Red Sox Say Tigers Hiring A.J. Hinch Wasn’t Factor In Alex Cora Returning

A.J. Hinch and Alex Cora were in charge of the Houston Astros’ bench in 2017, when they won the World Series but did so using illegal sign-stealing tactics.

But when both finished serving their one-year suspensions, they had no trouble finding jobs.

Hinch, who was let go as the Astros’ manager as a result of the scandal, served his one-year suspension then on Oct. 30 was named manager of the Detroit Tigers. And this past Friday, Cora was named manager of the Boston Red Sox once again.

So, did the Tigers making the move first make things any easier for Boston to bring back Cora?

“That wasn’t a factor,” Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said Tuesday during Cora’s introductory press conference over Zoom. “The goal of this process for me was to find the right person to lead the Boston Red Sox, it’s simple. And so that’s all I was worried about in trying to head up this process.”

Added team president and CEO Sam Kennedy: “For me, it was even easier. As we said back at the end of the season, we brought in Chaim for a reason. And he and (Brian O’Halloran) and (Raquel Ferreira) and Eddie (Romero) and Zack (Scott) ran this process and did a great job running the process and keeping me and John (Henry) and Tom (Werner) and Mike (Gordon) informed throughout. And we were very pleased, obviously, with the outcome given how excited we are to have Alex back.”

Cora was contrite Tuesday, and it sounds like he had a similar tone during his interviews with the Red Sox to the point they felt comfortable bringing him back.