Boston Red Sox: Alex Cora departure was a necessary move
By Ryan Feyre
The Boston Red Sox have officially parted ways with Alex Cora after two sign-stealing schemes put a halt to the former manager’s legacy.
The cheating scandals continue to run rampant in the MLB. Following the firing of Houston Astros’ manager AJ Hinch and GM Jeff Lunhow, the Boston Red Sox and Alex Cora have mutually agreed to part ways on Tuesday night, according to ESPN.
The decision was sparked from an ongoing investigation into Cora’s role in sign-stealing during Boston’s 2018 regular season; which coincidentally was the year they won their fourth world series of the millennium.
Cora also participated in sign-stealing as a bench coach for the Astros’ 2017 world series team. Neither of these scandals involved the MLB playoffs since security and computer monitoring are typically stricter during that time period.
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According to MSN Sports, Cora’s name was mentioned 11 times in Rob Manfred’s nine-page report; making him one of the key conspirators in both situations. Manfred also said that Cora was among those who originated this scheme, where the teams would use a center field camera to decode the catchers’ signals to pitchers and bang on a trash can to alert the hitter of what’s coming.
The Astros and Red Sox had arguably their best years in franchise history while Cora was apart of each franchise (the ‘Stros were 101-61 in 2017, while the Sox were 108-54 in 2018). Boston accumulated the most regular season wins in franchise history during the whole cheating debacle, a stain that will painfully be felt up and down New England for the next couple of years.
Manfred and company was still technically investigating Cora’s involvement in the Red Sox situation prior to the manager parting ways, though the punishment would’ve probably been as equally severe as Hinch’s. Cora was going to get fired either way.
Cora took over the team in 2018 after Boston went back-to-back years without finding any playoff success. They defeated both the New York Yankees and Astros pretty handily in the 2018 playoffs, before dismantling the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games for the world series title.
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These allegations come four weeks after the New England Patriots had their own cheating scandal prior to their game against the Cincinnati Bengals, and a few days after handing Mookie Betts $27 million for reasons that still baffle me (why not try to sign him for more?).
Oh yeah, and the Pats got smacked by the suddenly formidable Tennessee Titans a couple Saturdays ago. 2020 has been a tumultuous year to say the least. Good thing the Celtics are still chugging along.