Alex Cora addressed a potential clubhouse divide over Red Sox White House trip
"That's not the case."
Ahead of the Red Sox’ trip to the White House, the manager noted, “People are talking about, ‘What’s going to happen in the clubhouse? It’s going to be divided.'”
Not so, says Cora.
“That’s not the case. That’s not the case,” he told WEEI’s ‘Ordway, Merloni & Fauria’ on Wednesday. “We’re in a good place. There’s some guys that are going home tonight and some guys are going back home tomorrow night. That’s the way we’re going to do it.”
President Donald Trump is set to welcome the 2018 World Series champions Thursday at 3:45 p.m. Cora will not be in attendance. Neither will at least eight of his players. However, Cora does not believe the controversy over the trip to Pennsylvania Avenue will affect the Boston clubhouse.
“I’m very aware — I have the pulse of what’s going on in the clubhouse,” he said. “Obviously, you don’t read everything, you don’t hear everything, but you have an idea what’s going on. I talk to certain guys in the clubhouse, ‘Hey. Just to make sure we’re all on the same page, we decided that this is the way we’re going to do it. The organization gave us the chance to decide if we go, if we don’t go. I think we’re doing the right thing. Nobody has to be ashamed or pressured not to go or to go.’
“Everything is fine to be honest with you,” he concluded.
Cora noted that the Red Sox players are usually watching sports games — not political news — in the clubhouse, though there are exceptions.
“You talk about sports and stuff that doesn’t have to do with politics or religion,” he said. “That’s the bottom line.”
The Puerto Rico native reiterated that he does not feel comfortable celebrating in the White House while people back home are still struggling in the aftermath of a Category 5 hurricane that killed an estimated 2,975 people. He described towns in the countryside that still lack electricity, while pointing out that there has been some inaccurate information floating around regarding government intervention in the territory.
“There’s a lot of stuff that is going on information-wise, ‘We did this, we didn’t do that. We gave this money. We got that money.’ In the end, if we’re being honest, it is not the money, it’s not what you have done, it is the people back home who are struggling,” Cora said.
Asked whether he could have used the White House trip to raise his concerns with Trump, Cora demurred. He offered that Puerto Rico has a governor and congresswoman better suited to that job.
“Tomorrow is a celebration of the Red Sox,” Cora said. “It’s not, ‘Let’s make a deal for Puerto Rico,’ you know what I mean?”
Going forward, the manager does not expect the trip to be a distraction in his clubhouse.
“To be honest with you, it’s been great,” Cora said. “Business as usual. Like I said, tonight there’s a group that is leaving and others are staying. Tomorrow they go back, and then Friday we go to Fenway. We’ll be together again and try to win a ballgame.”
