> 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?’ ”
There is also a lot in the article about his apparently contentious relationship with AJ Hinch.
> But new details in the book indicate that Hinch was so frustrated with Cora’s erratic nature and immaturity, 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.
This is prime heckling material for Cora, though. I hope people start offering him drinks and mocking his salary and the fact that his coworkers dislike him between all the booing.
Coaching salaries in pro sports are *very* top-heavy. You have to truly love the game to want to be a coach, because you'll spend decades making nothing just for the chance of being the one in charge
I always think about this when I'm scrolling through and see some random CBB game between Maine and Binghamton. It takes a special kind of love for the game to be willing to take on a job such as being head coach for anything at such an isolated place like Maine.
This is definitely not your theory and one that has been spread on this sub for a while now, but it makes no sense in the context of this post. You don’t brag about something you think is widespread and everyone was doing, especially if you and your players can name names. Cora is cheating scum and proud of it. Proven cheaters got away with a slap on the wrist and Cora went on to likely cheat his way to another WS the next year on another team.
"As a result of our internal investigation, we found that all 30 Major League teams were guilty of cheating to varying degrees, through a variety of methods. It is our decision that the World Series trophy shall be rewarded to the team who utilized their cheating the absolute worst; congratulations, Detroit Tigers!"
I've been telling people wait until some of these guys start retiring and writing their own books. Shits gonna start coming out 10 years from now.
Guess we didn't have to wait too long.
But that's been said since the start. Hinch even as the manager felt powerless to stop them whereas Cora and Beltran emboldened the others to continue. So I think that's why Astro's fans felt aggrieved with Cora's punishment when he joined the Sox. Because Cora and Beltran pretty much got things rolling. Hinch was just weak and that's sad.
Red Sox beating the Astros that year and the Dodgers not putting as much of a fight up as they did the year earlier is probably why people don’t care as much.
Astros won 2 game 7 series, one of which they trailed 3-2 in. Now the Yankees lost that series ultimately because they couldn’t score on the road, but the Dodgers gripe is real.
Different scenarios skew perceptions of each WS title
Yeah that game being the poster child of the whole scandal also puts way more heat on the Astros.
What is wild is the person who is most likely to blame and did it again probably got punished the least. Hinch wasn’t welcome back in HOU, Altuve despite using it the least is blame a lot, Beltran’s reputation is killed and he lost a managerial role.
All while Alex Cora got a new job, did it again, sat out for a year and is now back lmao
It's been 3? years since the report, and Beltran is the only one not back in MLB, and because no one was actually punished in any meaningful way, this story just got new legs.
Beltran was also considering leaving baseball anyway before taking the job with the Mets. So him not having a job is probably just about him deciding it wasn't worth trying again. There was no real punishment.
> So Hinch and the rest of management had absolutely no balls. Cool.
That's what manfred's report pretty explictly said. I'm still shocked people didn't argue that reflected very poorly on Hinch.
I didn't want my Tigers to sign Hinch because of the cheating, but so many of my fellow Tigers fans defended him by saying that he actually hated the cheating and wanted it to stop but they did it anyway. They basically said there was nothing he could do to stop them. My response was that he was the manager and if he couldn't stop his own players from cheating that made him a very weak leader. It shows he had zero control over the clubhouse and was afraid to do anything like start benching players.
Blame everyone involved for sure but good lord the Hinch comments should disqualify him from any leadership role higher than associate manager at a Wendy's.
People talk about the "Hinch smashing a TV" story a lot, but everything else about the situation showed he had no respect in the clubhouse. How effective of a manager could he really be/have been if nobody listened to him?
If your manager smashes the thing you're using to cheat, maybe stop cheating.
And yet he falls ass backwards into coaching gigs and is considered a genius/respected in the game. Then again, so is Cora and he sucks, so maybe mlb just has a vetting problem.
I'm sure AJ is a nice guy, but he isn't right for this job.
It's not a vetting problem, it's the same nepotism and good ol' boy network that plagues every professional sport. Outsiders are largely unwelcome and you just rotate the same morons that have limited actual coaching acumen in and out. It's just professional morons protecting and doing favors for other professional morons.
I’m a bit perplexed about the Hinch hate, because in my eyes he’s been a great tactician and has a nose for organizational management. Player relationships doesn’t seem to be his strong suit, but there are multiple ways to be a successful MLB manager these days.
Hinch said last spring that when Candelario showed up at camp, he ran into Hinch's office and gave him a bear hug since they weren't able to talk during the lockout, so I think it was just a culture thing in HOU that didn't work for Hinch or maybe he reevaluated over his suspension and approaches it differently now. I like him as our manager, I think the coaching hires he's made have been terrific, and last season fell apart for a lot of reasons that I don't blame him as much for
That was my biggest concern about Hinch when the Tigers hired him. I don't really get why people were so high on him. And he doesn't really seem like a nice guy either.
