Carlos Correa On Alex Cora's Emotions With Daughter: 'I Know What They've Been Through'
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Alex Cora was certainly guilty of participating in a sign-stealing scheme executed by the 2017 Houston Astros en route to their World Series championship. Then the bench coach of the Astros, Cora has admitted as much numerous times since MLB handed out punishment last April.
Yet, the punishment was certainly distributed disproportionately. Despite MLB determining the operation was "player-driven and player-executed," there were no players punished. Only Cora, then-manager A.J. Hinch, and then-GM Jeff Luhnow, were suspended after the investigation. The only player to suffer any consequences was Carlos Beltran, who had been named the Mets' manager but ended up losing that opportunity.
The players on that team -- Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, Alex Bregman, George Springer, Yuli Gurriel, and others -- suffered no consequences for their actions, and didn't even have to hear much jeering in the mostly empty-ballpark season of 2020.
So, in an interesting moment before Friday night's Game 1, it was notable when Fox's Ken Rosenthal asked Correa what was going through his mind when watching Cora get emotional while hugging his daughter following the Red Sox' ALDS-clinching win over the Rays.
"It was a very emotional moment," Correa said of his former bench coach in Houston and former manger in the World Baseball Classic. "I know what they've been through -- obviously we've lived it, and I know what his daughter has been through. So for him to hug his daughter and embrace her and then have that special moment where he's back in Major League Baseball and she's back with him winning playoff series, it's very special for that man. And I'm very happy for him and for his daughter, and you know what he's done this year with with the Boston Red Sox."
Correa played in 58 of the Astros' 60 games last season, before playing in all 13 playoff games last fall, before playing in 148 games in 2021 and five playoff games (and counting) thus far in the postseason. He lost none of his salary during that time, of course.
REMINDER: Rob Manfred's Ruling On Astros' Cheating Scheme Had One Insane Conclusion
So while he and his teammates certainly heard some mean heckles in places like New York and Los Angeles, they didn't quite live the same experience of Cora, who was banished from the sport for a full season.
Nevertheless, it's clear that despite Cora largely serving as a scapegoat for the "player-driven and player-executed" sign-stealing scheme, Correa still feels fondly about his former coach and fellow Puerto Rican.