Why Alex Cora Had Uncomfortable Meeting With Red Sox Newcomers

The Boston Red Sox had a type of player they wanted to acquire in the 2022-23 offseason.

In their effort to improve on a disappointing 2022 campaign, Boston added a pair of veteran players with championship experience to their roster. Kenley Jansen was added to provide stability in the bullpen and lock games down, something the Red Sox couldn’t do in the seasons prior to his arrival. Justin Turner came aboard to stabilize the middle of the order, with his ability to play multiple defensive positions especially attractive for a team who has struggled on that side of the diamond.

There’s no doubt that Red Sox manager Alex Cora was all aboard adding the two former Los Angeles Dodgers, but it wasn’t going to come without an uncomfortable conversation.

Those two newcomers, along with Kiké Hernández, were directly impacted in the 2017 World Series due to the Houston Astros’ cheating scandal. It has been well documented that Cora was a large piece of the controversy.

That’s why he sat the three down in spring training to apologize.

That’s respect. I will respect (Alex Cora) forever for that and I will appreciate him forever for that.

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Red Sox pitcher Kenley Jansen

“I’m going to be 100 percent honest with you, no (expletive), I just felt like I wanted to cry at that moment when he said that,” Jansen said on the “Baseball Isn’t Boring” podcast, per Rob Bradford of Audacy. “It just felt like a weight came off, for him to step and say we (expletive) up as a whole group. Because I felt like that was the best season I ever had in my whole career because I dominated the whole year, dominated the playoffs and the Houston Astros were the only ones who put the ball in play.

“It’s over with and you can’t change stuff, but what we can do is appreciate when someone steps up and comes forward and be accountable for what they did. That’s respect. I will respect AC forever for that and I will appreciate him forever for that. Why should I be mad? If you tell me you don’t make mistakes who are you? We all make mistakes in this world. We learn from it and get better and for him, he learned from it and got better. I learned from it also, too. You have to forgive and I forgive him for that. I appreciate him and I love him for that. We can move on.”

The Dodgers, who lost that series in seven games, would go on to win the title just three seasons later. The Red Sox, under the direction of Cora, won in 2018.

In the end, everyone got what they wanted, and years away from the controversy they can all say they have officially moved on.

“I think it meant a lot,” Turner said. “It was good to hear and good to wipe our hands clean and move forward.”