I remember at the time there was a Houston fan who had commented that Hinch and Ilitch (the owner) were spotted talking at some golf club in the Houston area before his suspension was over (which would't have been allowed IIRC) But then they deleted their message, so IDK.
I'm not even sure he's a nice guy. He seemed like a smug arrogant prick when responding to cheating accusations in 2018, saying "it's a joke." In hindsight he looks like a total ass.
Remember when hinch said it was “laughable” that the Yankees accused them of stealing signs. He sat in a press conference mocking people for accusing him of something he fully knew he did. That’s the attitude the whole coaching staff had
That's one of the reasons I didn't like it when people said we should forgive him and the rest of the Astros players who cheated. Forgiveness is a good thing, but forgiveness can only come after admitting what you did, feeling true remorse for your actions, and facing the consequences for your actions. Hinch I suppose at least faced some consequences unlike the players, but for the most part none of the Astros have met any of the criteria for forgiveness. From this article it seems like Cora is downright proud of his cheating.
> “We stole that (expletive) World Series,” Cora allegedly said.
> “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?’ ”
Astros fans that said they didn't cheat in the World Series can admit they were wrong now, thanks.
The immense amount of shit the Astros got for this ordeal was somehow still not even close to enough. Straight up stole the World Series from you guys. Outrageous that they still hold onto that trophy.
Didn't he try and throw Beltran under the bus when he was a Yankee by suggesting he might be helping us cheat in some way? I seem to remember a press conference with a wry smile and a wink. Classic projection.
I was a Red Sox fan for about 28 years up until they brought back Cora after his one year “punishment.” That whole scandal disgusts me so much and it’s so depressing that most Sox fans don’t seem to give a shit. Not sure I’ll go back to rooting for them even when he’s finally gone.
If Gary Bettman said that about the Stanley Cup, he'd lose all respect from everyone in the NHL. Players don't play through what they do for a "piece of metal".
Makes perfect sense to me. Why would they punish players and management over a hunk of metal?
Im convinced this whole saga is going to be similar to the steroid scandal if not on the same scope. MLB instead of doing the right thing and bringing some negative light to the sport with severe punishments sweep it under the rug to preserve the 'sanctity' of the game.
If I'm management on some team, whats to stop me from doing that if there are no repercussions?
the only thing i can think of is that -- it was cheating / dishonesty for the sake of wanting to win, versus pete rose or 1919 which was for outside financial gain, which is more evil/wrong
It's a hunk of metal if you cheat. If you put your heart and soul into it honestly, it's a momentous achievement worthy of all the accolades it deserves. So yes, cheating cheapens true achievements.
Mookie Betts is a fantastic player.
But yeah, it seems a bit coincidental that he had a 186 OPS+ in 2018 while his second best was a 147 OPS+ in the shortened 2020 season.
Maybe that's why Bloom didn't want to resign Betts. He knew that his value was greatly inflated after the 2018 season and that he would not be worth the contract needed to sign him on.
This sub can’t go a day without reminding Red Sox fans that not locking down Betts was a horrible decision, but now he’s a cheater with inflated numbers 🙄
Sometimes players just have an outlier of a season. Ellsbury hit 32 HR in 2011 and never hit more than 16 otherwise. Mookie doesn't strike me as the kind of guy that would okay with receiving info on pitches that was acquired via cheating.
I know right? Like, what about Roger Maris? Didn’t hit more than 39 HR in a season outside of his record setting 61 HR season. Shit happens, sometimes a player is locked in and stuff goes their way for an extended period. It doesn’t always have to be something nefarious is going on.
> No no, I'm sure everyone on that damn team just had career seasons that year by coincidence
They didn't. This is easily disproved by two minutes on B-R.
The only notable aberration is Betts' career year at the plate. Everyone else had similar or better years, and most all without Cora or even on the Red Sox.
But they didn’t though.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BOS/2018.shtml
Out if the 9-man lineup, only three players had their highest OPS+ in 2018. And out of those three, only Mookie Betts had an OPS+ that was staggeringly higher than previous seasons.
Not much you can do about it without your boss' support, and even if Luhnow didn't mastermind it, he knew and did nothing to stop it, and he's the guy who could have by firing coaches and disciplining players.
I said for a long time that Hinch's answers told he was either in on everything or just didn't have control over his clubhouse.
Prior to just now winning, there was a portion of that fanbase that wanted him back STILL over Dusty.
I don't agree with everything Dusty does, but he is/was the manager we needed at the time and I'm glad he's here.
Hinch and Cora can Rot in Hell for all I care at this point.
Makes sense that he would tell the Red Sox what the Astros were doing and how they "stole" that World Series considering they eliminated the Red Sox in the 2017 postseason. Alex Cora went to the Red Sox the very next year and the Red Sox beat the Astros in the 2018 postseason. It would have made zero sense for him to just sit on his hands and not tell his new team how his former team was cheating in the playoffs.
