ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA – SEPTEMBER 20: Manager Alex Cora #20 of the Boston Red Sox looks back after relieving a pitcher against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field on September 20, 2019 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
Alex Cora breaks his silence after resigning as Red Sox manager amid the sign-stealing scandal.
Months after the MLB sanctioned a one-year suspension for former Red Sox manager Alex Cora for his prominent role in the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal as their bench coach in 2017, the two-time World Series champion spoke for the first time on Thursday.
Cora pushed his narrative in a similar fashion to AJ Hinch, who was also implicated by the commissioner’s office but did so in a different way. Cora stressed there is no one villain in the Astros scandal, while simultaneously expressing regret for his actions.
Alex Cora’s first comments since resigning as Red Sox manager.
“Out of this whole process, if there is one thing that I completely reject and disagree with is people within the Astros’ organization singling me out, particularly [former general manager] Jeff Luhnow, as if I were the sole mastermind. The commissioner’s report sort of explained, in its own way, what happened. But the [Astros players] have spoken up and refuted any allegations that I was solely responsible,” Cora stated in an interview with Marly Rivera of ESPN.
While it’s important to take his comments with a grain of salt, Cora does make a valid point. To pin such transgressions on one person, or even a small group, is to ignore the role each and every person who benefitted from such a system played. The 2017 Astros banner remains illegitimate, and that’s something members of the said team will have to learn to live with.
“We’re all at fault. Everybody. We’re all responsible. Everyone who was part of the team from around mid-May until the end of the season, we are all responsible,” Cora added.
The players’ punishment, which has remained nonexistent thanks to Rob Manfred and Co., is a stain in itself. For Cora to single out this fact is surprising, and in itself refreshing, even if its aim is to diffuse some of the heat headed his way.