Red Sox manager Alex Cora had a heated altercation with Astros broadcaster Geoff Blum and manager A.J. Hinch, just two months before taking his position with the Sox according to recent reports.
As reported by Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston, the incident with Blum occurred on the bus heading to Minute Maid Park. Blum asked Cora to turn down his music, which prompted Cora to send some choice expletives back at Blum.
Upon arrival at the Park, Cora’s curses shifted to Hinch, who was attempting to diffuse the situation. Cora was under the influence of alcohol, which contributed to his actions.
Cora stated that he learned from his mistakes, and apologized to both Blum and Hinch.
“You learn how to overcome. It happens on every team,” Cora said. “People have disagreements. Sometimes it’s about life, sometimes it’s about the game. The good thing is that you work with people that you respect, and they respect you . . . You move on and you learn from it and you keep getting better.”
Red Sox fans might relate this confrontation to the David Price and Dennis Eckersley incident from earlier this year. However, unlike Price, Cora’s complaints were not about Blum’s commentary. Cora’s actions were alcohol-fueled and uncharacteristic, whereas Price has a reputation of getting into arguments with the media.
Red Sox President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski did not find out about the incident until he was asked to comment on it by Drellich.
“Actually, A.J. Hinch called me on Sunday night after Evan Drellich had called me,” Dombrowski said. “A.J. and I spoken a lot about Alex and A.J.’s relationship, the pluses, the minuses, things to be cautious about. He said, ‘Dave, the reason I never mentioned it to you was because I didn’t think anything of it. I don’t think it was much of a situation, whatsoever. These are the type of things that took place.’ I really didn’t think very much of it just because of the A.J. scenario and how he handled it.”
Was Cora’s outburst a one-off? Or is it an indication of how Cora might handle tension in the near future as manager? Neither Cora nor Dombrowski seem to believe the latter.
“He’s our manager, we’re thrilled that’s he’s with us,” Dombrowski said. “I’ve had some tremendous managers around me that lost their cool at times. And I think every situation’s different. When I’m not there, it’s hard to evaluate different things.”
Red Sox denied in-person presentation with Shohei Ohtani
Ohtani is the most promising free agent to come out of Japan. He is a two-way star, who had the potential to become part of the starting rotation and a designated hitter.
“The Babe Ruth of Japan” is highly sought after across the MLB. The Sox likely could not compete financially with some of Ohtani’s other offers. Ohtani took many teams off the table, including the Red Sox, this past weekend.
“We have been informed that we have not been invited to make an in-person presentation,” Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said Sunday.
The Yankees, Twins, Mets, A’s, Brewers, Pirates and Diamondbacks are also said to be out of the running for Ohtani.