The heavy deets here are that Cora explicitly said they did it in the World Series, something that’s always until now been denied
Doesn’t change much for me - never for one second did I believe they randomly stopped in the playoffs - but it’s nice to have confirmation that MLB was full of shit when they made that claim.
Was aways pretty obvious that the home games in that series were fucked.
>Kershaw threw 51 breaking balls and sliders in Game 5 of the 2017 World Series and didn't get a single swing and miss. He had a 44% swinging-strike rate on his slider and 35% swinging-strike rate on his curveball that season.
Belichick also just being a legendary coach and having a HoF career makes all that stuff silly anyways.
Plus deflategate was just a crock of shit because the Colts and Ravens were salty and I’m a Colts fan. 2014 was an awesome season that our ownership just turned into a joke
Listen those under inflated footballs made LeGarrette Blount lighter and more nimble!
lol I remember watching that game and the only balls I wanted checked were the Colts D line smh
My favorite part of the scandal is how after the balls were checked at halftime and returned to "regulation" pressure, the Patriots blew the Colts away even more. Huge advantage tho.
Our run defense was BAD back then and the Pats were one of the only teams that could capitalize. Same defense shut down Peyton the week before, but the Pats ran all over us.
Deflategate was a lot of the Ravens being salty and knowing Jim Irsay would complain if they egged him on lol
Our pass defense was pretty good. Vontae doesn’t get enough love for how he was a legit shutdown corner and we had Mathis on the pass rush. Our pass defense was legit at times it’s why the Pats ran the ball 30+ times vs us.
Poor OL and Run D killed us
I have always hated how Cora and the Red Sox escaped relatively unscathed from the cheating scandal while the Astros get shit on, even players who weren’t on that team. Cora is garbage and shouldn’t be coaching.
Does Baseball even care?
MLB doesn't, the players didn't get any punishment, the manager & GM got like 2 year ban. The stars went on to get shit loads of $$$. Astros got to keep their championship
>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?’
This is the line that really sticks out to me. And I hope it does to others as well. It's baseball. A game. They get to play *a game* for living - and they make more than 99% of Americans will working strenuous, laborious jobs.
Alex Cora can go fuck himself right off the end of the pier. The disconnect in professional athletes at this level is beyond pathetic and insulting.
What do the top managers in MLB make? A few million?
He was a bench coach. If you don't like your salary, negotiate for a better one/leave for a better paying job, which Cora did.
Talk to to corporate (like a boss)
Approve memos (like a boss)
Lead a workshop (like a boss)
Remember birthdays (like a boss)
Direct work flow (like a boss)
My own bathroom (like a boss)
Micromanage (like a boss)
Promote Synergy (like a boss)
Hit on Debra (like a boss)
Get rejected (like a boss)
Sallow sadness (like a boss)
Send some faxes (like a boss)
Call a sex line (like a boss)
Cry deeply (like a boss)
Demand a refund (like a boss)
Eat a bagel (like a boss)
Harassment lawsuit (like a boss)
No promotion (like a boss)
Fifth of vodka (like a boss)
Shit on Debra's desk (like a boss)
Buy a gun (like a boss)
In my mouth (like a boss)
Oh fuck man I can't fucking do it, shit!
Pussy out (like a boss)
Puke on Debra's desk (like a boss)
Jump out the window (like a boss)
Suck a dude's dick (like a boss)
Score some coke (like a boss)
Crash my car (like a boss)
Suck my own dick (like a boss)
Eat some chicken strips (like a boss)
Chop my balls off (like a boss)
Black out in the sewer (like a boss)
Meet a giant fish (like a boss)
Fuck its brains out (like a boss)
Turn into a jet (like a boss)
Bomb the Russians (like a boss)
Crash into the sun (like a boss)
Now I'm dead (like a boss)
Astros fans if you could help me out with this, did Hinch let coaches do interviews/be asked questions by the media?
The one thing I've noticed since he's come to Detroit is he is the *only* coach that will talk to the media. I wonder if things like this is the reason he has started taking that approach.
It must be a real blessing going from Cora to George Lombard as your bench coach.
I honestly can't recall, though I do remember Brent Strom being quoted in stories about pitchers, if that helps.
That said, Hinch always seemed to me to be the most genuinely contrite of anyone involved in the scandal. I sincerely believe that he hated what was going on and never wants anything even close to that to happen around him again, and now that he has a second chance in Detroit, he isn't going to risk anything.
Kershaws and Alex woods starts in the World Series proved the Astros cheated during it. Wood changed every thing up all the time and dominated. Not a single swing and miss on over 50 off speed pitches by a HOF? Yeah okay.
If this is true it’s really the final straw for me that shows Cora is a piece of shit cheater who should be fired immediately. Loved him as a player and was so excited when he came back to coach for us, but this just leaves a black mark on everything. Give Tek a chance!
