McAdam: Red Sox coaching staff faces scrutiny for its past, uncertainty over its future

SPRINGFIELD -- This was supposed to be a typical off-season work week for the Red Sox coaching staff.

The coaches came to Boston earlier in the week to take part in the club's week-long organizational meetings, and this weekend, participate in Winter Weekend.

Instead, in short order, the coaches saw manager Alex Cora lose his job, listened to allegations that the 2018 World Series title was ill-gotten and now face questions about their own job security.

The events of the last week have roiled the staff. A few were somewhat emotional in detailing their history with Cora. At one point, bench coach Ron Roenicke, detailing his long relationship with Cora which dates back better than 20 years, caught himself for referring to Cora in the past tense.



"I hate to talk about him like 'He was,'" said a rueful Roenicke. "But I guess that's the case. ... It's a sad time for all of us -- the organization, fans who loved (Cora). He's a good guy. Cares about people, cares about the players tremendously. It's just a shame.''

"Everybody knows how close we are as a group,'' said third base coach Carlos Febles. "He's such a great friend and seeing what happened was hard. I mean, I couldn't talk to him that first night (after the news of his departure broke) and I still feel the same way. He's going to be missed. I haven't seen anyone with more passion for the game of baseball.''

Now, with pitchers and catchers set to report in a little more than three weeks, the coaches don't know who they'll be working for or, even if they'll still be with the Red Sox. But that's the life.

"As a coach, at the end of every year, nothing's guaranteed for us,'' said hitting coach Tim Hyers. "I think every year you're waiting for that message that you're coming back. It's unfortunate that things happen the way they have, but we've got to be strong, keep moving forward, pull together and get ready for spring training.''

Though Cora is no longer with the organization, Major League Baseball has begun an investigation of the 2018 Red Sox and some coaches could find themselves implicated, or at the very least, part of the collateral damage stemming from the investigation.

"I probably shouldn't comment on that because they've asked us not to comment on it,'' said Hyers. "I'm just going to move forward from there, let them do their work and see what happens in the end.''

"I think we all feel like we're going to be back,'' said Roenicke. "I guess things can change, but we all think like we're going to be back. We're preparing to try to get through this and to have a good season. There's a lot of stuff that could happen. We certainly can't control any of that.''

But Roenicke made clear he's not worried about anyone uncovering his involvement in anything illegal.

"You try to do things the right way,'' he said. "I came from being with Mike Scioscia for a long time in Anaheim and it was something really important to Mike -- how we went about things as a staff and what we did. I took that same philosophy when I went over to Milwaukee and managed. And I always thought that, yes, there were lots of things we can do on the field. I know when I was a third-base coach, I could have given pitches to hitters since 2000 when I was in the big leagues. And that's legal to do from the third-base box, but I didn't think it was right, so I didn't do it.

"I've spent so many years playing this game, trying to do things the right way, it's hard (to see what's been revealed). It hurts. You try to raise your kids to do things the right way, you try to live your life that way, you try to be that way in your career. So anytime you see that, it hurts. But I all realize we all screw up; everybody has. It just happens that this was a huge deal and it's sad to see for the game, for the (Houston) organization and we''re going through it in ours and we'll see what happens there.

"(Being implicated) would be concerning if something happened and I knew I was a part of, that I was brought into as part of that. Because I know what I do and I always try to do things the right way.''

As the one coach on the staff with major league managerial experience and a number of years as a bench coach in the big leagues, Roenicke would seem to have the best chance of being promoted from the current staff.

"I don't know, we'll see what happens with that,'' said Roenicke. "I enjoyed my time with Milwaukee. We'll see what happens. But it's hard to think about that because it's so recent and what happened to (Cora). We had dinner with him a couple of nights ago, so it's hard.

"Managing is challenging. I enjoy it, I love the challenge of it. I wasn't really thinking about (managing) too much, but my phone was lit up every day, saying that this was a possibility.''