Book: Cora bragged about cheating scandal
BOSTON — Alex Cora was nearly fired as bench coach for the Astros before he became the Red Sox manager, then bragged about cheating to win the 2017 World Series, according to details in a new book, “Winning Fixes Everything.”
The book, published by Harpercollins and written by former Herald scribe Evan Drellich, comes out Feb. 14.
Reached Thursday, Cora declined to comment on the new allegations.
He has previously answered questions publicly about his role as the Astros’ bench coach in 2017, when he was determined to be one of the masterminds of the trash can-banging cheating scandal that shook the baseball world and led to his dismissal as Red Sox manager in 2020.
The book offers new details about Cora and former Astros manager A.J. Hinch, who butted heads over Cora’s perceived responsibilities as the bench coach and what others describe as “paranoia” that former Astros Craig Biggio and Geoff Blum had Hinch’s ear. Cora often lashed out at Hinch and screamed at him in his office.
Cora also got caught up in a confrontation on the team bus on the night of Aug. 31, 2017, a story that was reported by Drellich at NBC Sports Boston in 2017.
Cora was allegedly drinking too much and had it out with Blum, a TV broadcaster. Blum didn’t like that Cora turned the music up while everybody was trying to call their families, particularly given it was the first time the players were returning to Houston since Hurricane Harvey.
“He’s your buddy, you want him [Blum] to be your bench coach. You don’t trust me,” Cora reportedly told Hinch after the bus fight. “It’s been like this all year long.”
At the time of the reporting, Cora admitted wrongdoing and said the fights only strengthened his relationship with Hinch.
But new details in the book indicate that Hinch was so frustrated with Cora’s erratic nature and immaturity that it nearly led to Cora’s dismissal.
“He totally disenchanted the coaching staff,” one member of the Astros told Drellich. “He blew up one day in the coach’s office with A.J. and said, ‘You expect me to do all this stuff for two hundred and fifty grand?’ And you know, all the other coaches are making, like, seventy-five grand.”
“He should have been fired a long time ago,” Hinch allegedly vented to others.
The Astros were reportedly planning to fire Cora if the riff continued. What kept him around was his relationships with the players. Alex Bregman and Carlos Beltran, in particular, were big fans of Cora’s.
“Cora was doing such a good [expletive] job that a lot of players were coming to him for advice, feedback, coaching,” a colleague told Drellich. “Cora challenged A.J. a lot and disagreed with
his decisions and was vocal about it, but in a respectful way.”
Former Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told NBC Sports Boston back in 2017 that he was not aware of Cora’s abrasive incident with Blum.
“He’s our manager. We’re thrilled that he’s with us,” Dombrowski said at the time. “I’ve had some tremendous managers around me that lost their cool at times. And I think every situation is different.
“When I’m not there, it’s hard to evaluate different things.”
When Cora arrived in Boston to manage the Red Sox in 2018, he would “occasionally talk about the Astros’ sign-stealing from 2017, even brag, sometimes in a late-night setting,” Drellich wrote.
“Especially when they started drinking,” a member of the Red Sox reportedly said.
“We stole that [expletive] World Series,” Cora allegedly said.
While many teams were accused of illegally stealing signs during those years, Cora’s acts were seen as particularly egregious.
“We knew the Astros did [steal signs],” another member of the Red Sox told Drellich, “because Alex Cora told us. He said
that when they played the Dodgers, ‘We already knew what everybody was throwing before we even got on base. We didn’t have to get on base.’ And everybody was like, ‘What the hell does that mean?’ ”
But the Red Sox had already been caught cheating before Cora arrived.
In 2017 they were caught for illegally stealing signs using an Apple Watch under former manager John Farrell. And then before the 2020 season replay coordinator J.T. Watkins was suspended for the entire year for illegally relaying the other team’s signs from the video room to the dugout during games in 2018.
The book includes new details on Watkins’ fall, including this nugget that he “was said to have some money come his way, even though he was supposed to be on an unpaid suspension.”
“We know what he did for us, so it’s on us to take care of him,” players reportedly said.
The Red Sox later brought Watkins back as a scout after he served his suspension.
“Winning Fixes Everything” is a book primarily about the Astros but illustrates how many teams, including the Red Sox, Yankees and Dodgers, were also bending the rules.
Red Sox, White Sox deal: The Chicago White Sox acquired reliever Franklin German in a trade with the Boston Red Sox on Friday.
The White Sox sent minor-league right-hander Theo Denlinger to Boston for German, who made his major-league debut in September. Right-hander Jason Bilous was designated for assignment to make room for German on Chicago’s 40-man roster.
The 25-year-old German played for Double-a Portland and Triple-a Worcester for most of last season, going 5-2 with a 2.72 ERA and seven saves in in 43 relief appearances. The right-hander had no record and an 18.00 ERA in five appearances with the Red Sox.
German, a fourth-round pick in the 2018 amateur draft, was designated for assignment Monday when Boston acquired reliever Richard Bleier in a trade with Miami.
The 26-year-old Denlinger had a 2-2 record and a 4.47 ERA in 40 appearances last season with Class A Winston-salem and Double-a Birmingham. He was a seventh-round selection in the 2021 draft out of Bradley University.