Dodgers: Joe Kelly Defends Alex Cora in the Houston Cheating Scandal
You might have read this headline and been very confused as to what you’re seeing. Well, you’re not alone in that. It’s very confusing to see a current Dodgers player defending former Astros’ bench coach Alex Cora. Given what happened in 2017, it’s entirely unexpected.
But that is exactly what Joe Kelly did this week. Speaking on the Big Swing Podcast with Cooper Surles and Dodgers pitcher Ross Stripling, Kelly opened up about Cora. Joe played under Cora when he was the manager in Boston during the 2018 season. In his mind though, Cora was the wrong guy to take the fall for the cheating scandal.
The people that took the fall for what happened, was nonsense. Yes, everyone is involved. But the way that thing was run over there was not from coaching staff. It was ran with coaching staff don’t get me wrong, but they’re not the head boss in charge of that thing, it’s the players.
Kelly also went on to break down why the players didn’t get any sort of punishment, in the most colorful way possible. Kelly was very passionate in talking about how the Astros players took hard work away from guys who can’t afford it like they can. Baseball players, as you know, make way more money than the average manager or even most general managers.
So now the players get the immunity, and all they do is go snitch like a little [expletive] and they don’t have to get fined, they don’t have to lose games. They take the livelihood from people who worked hard to become a manager and axed him. They take the livelihood from people who worked hard to become a GM, axed. So what happened was, you get people to snitch and become a rat, and the people who could afford to lose money get immunity. The people who can afford to have their names tainted get immunity.
Above all else, Kelly made sure to point out the human aspect of all this. As a Dodgers fan, sometimes it’s hard for me to remember that more people were hurt by everything than just the players and staff.
I played for a manager and his name is Alex Cora, and this guy lost his job. He’s got a daughter, went to school out here, all of this goes down, everything goes down on Alex Cora, which people knew the real story would actually hate the players even more. This guy had to go back to Puerto Rico where he’s from. His daughter is taken out of junior high from American schools because she’s getting verbally abused saying ‘Hey your dad’s a cheater’ etc.
The fact that the Dodgers were cheated out of a World Series is painful. It takes away from career legacies, future earnings, and so much more. But it shouldn’t be forgotten that the players are the true criminals here. With that in mind, don’t be surprised to see more justice being served on the field.
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That’s bullxxxht! Even if the players were the main instigators the coaches are responsible for their teams actions. And how could they say they didn’t know?
Coach to player, ” what’s that trashcan banging sound? ”
Player to coach, ” ah that’s nothing coach, just Bergman chasing rats out of the tunnel”
Coach to player, ” must be alot of rats around here! ”
Player to coach, ” yeah, more than you know! “
I agree the players should have received some punishment o or imposed out on themselves instead of letting the coaches and glad get the penalty.
But I disagree when it co.we to coaches responsibilty. Nobody could miss some idiot in the tunnel banging on a trashcan!
The problem is not whether the coaches/GM were held responsible. The problem is that the players weren’t. If the trophy had been vacated – as it should have been – that would have been enough. I was watching the Astros-Giants game on MLB yesterday and the local announcers were still talking up the great year of 2017. As long as they get to continue to claim that “title” then the cheaters win and baseball loses.
Unfortunately MLB would have never had the story without granting immunity. That’s how it works. Manfred could have gone after a lot more teams.
All I can say is ONCE A CHEATER ALWAYS A CHEATER!!!!
I agree with rainbirdmuse every person is responsible for their actions. Management should have been punished. The WS Title vacated and the players should have been banned for a year or more. Plus I would have made a stipulation they never play in an AS game, never have their names on a HOF ballot and never be up for any individual award such as silver slugger etc.
These players are a disgrace to the game.
Well said.