and October. He also had a habit of over-resting key positional players, often refusing to use them even off the bench, so they could have consecutive days off. In that respect his plan worked, the 2019 Red Sox were VERY well rested in October when they were watching the postseason on TV while sitting in their living rooms.
Cora is a stain on the game, is a huge a-hole in the media, is defiant and conceited about stuff that should have humbled him and he should have kept to himself and then when he was caught and outed he had the gaul to make his statement about his Puerto Rican pride, dragging his culture down with him for no good reason other than to hide behind it- again reminds me of when Kevin Spacey was outed as a predator and tried to hide behind coming out as gay- the gay community bashed Spacey for it and denounced him, disowned him, etc. Puerto Ricans should have done the same with Cora.
If the Red Sox do this, I hope Manfred does indeed point out it was a 162 game suspension and hold it up for the first 102 games of the next season, at the very least. This would be shameful and transparently shameless of the Red Sox, but it looks like it’s gonna happen.
He’s a ruthless competitor and that was evident in his in-game managerial style of when he’d pull pitchers or substitute hitters or base runners and sure, that made him effective, but the other half of that is his lack of respect for the integrity of the game and his cowardice in throwing everybody under the bus except himself, then driving over them and acting like he’s a hero or he’s a pillar of his communities or his profession.
I’m just… speechless this is even being considered. The Red Sox have so many other options and he should be banned from the game for life, period.
If they banned Pete Rose, they should ban Cora.
Your points are well taken, but, please, don’t take us down the Pete Rose rabbit hole. It’s too deep to get out.
This guy should have been permanently banned from MLB.
As if I needed another reason to dislike the Red Sox.
Yes all of their championships was enough reason for you, I’m sure.
You sure you’re sure?
This is a really bad look.
Henry is such a buffoon…. completely out of touch.
We can only hope that Red Sox upper management staff are keeping on eye on people’s reaction to this news and convince Henry that there are a multitude of options they can go with forever into the future without ever revisiting the Alex Cora era. He wasn’t even THAT great. He had one great season- where he almost certainly used cheating tactics to achieve those results- and one very mediocre, if not bad season, as the Red Sox manager. There’s zero upside to bringing him back.
The players liked Cora because he’s young, fun and related well to them. That’s the only upside to bringing Cora back. My solution would be to hire Carlos Beltran, he deserves to be given a chance.
LOL
Just to be clear, I was being sarcastic about Beltran as manager.
I’m aware, it was a good one. Haha
I get that I likely have some bias as a Braves fan, but can anyone please explain to me how the Braves and Astros punishments mesh? Coppy has a lifetime ban and the Braves are STILL facing international signing penalties because we illegally signed some 16 year olds with the thought that one day, that could help us win. Every element of the Astros punishment will be completely gone in one year, after they cheated in-game en route to *actually winning* a championship. I really hate whining about “unfair” treatment by MLB because I know the perception of ATL fans online, but does anyone have any actual reasoning for how this makes sense? If you’re willing and able to exercise a lifetime ban in our situation, how could it possibly not apply to ANYONE in Houston’s?
This.
Not sure why the Sox would want to bring Cora back, he is replaceable (like any job) and seems like a classless move by Sox (if brought back). If he paid his debt based on MLB rules than he should be able to interview but how/why would the Sox consider this???
I’m surprised nobody has brought up Verdugo.
I think it’s deplorable and worse yet, totally unnecessary to rehire a convicted cheater.
Surely there are other non cheating candidates.
Having said that , if you do hire him, there should be ramifications and check points now put in place .
No garbage cans in dugout.
The team must all take their shirts off between innings
And absolutely NO drumsticks allowed in the dugout.
You see Manfred? I too can make a mockery of this….
outlaw – you sound a bit foolish and self-righteous. Think about the worst thing you’ve ever done. Should you have been banned for life for it?
If you say you haven’t done anything wrong, then you’re a liar too.
I’m a patriot and a veteran sir.
Respect yourself or you can’t respect others.
Your life choices has consequences. Saddle up son.
Not everyone gets a trophy.
Outlaw – thanks for your service but that doesn’t give you a pass on being foolish or condescending..
“Saddle up son.” ? I’m sure I’m older than you, sir, and I have served my country too and still do. People from my generation work hard and have consequences, good or bad, for their actions. Cora paid his punishment. Whether you agree with it or not is a different conversation.
Redemption is important. This is his chance.
“Cheater! Cheater!” Do you ever listen to yourselves? You sound like a bunch of 3rd graders. You’re so right, so good, not like those bad people who always do bad things and oh yeah and they’re evil too. And none of you have ever said “Hey, haven’t I been bet none of you would
…no, I’ve never said that, mostly because it doesn’t make any sense.
It’s not being a “3rd grader” to call a cheater a cheater. And the argument that they’ve “served their time” only holds water if you believe that the time served was sufficient punishment – which virtually no one does. But, please, keep talking down to everyone here while making terrible arguments with even worse grammar.
