In the wake of the Houston Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal, the Boston Red Sox reached an inevitable conclusion, and they didn’t have much choice. Their manager, Alex Cora, is out.
Boston signed Cora as their manager for the 2018 season after he’d won the World Series with the Astros in his role as their Bench Coach. At the time, it was a no-brainer given his recent success and previous role as a hard-working, well-liked utility infielder for the 2007 World Champion Red Sox.
Cora came to Boston and re-energized a clubhouse that had possibly become stale after the retirement of Red Sox deity, Big Papi David Ortiz and maybe one too many years of Manager John Farrell who had led them to an unlikely World Series victory in 2013 but underperformed in recent years according to the fans of Boston who are more “World Series or bust” now due to the four championships in the new millennium erasing years of suffering thought to be caused by the dreaded “Curse of the Bambino.”
But I digress…
Cora also helped facilitate a difficult transition at his old position, 2nd Base, where another Red Sox legend, Dustin Pedroia, an ex-teammate with whom he’d shared playing time in Boston, was and is slowly accepting that his knee injuries might be too much to overcome and could possibly prevent him from ever playing again, at least, at the level he’s used to.
To me, this might be the answer for Boston. From the ashes, the phoenix rises. The Red Sox are caught in a difficult situation. They’re looking for a new manager unexpectedly with mere weeks before pitchers and catchers are due to report for spring training.
Dustin Pedroia could fill this role.
The question is: Could they convince him to do it.
Maybe they could. It’s a long shot, but if they told him that he could continue rehabbing his knees, they would allow him to become the first player/manager since Pete Rose, well…
They could also ask ex-catcher Jason Varitek, who, as a player, was widely considered to be a candidate for a future position as a manager, although he seems quite comfortable in retirement spending time with his family.
Would Red Sox ownership preferred that this entire scandal never see the light? Probably, yes, though they’d never publicly admit it. It put them in a difficult predicament with very little time to figure it out.
And Cora brought them a World Series. He’d signed a contract extension afterward. This was unexpected. Sign stealing has been a staple in the shadows of baseball since the first pitch was thrown. The shaky moral of this story seems to be: Don’t Get Caught! Of course, it’s hard not to the way people move from team to team and bring their information along with them. Non-disclosure agreements are just pieces of paper. And the proof is hard to come by. Maybe this is how the game stays honest, somewhat like a mutual destruction agreement.
Brett Siegel says
Whereas I agree that sign stealing has been a part of baseball since the ’First Pitch’, the art has always taken place on the field by players/coaches and relied on collective brainpower. The introduction of technology and employing the skills of audio-visual and IT experts to gain an advantage is where this scandal differs. The take-away ought not be ”don’t get caught”, but rather ”do it the old-fashioned way” that keeps the playing field level.