Manager Alex Cora Returns Home to the Red Sox

Mateo Vazquez ’21

Sports Editor

This past week, the Boston Red Sox made the executive dcision to rehire Alex Cora as the team’s manager despite parting ways with him back in January over his involvement with the 2017 Houston Astros’ sign stealing. In 2017, there were allegations that a “player driven” incident occurred in which players had positioned a camera illegally on the field to steal signs between players to pitchers throughout multiple games during the season. During that time Alex Cora was a bench coach and was found to have played a role in this electronic sign stealing during the season. After an immense MLB investigation, the report concluded that Cora had played a significant role in the scandal which he also discussed during his interviews throughout the investigation.

Throughout the duration of the investigation, he had already signed a three-year contract with the Boston Red Sox, who  he was actively managing at the time, and thus, after the investigations and overall findings the team decided that it was best for them to part ways. Many considered this the end of Alex Cora’s managerial career with the Red Sox and rightly so. However, recently the team and Cora appeared to have put the incident behind them, something which came as  a surprise to many.  Yet, in examining the reasoning behind the rehiring there is a lot that points that the team is following the trend with the rest of the league. AJ Hinch, who was also one of the main parties involved in the scandal, was just hired as the general manager for the Detroit Tigers, hence demonstrating the issue’s resolution and the league’s moving forward within the sport. 

In 2018, the Boston Red Sox were accused of similar tactics which brought more light on the conduct of Cora and his involvement in 2017; however, investigations showed that the case with the Red Sox in 2018 was not nearly to the same scope as the Astros, and therfore, irrelevant in many ways.

Alex Cora also led the team to a World Series win during his first season with the team in 2018 which speaks volumes of his ability as a coach and  demonstrates how he is able to conduct the team under his leadership and skills. As a result of serving his one-year suspension for the 2020 season, he is showing that he is here to stay with the team and getting back to work on what can hopefully be another successful season.

Since 2018, the Red Sox have lost much of their talent and without Cora have not been demonstrating the same effective franchise that they had in past years. In many ways the move to return to Cora is the franchise’s attempt at relieving the glory days of the past and hopeful that Cora can bring a new perspective and approach with some of the newly acquired players. As they approach a new decade, the franchise is attempting to shift their position back into the spotlight and Cora is just one of many new additions for achieving those goals.

They will no doubt be on the radar and holding the attention of the league for any further cases or allegations of cheating, however that is unlikely with many of the new initiatives that are in place. Cora released a statement after resigning stating that he is “grateful for the opportunity to manage once again and return to the game I have loved my entire life.” In essence, Cora represents a new beginning for the team and a transition for them to once again be a powerhouse within the league.