How is this any different that what was originally stated. Cora and Beltran were pegged as the ring leaders from the get go. The only new information coming to light here is that Alex Cora stinks at keeping secrets when drunk.
Just the idea that he revels in it and is content with stealing a World Series. The whole “everybody does it” argument starts to really fall flat for me with that.
The whole thing just makes him look really scummy... complaining about money when he's making $250k, ego, drunk braggart etc etc.
It's not just the cheating, dude seems like a genuine a\*\*hole in all facets of life.
> 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?’ ” There is also a lot in the article about his apparently contentious relationship with AJ Hinch. > But new details in the book indicate that Hinch was so frustrated with Cora’s erratic nature and immaturity, 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.
honestly hilarious that Alex Cora apparently acts like a movie character that spills the beans when he has a bit too much to drink
He turns into Truth Serum Barney after a couple of shots.
Just watch out for when he gets Jabba Drunk. Oof
Like in Seinfeld when Elaine can't keep a secret when she gets a bit sauced lol
*STELLAAAAA*
Please
Provide Legal Exculpation And Sign Everything
"It was in the vault!" "Yeah but too many people know the "combination."
He Schnapp'd me.
"Wouldn't it be wild if I pierced my nose?" "Yes. Well, I think it's a wonderful idea."
Goodnight Jugdish!
“REPARATIONS!!”
FUNNY GUY! JERRY SEINFELD IS A FUNNNYY GUY!
r/fullyexpectedseinfeld
Picturing the Breaking Bad scene where Walt gets drunk and convinced Hank he didn’t actually catch Heisenberg
Why'd ye spill yer beans?
[The Astros clubhouse after the WS](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OogPaCxwY14)
You mean he's Elaine from Seinfeld... Too many people know the combination... It's in the vault.
He schnapped me
This is prime heckling material for Cora, though. I hope people start offering him drinks and mocking his salary and the fact that his coworkers dislike him between all the booing.
>all the other coaches are making, like, seventy-five grand. wow, i didn't realize they got only 'normal job' money
Coaching salaries in pro sports are *very* top-heavy. You have to truly love the game to want to be a coach, because you'll spend decades making nothing just for the chance of being the one in charge
I always think about this when I'm scrolling through and see some random CBB game between Maine and Binghamton. It takes a special kind of love for the game to be willing to take on a job such as being head coach for anything at such an isolated place like Maine.
Portland is a nice, but Binghamton... oof
U of Maine is in Orono, which is super rural and isolated. It has its appeal, I’m sure, but it’s no Portland.
jesus christ
Cora should never be allowed near a baseball field again.
Shoeless Joe Jackson his ass. But Manfred won't do anything because he's useless.
That's because a book is just a bunch of paper
Manfred: Paper books ✋ Paper money 👈
Piece of metal 🖕
I mean you’ve gotta give him credit. Manfred has a solid track record of telling us what stuff is made out of.
On the next, *How It's Made* hosted by Rob Manfred, we'll take a look at books and championship trophies
Tired: Shoeless Joe Jackson Wired: Useless Rob Manfred
All of the players in the scandal should’ve been banned for life lmao
My theory is this is much more widespread than MLB wants to admit and they were afraid the banned players could name names
As I understood it, MLB did know and warned the league to knock it off. The Astros chose to ignore the warning.
I blame the public school system.
This is definitely not your theory and one that has been spread on this sub for a while now, but it makes no sense in the context of this post. You don’t brag about something you think is widespread and everyone was doing, especially if you and your players can name names. Cora is cheating scum and proud of it. Proven cheaters got away with a slap on the wrist and Cora went on to likely cheat his way to another WS the next year on another team.
Right not “my theory” as in I invented it, but as in “the one I believe”
They sure the fuck would have. People would have been pissed if the players started naming names from other teams.
“Mutually assured destruction,”
Just give the 2017 World Series to us and be done with it, if the Tigers we're cheating back then, they did a shit job at it lol
"As a result of our internal investigation, we found that all 30 Major League teams were guilty of cheating to varying degrees, through a variety of methods. It is our decision that the World Series trophy shall be rewarded to the team who utilized their cheating the absolute worst; congratulations, Detroit Tigers!"
I've been telling people wait until some of these guys start retiring and writing their own books. Shits gonna start coming out 10 years from now. Guess we didn't have to wait too long.
It's just a hunk of metal. Not a big deal. Grow up! /s
I thought they already had a bad reputation, but I can't imagine coming back from this inside of a decade.
So Hinch and the rest of management had absolutely no balls. Cool.
But that's been said since the start. Hinch even as the manager felt powerless to stop them whereas Cora and Beltran emboldened the others to continue. So I think that's why Astro's fans felt aggrieved with Cora's punishment when he joined the Sox. Because Cora and Beltran pretty much got things rolling. Hinch was just weak and that's sad.
