What we learned from the Red Sox’ press conference following Alex Cora’s departure
For the first time since parting ways with former skipper Alex Cora, the Red Sox front office addressed the media Wednesday afternoon. Owner John Henry, chairman Tom Werner, president and CEO Sam Kennedy, and chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom took questions for nearly an hour, discussing Cora’s unceremonious departure, the search for a new manager, and the team’s approach moving forward. Here’s what we learned:
- The Red Sox say they had no advanced knowledge of the findings in the report released by the league Monday. They met with Cora on Tuesday and mutually agreed it would be difficult to move forward based on what transpired in Houston. “It was ultimately an easy decision for the Red Sox and Alex,” Kennedy said. In the meeting, Kennedy said Cora apologized and described him as “remorseful.”
- The front office would not comment on MLB’s ongoing investigation into the Red Sox’ sign-stealing, citing the league’s directive. Among the topics that went untouched were how the organization addressed sign-stealing with Cora when he was first hired, what measures the organization took to ensure sign-stealing wouldn’t happen again after the Apple Watch incident in 2017, and whether other members of the coaching staff had knowledge of Cora’s activity.
- The Red Sox wanted to make it clear Cora was not fired, using language like “collective decision” and “mutually agreed” to describe the nature of his departure. When a reporter used the word “fired” in a question, Kennedy made it a point to correct him. Said Kennedy: “That’s not accurate. It was a meeting and a collective decision to part ways, on Alex’s side and on our side. I just want to stress that. That’s an important fact here.”
- The front office considered waiting until the league completed its investigation to make a decision on Cora’s future. “We’re not going to speculate on what would have happened,” said Henry.
- The Red Sox did not ask Cora to sign a non-disclosure agreement, according to Kennedy.
- Kennedy still believes the Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Dodgers fairly in the 2018 World Series. “Absolutely, yes,” he said. Kennedy also said the team does not feel wronged by the fact they lost to the Astros in the 2017 ALDS. “We are not the victim,” he said.
- As for who might replace Cora, Bloom said the team is considering both internal and external candidates and has not yet ruled out the possibility of hiring an interim manager just for the upcoming season. Bloom acknowledged the unusual timing of searching for a new manager so close to the start of Spring Training will be a factor in the process. He did not have many answers regarding the organization’s plan with the rest of the coaching staff, saying the attention has just shifted to finding a new manager. He said he does not view certain members of the coaching staff to be “Cora’s guys.”
- The Red Sox still plan to be competitive with high expectations in 2020. Said Werner: “I don’t consider our situation that we’re in a hole.”
- The front office repeatedly asked fans to “reserve judgment” until the MLB investigation concluded. Asked if that request suggests their alleged wrongdoing has been overstated, Henry said: “We’re not going to address that. I’ll just say that it’s unfortunate that we can’t comment. But we don’t have all the facts yet ourselves. We were surprised by what we learned in the previous report. We did take steps after the 2017 Apple Watch incident. We took a number of steps to assure that we didn’t have a problem going forward. Again, it makes a lot of sense, I know it’s asking a lot, but it makes a lot of sense to wait until the report comes out to be able to address any of these issues.”
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