Red Sox, Cora agree to ‘part ways’
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred was going to wait until his investigation into whether Red Sox manager Alex Cora brought his sign-stealing scheme from Houston to Boston before he levied any punishment. The Red Sox, instead, decided to act swiftly, firing Cora on Tuesday — one day after Cora was heavily implicated in MLB’s report that found rampant sign-stealing by the Astros in 2017, when Cora was the bench coach. “Today we met to discuss the Commissioner’s report related to the Houston Astros investigation,” principal owner John Henry, chairman Tom Werner, CEO Sam Kennedy and Alex Cora said in a joint statement. “Given the findings and the Commissioner’s ruling, we collectively decided that it would not be possible for Alex to effectively lead the club going forward and we mutually agreed to part ways.”
That means the teams that have eliminated the Yankees from the postseason in each of the past three years have fired their managers in the last two days.
The news wasn’t entirely unexpected considering the fate Houston GM Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch met in the immediate wake of the release of the report on Monday — and neither was mentioned as often as the 11 times Cora was.
Shortly after being suspended by MLB for the upcoming season, both Luhnow and Hinch were canned by Astros owner Jim Crane. Houston also forfeited its firstand second-round draft picks in each of the next two years, and was fined $5 million.
Neither Hinch nor Luhnow was implicated in setting up the Astros’ sign-stealing plan. Instead, the report pointed to Cora, after it was determined that he “arranged for a video room technician to install a monitor displaying the center field camera feed immediately outside of the Astros’ dugout.”
The report also stated Cora “was involved in developing both the banging scheme and utilizing the replay review room to decode and transmit signs.”
According to The Post’s Joel Sherman, a “stern punishment” was expected for the Boston manager who led the Red Sox to a World Series title in 2018 — knocking the Yankees out in the ALDS in the process.
“I do not want to be a distraction to the Red Sox as they move forward,’’ Cora said in his own statement. “My two years as manager were the best years of my life. It was an honor to manage these teams and help bring a World Series Championship back to Boston. I will forever be indebted to the organization and the fans who supported me as a player, a manager and in my efforts to help Puerto Rico. This is a special place. There is nothing like it in all of baseball, and I will miss it dearly.”