Sounds like the Red Sox don't either. Or they have the biggest balls by doubling down on him
If I had my way sam fuld would’ve been manager. Then the Phillies hired him to be GM under dombrowski
Let's not pretend that the Red Sox didn't cheat their way to a World Series with Cora in 2018.
That's the point I'm making. And the Red Sox still have him. Yet it's the Astros that are villains.
Don't worry, I've got enough hate in my heart for everybody.
A true Philadelphian
City of brotherly hate
Hating the BoSox and Astros? Sup man, wanna go get a cheesesteak or a cheesecake?
I'm with you, buddy.
Fuck you. Fuck you. You're cool. *Points at Mariners* And fuck you.
“If you’ve got hate in your heart let it out”
If it’s any consolation, we clearly suck at cheating now.
Nah, Jarren Duran was just cheating for the other team.
If it helps, Yankees fans have a burning hatred for the Red Sox and the Astros anyway, so we’ll carry that flag for the rest of the league.
and the Dodgers fans probably lol
We've been telling you the Red Sox are villains for a number of years. But did anybody listen to our deranged ramblings in 2004? NO!
I’m not prejudiced. I dislike both equally.
Red Sox beating the Astros that year and the Dodgers not putting as much of a fight up as they did the year earlier is probably why people don’t care as much. Astros won 2 game 7 series, one of which they trailed 3-2 in. Now the Yankees lost that series ultimately because they couldn’t score on the road, but the Dodgers gripe is real. Different scenarios skew perceptions of each WS title
2017 WS Game 5...
Yeah that game being the poster child of the whole scandal also puts way more heat on the Astros. What is wild is the person who is most likely to blame and did it again probably got punished the least. Hinch wasn’t welcome back in HOU, Altuve despite using it the least is blame a lot, Beltran’s reputation is killed and he lost a managerial role. All while Alex Cora got a new job, did it again, sat out for a year and is now back lmao
It's been 3? years since the report, and Beltran is the only one not back in MLB, and because no one was actually punished in any meaningful way, this story just got new legs.
Beltran was also considering leaving baseball anyway before taking the job with the Mets. So him not having a job is probably just about him deciding it wasn't worth trying again. There was no real punishment.
The shame of it is, that was one of the most exciting games of baseball I remember watching and now it’s tainted.
> So Hinch and the rest of management had absolutely no balls. Cool. That's what manfred's report pretty explictly said. I'm still shocked people didn't argue that reflected very poorly on Hinch.
I didn't want my Tigers to sign Hinch because of the cheating, but so many of my fellow Tigers fans defended him by saying that he actually hated the cheating and wanted it to stop but they did it anyway. They basically said there was nothing he could do to stop them. My response was that he was the manager and if he couldn't stop his own players from cheating that made him a very weak leader. It shows he had zero control over the clubhouse and was afraid to do anything like start benching players.
Blame everyone involved for sure but good lord the Hinch comments should disqualify him from any leadership role higher than associate manager at a Wendy's.
People talk about the "Hinch smashing a TV" story a lot, but everything else about the situation showed he had no respect in the clubhouse. How effective of a manager could he really be/have been if nobody listened to him? If your manager smashes the thing you're using to cheat, maybe stop cheating.
If he fired Cora and explained why in 2018 he'd have a Ken Burns documentary in the works.
That’s an AJ Hinch thing. He struggled to be a leader when he was with the Diamondbacks cuz none of the players respected him.
And yet he falls ass backwards into coaching gigs and is considered a genius/respected in the game. Then again, so is Cora and he sucks, so maybe mlb just has a vetting problem. I'm sure AJ is a nice guy, but he isn't right for this job.
It's not a vetting problem, it's the same nepotism and good ol' boy network that plagues every professional sport. Outsiders are largely unwelcome and you just rotate the same morons that have limited actual coaching acumen in and out. It's just professional morons protecting and doing favors for other professional morons.
AJ was a king at in-game decisions. Basivally the complete opposite of what we have with Dusty.
I’m a bit perplexed about the Hinch hate, because in my eyes he’s been a great tactician and has a nose for organizational management. Player relationships doesn’t seem to be his strong suit, but there are multiple ways to be a successful MLB manager these days.
Hinch said last spring that when Candelario showed up at camp, he ran into Hinch's office and gave him a bear hug since they weren't able to talk during the lockout, so I think it was just a culture thing in HOU that didn't work for Hinch or maybe he reevaluated over his suspension and approaches it differently now. I like him as our manager, I think the coaching hires he's made have been terrific, and last season fell apart for a lot of reasons that I don't blame him as much for
That was my biggest concern about Hinch when the Tigers hired him. I don't really get why people were so high on him. And he doesn't really seem like a nice guy either.
I mean it doesn't sound like they interviewed anybody else. It was always him. Same with TLR. The owner wanted who he wanted.
