Veteran Infielder Explains Why He Signed With Red Sox Over Yankees

Abraham Toro didn’t have a plethora of options in front of him during free agency this winter.

In fact, Toro had just two teams offer him a contract: the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.

Toro, who had bounced around four big-league clubs since entering MLB in 2019, ultimately decided to sign a minor league contract with the Red Sox in late January. And a big reason why Toro went with Boston over New York had to do with the Red Sox skipper Alex Cora, who was the bench coach for the Houston Astros when Toro was a minor leaguer in that organization in 2017.

“For me, a lot of it was Cora because I’ve seen him over the years,” Toro told MassLive’s Chris Cotillo. “He’s a guy that uses everybody on the team. A guy like me, maybe being a bench guy, it was something that was pretty attractive.”

It certainly isn’t lost on Toro that the two teams that vied for him in the offseason are bitter rivals.

“The fact they were the only teams, and it’s the biggest rivalry in baseball, it was funny,” Toro said.

Toro has had a larger role than expected with the Red Sox this season after Triston Casas went down with a season-ending knee injury. The Red Sox called up Toro in the immediate aftermath of Casas’ injury and the journeyman infielder has filled in nicely.

Toro is batting .304 with an .803 OPS, which ranks sixth on the team, to go along with three home runs and seven RBIs.

“It’s the quality of the at-bat,” Cora told reporters, per Cotillo. “It’s not a quick one. He’s looking for pitches. When he strikes out, it’s not a non-competitive at-bat. He knows the situations.

“He plays the game. He understands what he needs to do. He’s been in this situation before and he has been a positive influence for the group.”

Toro will most likely go through a what-could-have-been moment this weekend with the Red Sox in the Bronx for a three-game series with the Yankees starting Friday.

But Toro probably won’t get stuck on that thought for long as the playing time he received so far with the Red Sox is validation enough that he made the right choice.