Report: Red Sox manager Alex Cora to be disciplined in sign-stealing scandal

Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora will be disciplined for his involvement in sign-stealing scandals that occurred in 2017 and 2018, according to reports from The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich and ESPN's Jeff Passan.

Major League Baseball handed down significant penalties to the Houston Astros on Monday for illegal sign-stealing in 2017. The league will now turn its attention to Cora, whose discipline is set to be determined once MLB completes its investigation of the Red Sox for separate sign-stealing allegations from 2018, Rosenthal and Drellich add.

Cora's discipline is expected to be harsh, according to Passan's sources.

The league is hoping to wrap up its investigation of Cora and the 2018 Red Sox before spring training, a person with direct knowledge of the situation told SNY's Andy Martino.

Cora was Houston's bench coach in 2017 and was apparently the mastermind behind the team's sign-stealing scheme, according to Rosenthal and Drellich.

"Cora was involved in developing both the banging scheme and utilizing the replay review room to decode and transmit signs," commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement Monday. "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 completes its investigation of the allegations that the Red Sox engaged in impermissible electronic sign-stealing in 2018 while Cora was the manager."

After the Astros won the World Series in 2017, Cora was hired to manage the Red Sox before the 2018 campaign. Boston went on to win the World Series that year.

Astros owner Jim Crane fired manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow on Monday, shortly after MLB suspended both for one year. A source told Martino that it's too soon to know if Cora will meet a similar fate in Boston.