I remember at the time there was a Houston fan who had commented that Hinch and Ilitch (the owner) were spotted talking at some golf club in the Houston area before his suspension was over (which would't have been allowed IIRC) But then they deleted their message, so IDK.
I'm not even sure he's a nice guy. He seemed like a smug arrogant prick when responding to cheating accusations in 2018, saying "it's a joke." In hindsight he looks like a total ass.
Remember when hinch said it was “laughable” that the Yankees accused them of stealing signs. He sat in a press conference mocking people for accusing him of something he fully knew he did. That’s the attitude the whole coaching staff had
Man, there's just no getting around how fucking absolutely galling it is that that dude is still around the game. Just gives you an awful feeling.
yup, remember that...playing the victim card after the fact has been sort of comical
Why's everyone so upset? It's just a piece of metal.... *headdesk*
Gaslighting on national TV. Fuck every fucking one of ‘em
That's one of the reasons I didn't like it when people said we should forgive him and the rest of the Astros players who cheated. Forgiveness is a good thing, but forgiveness can only come after admitting what you did, feeling true remorse for your actions, and facing the consequences for your actions. Hinch I suppose at least faced some consequences unlike the players, but for the most part none of the Astros have met any of the criteria for forgiveness. From this article it seems like Cora is downright proud of his cheating.
Fucking yikes. Not a good look whatsoever.
Yea, this has really dampened the little respect for him I was trying to build back up. The lack of remorse, drunk or otherwise, is despicable.
Wasn't a fan of the announcement that the Red Sox rehired him and I still don't support him after the Astros cheating bombshell news came out.
More proof that AJ Hinch has the balls of a Barbie doll.
how he isn’t banned is beyond me
Just gives me more ammo for my Bregman hate.
> “We stole that (expletive) World Series,” Cora allegedly said. > “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?’ ” Astros fans that said they didn't cheat in the World Series can admit they were wrong now, thanks.
The immense amount of shit the Astros got for this ordeal was somehow still not even close to enough. Straight up stole the World Series from you guys. Outrageous that they still hold onto that trophy.
Appreciate you Padre bro
Didn't he try and throw Beltran under the bus when he was a Yankee by suggesting he might be helping us cheat in some way? I seem to remember a press conference with a wry smile and a wink. Classic projection.
Well yeah, he’s an asshole
I was a Red Sox fan for about 28 years up until they brought back Cora after his one year “punishment.” That whole scandal disgusts me so much and it’s so depressing that most Sox fans don’t seem to give a shit. Not sure I’ll go back to rooting for them even when he’s finally gone.
There were absolutely no repercussions across the games. Players didn't lose a dime & Hinch and Cora are employed. MLB could give two shits.
It's just a piece of metal.
If Gary Bettman said that about the Stanley Cup, he'd lose all respect from everyone in the NHL. Players don't play through what they do for a "piece of metal".
In all fairness no trophy even compares to Lord Stanley’s Cup. I don’t even know the name of the MLB Championship trophy.
That's the best part...the World Series trophy is called the Commissioner's Trophy.
Maybe it's Canadian bias, but I didn't think anyone had a shred of respect for Bettman.
I watch MLB, NFL, NHL, and the Pac-12, so Gary isn't even in the bottom half of bad commissioners for me these days!
These days you kinda have to try to be one of the worst commissioners in sports.
We dont
Makes perfect sense to me. Why would they punish players and management over a hunk of metal? Im convinced this whole saga is going to be similar to the steroid scandal if not on the same scope. MLB instead of doing the right thing and bringing some negative light to the sport with severe punishments sweep it under the rug to preserve the 'sanctity' of the game. If I'm management on some team, whats to stop me from doing that if there are no repercussions?
The MLB doesn’t care about cheating, they care about the appearance of cheating.
the only thing i can think of is that -- it was cheating / dishonesty for the sake of wanting to win, versus pete rose or 1919 which was for outside financial gain, which is more evil/wrong
Precisely
Right. The league has zero guts. Why should we, as fans, care anymore?
Beltran. Beltran actually got punished. But he's the only one
I mean Hinch has had to manage the Tigers, which is a punishment imo.
You can still like the team and the players and not care for the manager. If this was the straw that broke the camel’s back then good for you I guess
“And I’ll fuckin do it again” -Alex Cora, 2018
“And then he said it was just a hunk of metal!” -Alex Cora
It's a hunk of metal if you cheat. If you put your heart and soul into it honestly, it's a momentous achievement worthy of all the accolades it deserves. So yes, cheating cheapens true achievements.
No no, I'm sure everyone on that damn team just had career seasons that year by coincidence
Mookie Betts definitely is a .346 hitter
Mookie Betts is a fantastic player. But yeah, it seems a bit coincidental that he had a 186 OPS+ in 2018 while his second best was a 147 OPS+ in the shortened 2020 season. Maybe that's why Bloom didn't want to resign Betts. He knew that his value was greatly inflated after the 2018 season and that he would not be worth the contract needed to sign him on.
