The Red Sox Will Be Making a Mistake If They Fire Alex Cora Just Because the Astros Fired AJ Hinch

I’ve got resident dickheads Hubbs and White Sox Dave blogging and tweeting up a storm saying that I’ve gone dark when the truth is pretty readily available. I’m 30,000 feet in the air, coming back from LA after playing in the California Strong Celebrity Softball Game to raise funds for the wildfires out in California. The term “celebrity” used pretty loosely on the west coast being that Dallas and I were invited, but it was a great cause and we were very appreciative for the opportunity to come out and support. Video coming soon.

Anyway, on to the real story here. The Astros punishment? Holy fuck. I mean, I expected harsh penalties but the Astros just going out and firing their GM and manager as a result of the league’s findings is the ultimate hammer to drop here. And you know what? Maybe that’s the right precedent to set. What the Astros did, as Evan Drellich’s report states, was CHEATING-cheating. They had their own cameras, their own monitors, some James Bond-type devices they were putting on their players to relay signs. That’s cheating.

What the Red Sox were doing? Using the video room that every ballpark has to decode signs while they were in there looking at their at-bats? While cheating, because the league informed teams not to do that, is not nearly as egregious as what the Astros were doing. And here’s what pisses me off — the Red Sox were only investigated by the league because of the Drellich story. And the Drellich story only targeted the Red Sox. The Red Sox were targeted because they won the World Series, yet the article clearly states that it would’ve been “impossible” for them to have used these video rooms illegally at any point during the postseason.

So, now what? The rumors are that Alex Cora’s punishment is going to be on par with or even worse than AJ Hinch’s? The only reason why Cora’s punishment would be worse than Hinch’s is because the Red Sox Apple Watch scandal in 2017. Uhhh are we just going to omit the fact that John Farrell was the manager for that season? The fine for the organization should be worse than 2017 because they’re now two-time offenders. But to punish Cora worse than Hinch, how does that make sense?

Oh, because he was linked to the scandal in Houston in 2017. Well, how are you going to punish the Red Sox for infractions being pinned on the Astros? That’s not right. Neither will it be if the Red Sox fire Cora over this. They fired Farrell because he was an awful fit for the group he had. It just so happened to be following the season in which the Apple Watch controversy occurred. 

You don’t fire Cora for this just because the Astros chose to take extreme measures. Is it a black eye on the organization? Yup. But we’re still just talking about sports here, right? This is baseball, not nuclear launch codes that were tampered with? Okay, just making sure. Alex Cora is still an excellent baseball manager. If he’s asked to take a seat for a year because of this, fine. Do it. Take your medicine and move on. But firing Cora over this is a drastic and unnecessary measure, especially when you already have a built-in manager ready to roll for one season if need be. Paging Jason Varitek?