Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora is reluctant to push for foreign substance checks on opposing pitchers for a very interesting reason.
Cora was singled out as one of the main proponents of the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing operation in the 2017 season when serving as the team’s bench coach. With that in mind, he said Wednesday that it would be difficult for him to make a request to umpires to check for foreign substances given his personal history.
Cora says it would be hard for him to ask umps to check pitchers for foreign substances based on his involvement with 2017 Astros. Suggests the sign-stealing scandal there was a bigger transgression than foreign substances.
— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) June 23, 2021
He says he would do what he has to do to honor his job as manager of the Red Sox, but … expressed discomfort with the idea of casting stones.
— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) June 23, 2021
However one compares the two scandals, it’s understandable that Cora feels awkward here. He’s closely identified with one major cheating scandal. There is something hypocritical about going after opponents for something in the same general category.
Cora’s comments come in light of another manager not shying away from going after opposing pitchers with substance checks. It sounds like we won’t see Cora replicating that anytime soon unless he absolutely has to.