Really dumb take. Mookie Betts has played 4 seasons since 2018 and shown he’s absolutely worth his contract.
This sub can’t go a day without reminding Red Sox fans that not locking down Betts was a horrible decision, but now he’s a cheater with inflated numbers 🙄
Oh I don’t doubt Betts’ talent but .346 is outlandish
Sometimes players just have an outlier of a season. Ellsbury hit 32 HR in 2011 and never hit more than 16 otherwise. Mookie doesn't strike me as the kind of guy that would okay with receiving info on pitches that was acquired via cheating.
I can’t believe people in this sub actually need to be educated on outlier seasons, as if they don’t happen in literally every sport all the time lmao
I know right? Like, what about Roger Maris? Didn’t hit more than 39 HR in a season outside of his record setting 61 HR season. Shit happens, sometimes a player is locked in and stuff goes their way for an extended period. It doesn’t always have to be something nefarious is going on.
> No no, I'm sure everyone on that damn team just had career seasons that year by coincidence They didn't. This is easily disproved by two minutes on B-R. The only notable aberration is Betts' career year at the plate. Everyone else had similar or better years, and most all without Cora or even on the Red Sox.
But they didn’t though. https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BOS/2018.shtml Out if the 9-man lineup, only three players had their highest OPS+ in 2018. And out of those three, only Mookie Betts had an OPS+ that was staggeringly higher than previous seasons.
Why wouldn't he with 0 repercussions.
“And…he did.” (Cue “Arrested Development” opening)
Hinch just ends up looking more and more impotent.
Not much you can do about it without your boss' support, and even if Luhnow didn't mastermind it, he knew and did nothing to stop it, and he's the guy who could have by firing coaches and disciplining players.
I said for a long time that Hinch's answers told he was either in on everything or just didn't have control over his clubhouse. Prior to just now winning, there was a portion of that fanbase that wanted him back STILL over Dusty. I don't agree with everything Dusty does, but he is/was the manager we needed at the time and I'm glad he's here. Hinch and Cora can Rot in Hell for all I care at this point.
Makes sense that he would tell the Red Sox what the Astros were doing and how they "stole" that World Series considering they eliminated the Red Sox in the 2017 postseason. Alex Cora went to the Red Sox the very next year and the Red Sox beat the Astros in the 2018 postseason. It would have made zero sense for him to just sit on his hands and not tell his new team how his former team was cheating in the playoffs.
Now apply this thinking to other players that left for other teams after 2017, such as Marwin Gonzalez who was the biggest benefactor of the cheating.
Have fun with that JT
Kenley and Enrique too.
It's light on deets about the cheating, heavy on gossip about everything else. Click away!
The heavy deets here are that Cora explicitly said they did it in the World Series, something that’s always until now been denied Doesn’t change much for me - never for one second did I believe they randomly stopped in the playoffs - but it’s nice to have confirmation that MLB was full of shit when they made that claim.
Actually in Manfred’s original report he confirms that it happened in the playoffs.
Was aways pretty obvious that the home games in that series were fucked. >Kershaw threw 51 breaking balls and sliders in Game 5 of the 2017 World Series and didn't get a single swing and miss. He had a 44% swinging-strike rate on his slider and 35% swinging-strike rate on his curveball that season.
Houston was 6-1 at home in the ALCS and WS. 2-5 away
Cora should never be allowed near a baseball field again. Fire this asshole now
If only there was a manager and front office to have literally done anything to prevent this.
He’s done far worse than anything Belichick was accused of cheating.
Belichick also just being a legendary coach and having a HoF career makes all that stuff silly anyways. Plus deflategate was just a crock of shit because the Colts and Ravens were salty and I’m a Colts fan. 2014 was an awesome season that our ownership just turned into a joke
If deflategate isn't real, and still going on, then why would Giselle have left Tom? check mate.
The guilt ate away at her for 8 years
Listen those under inflated footballs made LeGarrette Blount lighter and more nimble! lol I remember watching that game and the only balls I wanted checked were the Colts D line smh
My favorite part of the scandal is how after the balls were checked at halftime and returned to "regulation" pressure, the Patriots blew the Colts away even more. Huge advantage tho.
Our run defense was BAD back then and the Pats were one of the only teams that could capitalize. Same defense shut down Peyton the week before, but the Pats ran all over us. Deflategate was a lot of the Ravens being salty and knowing Jim Irsay would complain if they egged him on lol
Whole defense was trash back then lol Luck carried so hard and then when we finally had a team around him he just leaves :(
Our pass defense was pretty good. Vontae doesn’t get enough love for how he was a legit shutdown corner and we had Mathis on the pass rush. Our pass defense was legit at times it’s why the Pats ran the ball 30+ times vs us. Poor OL and Run D killed us
I have always hated how Cora and the Red Sox escaped relatively unscathed from the cheating scandal while the Astros get shit on, even players who weren’t on that team. Cora is garbage and shouldn’t be coaching.
