So here’s the question: if and when MLB finally gets around to issuing the report on the 2018 Red Sox, will Cora now be subject to greater discipline than either Luhnow or Hinch, who could each be back in the game as soon as next year?
What to watch for in Red Sox Spring Training, including filling in the starting rotation, replacing Mookie Betts, and an eye on this year's key prospects.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters he 'hopes' to have the Red Sox cheating investigation wrapped up by the time the team heads to Spring Training.
The 2018 banner on the press box isn't coming down and the parade down Boylston Street still happened, but there's no doubt the Alex Cora experience has come with a price, writes Matt McCarthy.
Obviously, there’s a lot to address here, particularly as the Red Sox look to shed payroll under a first-time general manager who must think he just bought a ticket on the Hindenburg. David Price is chronically unhappy. Mookie Betts probably wants out. Your $80 million starting rotation remains an unknown and your manager is in the eye of a historic cheating scandal.
Let’s make something clear here: organizational penalties are great and all, but they’re impersonal. The penalties always mean a little more when someone specific is paying the price. This brings us to Hinch and, more specifically, Cora, who is now starting to look downright devious.
The Boston Red Sox have been accused of illegally using the video replay room to learn opposing teams' signals during their World Series-winning 2018 season.
That said, the Red Sox need to understand something here. This season did damage. Between the Bruins run to the Stanley Cup finals and the start of another Patriots quest, there was a relatively small window for them. They never even opened it.
Before you suggest it's “good news” that Chris Sale doesn't need surgery, let’s make this clear: Sale does not need surgery NOW, and the Red Sox have a depreciating asset despite limiting him over the last two years.
Sale has a maybe a dozen starts left to validate a baby-Sale plan that certainly seemed to have blown up in the Red Sox’ faces in the earliest stages of this season, when the Red Sox opened by going 6-13 and Sale went 1-7.
