Cora hopes to bury hatchet with Fiers over sign-stealing scandal

Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora hasn't yet spoken with former Houston Astros right-hander Mike Fiers since the latter blew the whistle on the club's sign-stealing scheme, but he's hoping that changes down the road.

"He did what he did," Cora said on MassLive's "The Fenway Rundown" podcast on Tuesday. "He felt like he needed to do it. You have to respect that, right? I think with time, we'll run into each other and we'll talk about it. We were "teammates" in (2017). At one point during our careers, we're going to run into each other and hopefully, we get time to talk about it. Me listening to him and him listening to me is something that hopefully happens."

In 2019, Fiers - then with the Oakland Athletics - came forward about how the Astros illegally stole signs throughout the 2017 season and postseason en route to winning the World Series.

Cora, who was the Astros' bench coach that year, was suspended for the 2020 campaign for his role. He and the Red Sox parted ways, but he was rehired when the suspension expired.

No players received penalties for the scandal, but Cora said it's not his place to comment on whether they should have.

"That's not for me to answer," he said. "I think it's fair I got suspended."

Cora returns to the Red Sox for his third season as skipper. Boston won the World Series in 2018 during his first campaign on the job.