McAdam: MLB getting ready to drop the hammer on Alex Cora

Say goodbye to Alex Cora in the Red Sox dugout. Certainly for the foreseeable future. And, it's not out of the realm of possibility, for good.

No discipline has been levied against Cora yet for his involvement in the 2017 Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal, or, for that matter, the 2018 Red Sox mess with stealing signs.

But it's easy to look at what happened to A.J. Hinch on Monday and connect the dots. And it doesn't look good for Cora. Not good at all.

In unprecedented fashion, Major League Baseball suspended Hinch for the entirety of the 2020 season. (MLB also suspended GM Jeff Luhnow for the same period, while taking away the Astros' first two draft picks this year and next and fining the franchise $5 million).



Those penalties were assessed after MLB investigated the Astros for their sign-stealing methods in 2017. As it turns out, Cora appeared to be the architect of the Astros' system, by which the Astros had a center field camera focus on the opposing catcher's signals, then had those images shown on a dugout monitor. From there, players or staff members banged on a trash can to relay what pitch was coming to the hitter at the plate.

As part of a nine-page statement details the findings and discipline of the Astros, commissioner Rob Manfred had this to say:

"Cora was involved in developing both the banging scheme and utilizing the reply review room to decode and transmit signs. Cora participated in both schemes and through his active participation, implicitly condoned the players' conduct. I will withhold determining the appropriate level of discipline for Cora until after the DOI (Department of Investigations) completes its investigation of the allegations that the Red Sox engaged in impermissible sign stealing in 2018 while Cora was the manager.''

Within that same report, Manfred noted that Hinch was in opposition to the Astros' actions and twice smashed the dugout monitor that was being used.

So if Hinch gets a year for being involved grudgingly and over his objections, what does Cora get for being involved with not one but two sign-stealing scandals in consecutive years with two different franchises?

And keep in mind, the Red Sox are repeat offenders, having been fined for their "Apple watch'' use in 2017 when John Farrell was their manager. Manfred warned the Red Sox -- and all other clubs -- that second offenses would be dealt with harshly.

Now, that time is coming.

At this point, a suspension of longer than one season -- and perhaps as long as two -- can't be ruled given Cora's culpability.

What seems obvious for now is that someone other than Cora will be managing the Red Sox for the 2020 season.

The easy choice would be for bench coach Ron Roenicke to serve as the interim manager. Roenicke has a long career of managing in the minors and also managed the Milwaukee Brewers for four seasons (and a month of a fifth year), compiling a 342-331 (.508). The Brewers qualified for the postseason once in his tenure.

But here's something to consider: If Cora is suspended for all of 2020 and at least a portion of 2021, he'll be getting dangerously close to the end of his guaranteed contract with the Sox. When the club initially hired him in October of 2017, Cora was given a three-year deal plus an option year.

After Cora led the Sox to a world championship in his first season, the Red Sox extended him for another season and gave him a healthy raise.

But if Cora is going to miss most (if not all) of the remaining time left on his guaranteed deal -- there's a team option for 2022 -- would the Red Sox consider moving on from him altogether? It's possible that the Sox might not want to wait around for 162, or 243 (a season and a half) or 324 games while Cora serves him time.

That's a long way to wait while employing an "interim manager.''

There won't be much time to make these calls, either. Let's assume that MLB's investigation runs at least a couple of weeks. That brings us right up to -- or perhaps past -- the start of spring training, where the tone gets set for the season and organization is critical.

No matter, what has already been a depressing winter for Red Sox fans just got exponentially worse.