I still admire the HR on an 18-pitch AB.
If only the story ended there
This guy should’ve been banned for life for his roles in ‘17 and ‘18.
100%
Duh. Rob manfred is garbage
Does Baseball even care? MLB doesn't, the players didn't get any punishment, the manager & GM got like 2 year ban. The stars went on to get shit loads of $$$. Astros got to keep their championship
MLB is a joke. Pete Rose can't sniff the HOF, but Cora gets to manage the RedSox?
Extremely common Cora L piece of garbage
Alex Cora has zero integrity. It’s too bad that baseball welcomed his cheating ass back.
It's still wild to me that they are allowed to continue in the league and Pete Rose is still banned for betting on his own team winning.
Get this man out of baseball
Fuck this guy. He should be banned from baseball.
Ban this fuck for life.
He’s a POS.
He’s the only guy who got caught doing it twice but somehow got the same suspension as Hinch. Manfred has no spine
>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?’ This is the line that really sticks out to me. And I hope it does to others as well. It's baseball. A game. They get to play *a game* for living - and they make more than 99% of Americans will working strenuous, laborious jobs. Alex Cora can go fuck himself right off the end of the pier. The disconnect in professional athletes at this level is beyond pathetic and insulting.
What do the top managers in MLB make? A few million? He was a bench coach. If you don't like your salary, negotiate for a better one/leave for a better paying job, which Cora did.
I wonder what a day in the mind of Alex Cora entails 🤔
Talk to to corporate (like a boss) Approve memos (like a boss) Lead a workshop (like a boss) Remember birthdays (like a boss) Direct work flow (like a boss) My own bathroom (like a boss) Micromanage (like a boss) Promote Synergy (like a boss) Hit on Debra (like a boss) Get rejected (like a boss) Sallow sadness (like a boss) Send some faxes (like a boss) Call a sex line (like a boss) Cry deeply (like a boss) Demand a refund (like a boss) Eat a bagel (like a boss) Harassment lawsuit (like a boss) No promotion (like a boss) Fifth of vodka (like a boss) Shit on Debra's desk (like a boss) Buy a gun (like a boss) In my mouth (like a boss) Oh fuck man I can't fucking do it, shit! Pussy out (like a boss) Puke on Debra's desk (like a boss) Jump out the window (like a boss) Suck a dude's dick (like a boss) Score some coke (like a boss) Crash my car (like a boss) Suck my own dick (like a boss) Eat some chicken strips (like a boss) Chop my balls off (like a boss) Black out in the sewer (like a boss) Meet a giant fish (like a boss) Fuck its brains out (like a boss) Turn into a jet (like a boss) Bomb the Russians (like a boss) Crash into the sun (like a boss) Now I'm dead (like a boss)
Okay, well this has been eye opening for me
I'm the boss.
You cut your balls off and you *die*?
Hell yeah
And I think at one point you said something about sucking your own dick?
Nope!
Astros fans if you could help me out with this, did Hinch let coaches do interviews/be asked questions by the media? The one thing I've noticed since he's come to Detroit is he is the *only* coach that will talk to the media. I wonder if things like this is the reason he has started taking that approach. It must be a real blessing going from Cora to George Lombard as your bench coach.
I honestly can't recall, though I do remember Brent Strom being quoted in stories about pitchers, if that helps. That said, Hinch always seemed to me to be the most genuinely contrite of anyone involved in the scandal. I sincerely believe that he hated what was going on and never wants anything even close to that to happen around him again, and now that he has a second chance in Detroit, he isn't going to risk anything.
Kershaws and Alex woods starts in the World Series proved the Astros cheated during it. Wood changed every thing up all the time and dominated. Not a single swing and miss on over 50 off speed pitches by a HOF? Yeah okay.
If this is true it’s really the final straw for me that shows Cora is a piece of shit cheater who should be fired immediately. Loved him as a player and was so excited when he came back to coach for us, but this just leaves a black mark on everything. Give Tek a chance!
How is this any different that what was originally stated. Cora and Beltran were pegged as the ring leaders from the get go. The only new information coming to light here is that Alex Cora stinks at keeping secrets when drunk.
Just the idea that he revels in it and is content with stealing a World Series. The whole “everybody does it” argument starts to really fall flat for me with that.
The whole thing just makes him look really scummy... complaining about money when he's making $250k, ego, drunk braggart etc etc. It's not just the cheating, dude seems like a genuine a\*\*hole in all facets of life.
No shit, he did the same thing in 2018 to a lesser extent
Well good thing they didn't win the WS! It'd suck for baseball to see back to back tainted champs
Surely the dodgers didn’t lose out on becoming back to back champions because of Alex Cora, right?
And John Henry still re-hired this man