BOSTON — After a year spent in what amounted to baseball exile at home in Puerto Rico, it didn’t take long for Alex Cora to get right back into the swing of things in his second stint as Red Sox manager.
Three months after answering countless questions about his involvement in the Astros’ cheating scandal during a reintroductory press conference on the Fenway Park field, Cora arrived at spring training ready to turn the page and get back to work.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora has turned the page after being fired by Boston and suspended for a year by Major League Baseball for his role in the Astros cheating scandal. John Bazemore/Associated Press
When he got there, though, he looked back at what the previous 13 months had brought. He had lost his job, been suspended for a year and labeled as a pariah in the game he has loved since childhood. Then came a global pandemic that upended the world and caused the craziest season in baseball history. To Cora, the fact his suspension only lasted 60 games — and not 162 as originally intended — didn’t make things any easier as he watched from afar.
“People might say, ‘Oh, it was only 60 games.’ But it was a (expletive) storm,” Cora said in a conversation before a recent game. “It wasn’t that easy. The whole process, the unknown. There were three teams, and two of them (the Tigers and White Sox), they already had their managers. Then I had to go through this bloodbath with these guys (the Red Sox). That was the hard part. As soon as I got the job, I don’t want to say it was business as usual because there’s still some stuff that’s going to come up. But I think it was right away.”
Though the Red Sox roster had undergone significant changes since Cora departed in January 2020, he returned to the club with a familiar core of players in Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, Eduardo Rodriguez, Christian Vázquez, Nathan Eovaldi and Matt Barnes. He played a key role in bringing in two players with whom he had close relationships — utility men Marwin Gonzalez and Kiké Hernández — envisioning leadership roles for both. During a conversation early in camp in the outfield of one of the back fields at the club’s Fenway South complex, Cora laid out his vision for both veterans.
“‘You two, I know you guys are new or whatever and obviously coming from other organizations, but don’t hesitate because you guys have been on winning teams and you know what it takes. Help us out,’” Cora told Gonzalez and Hernández, who both have World Series rings. “They clicked right away.”
Early in camp, Cora made it clear that he was open to any and all conversations about the Houston scandal, though those tended to come organically instead of in a more stuffy setting like his office. The cloud, at least in some part, was lifted early. At that point, the focus turned to strictly baseball.
It didn’t take long for Cora — despite the world thinking otherwise — to realize he had a good group. He has consistently said the 2021 version of the Red Sox is better than the 2019 team that went 84-78 and led to the ouster of former president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski.
For Cora, the 2019 season — especially on the heels of a nearly perfect year in 2018 — served as a reminder of how fleeting success in a place like Boston can be.
“If you are realistic about what happened in ’19 here, we won 84 games with nothing,” Cora said. “We had no pitching. We were making (it) up on the fly. We had no depth. We had bullpen games with what we had. We won 84 games. But people, there’s always those reminders. I don’t want to say this is the toughest city to work, because it’s awesome to work here. The expectations are as high as ours. But there’s always reminders.”
This year, the Sox have exceeded low expectations. Cora attributes part of that to the leadership of newcomers like Gonzalez, Hernández and reliever Adam Ottavino.
“Those messages and the way they acted made me feel like this was going to be OK,” Cora said. “Because we had talent. Pitching-wise, I never doubted the pitching. Obviously, now we’ve been challenged health-wise. If something happens, where do we go? But as far as the talent, there’s good stuff on the mound every day.”
“This group, I do believe some guys have things to prove,” he added. “Others, they’re just here because they want to play, they love the market and they decided to come here because they think it’s a great place to play and we have a shot to win.”
Cora said he doesn’t think his managerial style is any different in his second stint, but he has noticed one important change in how he goes about his daily business. The balancing act of being a major-league manager and having a family with two infant sons is difficult, but he has made sure to keep his focus on family as much as possible.
“There’s life. That part, nobody’s going to take that away from me,” Cora said. “I understand the whole judging me, booing me, whatever. But life is life, man.
“If I’m going to be here, I better be me,” Cora added. “I’m not going to change. I feel like I’ve been going at it the same way. Obviously, there are different teams, but attitude-wise, preparing and trying to win every day, it’s the same thing.”
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Eight observations from the last week in baseball
1. The Red Sox are about to end their brutal stretch of 17 games against teams that made the postseason in 2020. Four games against Toronto and two against the Braves remain.
2. Next weekend will bring Andrew Benintendi’s first chance to face the Red Sox since they traded him, as Boston will visit Kansas City for a three-game series starting Friday.
3. Christian Arroyo was quite the find by Chaim Bloom. Here’s your reminder that the Red Sox got him for nothing.
4. One trade candidate who would seem to fit the Red Sox very well? Marlins first baseman Jesus Aguilar.
5. Have to think Danny Santana might not have much time left on the roster. He’s hitting .116 (5-for-43) with a .511 OPS in 14 games.
6. Remember Joel Payamps, who the Red Sox and the Blue Jays sent back and forth via waivers a bunch of times this spring? He has been a contributor to Toronto’s bullpen, posting a 3.20 ERA and striking out 17 batters in 25 ⅓ innings.
7. Eduardo Rodriguez’s free agency will be a fascinating case, and he’s not doing himself any favors with his recent showings.
8. Josh Winckowski has pitched well since coming over in the Benintendi trade.
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