New York Mets starting pitcher Marcus Stroman took an opportunity to call out Alex Cora while Major League Baseball deals with one of its largest scandals ever.
Cora, the current manager of the Boston Red Sox, went after Stroman for his actions during a game back in May when the pitcher was still a member of the Toronto Blue Jays. Stroman was acquired by the Mets in July at the trade deadline.
“I was telling (the home plate umpire) if he’s going to get on our guys, get on him,” Cora said (h/t Keegan Matheson, MLB.com). “It’s the same thing with him every day. He competes a certain way and people don’t like it. It seems like whenever a team comes in, somebody screams at him. I don’t know, that’s the way he acts.”
While Stroman responded at the time, he used this week’s events to take another dig.
“This man had the audacity to say that I compete a certain way and people don’t like it,” Stroman wrote on his Twitter page Tuesday. “Very comical in hindsight. Lol.”
Cora’s future as the manager of the Red Sox is in jeopardy as findings revealed that he was the mastermind behind the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing fiasco during the 2017 season when he was the team’s bench coach.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred handed down severe punishments on Monday, suspending Astros manager AJ Hinch and GM Jeff Luhnow for the 2020 season. It prompted Astros owner Jim Crane to fire both men shortly after.
Crane’s actions could set a precedent for what the Red Sox might do with Cora, though his punishment might be even harsher.
MLB will announce Cora’s punishment after its investigation into allegations that his Red Sox stole signs during the 2018 season.
Mets manager Carlos Beltran, who was named in Manfred’s report, escaped punishment for his part in the scandal as a player with the Astros in his final MLB season.