Not really surprised, a reunion with a cheating organization and a cheating manager. Makes perfect sense. A match made in heaven. Smh
A-Roid, Giambi, Sheffield, I could go on…
I’m not saying this because I’m defending the Sox, I’m saying it because your post is very ignorant considering other teams have cheated in the past as well, though you are clearly overlooking them.
He always seemed rude and a know-it-all in the media. And then to be associated with cheating scandals in both Houston and Boston !? Forget him.
… and none of you have ever said “Hey, haven’t I been punished enough?” because of course you’ve never done anything wrong in the first place. Got it.
This will be the real test to show if Bloom has any control. It’s clear he doesn’t want to hire Cora. Will he be forced to?
Cora. Are you serious? I am all for second chances, but not back to the same team. Where is the lesson in that?
The lesson is cheat as much as you want, because even if you get caught the penalty is nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Real punishment is a deterrent, but apparently MLB doesn’t give a darn about preventing another scandal from happening.
Any other Sox fans on here that would rather the Sox let Cora go somewhere else and remove themselves from Cora?
I just prefer someone new, there are plenty of options out there.
Yup, pretty much.
The Sox paid the Dodgers with Betts.
How so? Why in the world would big market Boston not pay what is relatively a pittance in regards to the luxury tax to retain Betts?
An organization like Boston could easily have found creative ways to retain him. Furthermore they could have added value with a guy like Bloom(from the Rays) who is familiar with unearthing affordable talent and building it around Betts.
You don’t hear a peep out of the Dodgers regarding Boston’s sign stealing scandal and the probability it affected the Dodgers WS outcome.
MLB arranged or rather encouraged the Betts trade to happen as a ‘save face’ can t have multiple sign stealing scandals occurring at once solution.
One sign stealing scandal alone has rocked MLB and with multiple ones happening the integrity of the entire game would have been affected.
Solution…trade Betts to the Dodgers…hush, hush.
Dodgers win the WS(granted the WS wasn’t given to them, they earned it, still a convenient outcome)
All is well.
There is so much wrong with this, I don’t even know where to begin. If the Sox didn’t move Mookie, their luxury tax penalty percentages would be in the 50% range because it would be three years in a row over the limit. And that would be every year, not just one year. Also their top draft pick would be dropped down 10 spots. The penalties are harsh, and they don’t have the same resources that teams like the Yankees do.
I think the Sox were convinced Mookie would test free agency, mainly because he insisted he would, so I’m guessing they would have pursued him this winter. We will never know now though.
There would be no “creative way” to sign Mookie at a minimum of $30M/yr and that’s because of the contracts dished out by Dombrowski. What could they have done? Their biggest salaries literally couldn’t be moved. Sale – injured. Evo – injured. Pedroia – injured. They already got rid of Price, Porcello, Panda’s contract, Porcello, Holt. Who was left to trade? JD and Xander, that’s it. Neither one would have been able to offset the additional $30M for Mookie.
The Red Sox were never accused of wrongdoing in the World Series, and they won it easily in 5 games. There’s no comparison to what happened in the 2017 World Series.
When you talk about stealing signs, you talk about communicating which pitch among two or three choices is coming. You still don’t know where the pitch is going. Many hitters can guess which pitch is coming. Is it an advantage? Slightly, yes. But it’s not that much of one. And if you’re clever about it, they don’t know what’s coming. And if a pitcher has control irregularities? You want to sell out on a fastball and have it break your hands? No wonder some hitters don’t want to know. It changes behavior and not always for the better. Do I agree with it? No. But is it a federal crime? Go easy on the electric chair.
You obviously never played much based on your naive comments. Your statements are completely wrong. First, if you know its a fast ball it sets your timing and all you have to decide is location based on whether it’s a two seam or four seam. You know the movement on both so picking up the initial movement tells you everything you need to know. If it’s an off-speed pitch you have an even bigger advantage since you have more time to wait and read the pitch. Depending on how many off speed pitches the pitcher is using in the game dictates how complicated the choices are. Sure, a guy like Darvish with more pitches than fingers on one hand might be a challenge compared to a pitcher who simply throws a fastball and change-up but even Darvish is at a huge disadvantage with the batter having the knowledge of it not being a fastball.
Hitters don’t want to know when a player at 2B is guessing based on a pitch or two. If the system tells every pitch the batter gets to sit on pitches. Before his pitch comes he can evaluate the quality of the information and build confidence in the accuracy. That’s very different from what you are saying.
This may be the worst take I’ve ever heard on this issue. There are literally zero baseball players who “don’t want to know”, and it doesn’t matter how “clever” you are when the other team is using technology to illegally intercept your signals. Many current and former pitchers have said they would much rather face an opponent on steroids than one who knows what pitch is coming, because it presents a more obvious and significant advantage. Which the Astros knew, of course, or else they wouldn’t have gone to such great lengths to orchestrate (and later cover up) their cheating operation. It is completely reasonable to think the weak punishments for those in charge was not enough.
The whole challenge of hitting is that you don’t know what a pitcher is going to throw. Location is pretty much pointless if you know ahead of time what the pitch is going to look like coming in.
If we don’t sign him, someone else will.
CRUMBALL CORA !