Alex Cora was surprised MLB suspended the Red Sox reply operator.
Major League Baseball spent months trying to dig up dirt on the Boston Red Sox but when their investigation finally came to an anticlimactic end, the league was unable to find sufficient evidence to punish any player, coach or member of the front office. In a shameful effort to save face and create an illusion that they hadn’t wasted everyone’s time, commissioner Rob Manfred threw video replay operator J.T. Watkins under the bus and suspended him for one year.
The result of this witch hunt still doesn’t sit well with Alex Cora, who recently opened up about this topic to Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe.
"“I know J.T. and how he works,” said Cora. “I trust the guy. Was I surprised at what came out? Yes, I was.”"
Cora managed the Red Sox during the 2018 season when Watkins occasionally utilized game feeds in the replay room to revise sign sequences that he had permissibly provided to players prior to the game. In other words, Watkins was punished for ensuring he was doing his job successfully.
MLB allows teams to study signs using video between games. It was Watkins’ job to decode these signals and pass the information along to the players so that they could legally steal signs when they were on base and in position to peek at which fingers the catcher was putting down.
MLB also allows teams to watch video during games from a room near the dugout. These monitors are intended for teams to watch replay to quickly determine if they want to challenge a call on the field but you can clearly see the signs from opposing teams while watching this feed. If Watkins noticed that he made a mistake in his pre-game analysis of these signs, is he supposed to keep it to himself?
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As far as MLB is concerned, yes, he should let the players to work with outdated or incorrect information. Watkins may have technically violated a rule but it’s a rule that doesn’t make much sense. Red Sox players could be negatively impacted by relying on faulty information that he provided them with and the league wants to prohibit him from correcting those mistakes.
Cora wasn’t punished for anything stemming from the investigation into the Red Sox organization but he was suspended for one year and removed from his position as manager due to his role in the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal. What the Astros were doing is far worse than anything going on in Boston but few were willing to give Cora the benefit of the doubt due to his connection to both investigations.
He said the process was hell for him and he simply wants to move on but it’s clear that Cora knows more that he’s not willing to say.
"“I would love to go public with everything, but I can’t … I want to stay away from it as much as possible until I have to.”"
Cora was hurt by the perception that he was the mastermind of the sign-stealing scheme in Houston. There’s plenty of blame to spread around the Astros organization and there could be more secrets that Cora is keeping to himself, at least for now. He showed interest in a return to managing once his suspension is lifted and dropping a bombshell on one of his former teams could hider his chances of getting hired.
Hopefully we’ll get a tell all book from Cora some day where he reveals his full side of the story. Until then, we’ll have to settle for comments that hint that his role in helping the Astros cheat was overblown and Watkins got a raw deal for being the fall guy in Boston.