With Red Sox manager Alex Cora embroiled in the Astros' sign-stealing scandal and facing potentially harsh discipline from commissioner Rob Manfred for his role helping Houston and Boston electronically steal signs, Mets right-hander Marcus Stroman is calling him out for his seeming hypocrisy.
In May of this past season, Cora had harsh words for Stroman (then with the Blue Jays) for the methods he employed while he pitched and how he acted on the mound against the Red Sox.
"I was telling (the home plate umpire), if he's going to get on our guys, get on him," Cora said. "It's the same thing with him every day. He competes a certain way and people don't like it. It seems like whenever a team comes in, somebody screams at him. I don't know, that's the way he acts."
Stroman responded about it at the time, telling Cora to get over it.
Now, with Cora under fire for allegedly breaking MLB rules, Stroman has weighed in again.
"This man had the audacity to say that I compete a certain way and people don't like it," Stroman said Tuesday on Twitter. "Very comical in hindsight. Lol"
This man had the audacity to say that I compete a certain way and people don't like it. Very comical in hindsight. Lol https://t.co/bpIDWmqzA6
- Marcus Stroman (@STR0) January 14, 2020
After the investigation into the Astros, Manfred suspended manager A.J. Hinch and GM Jeff Luhnow for one season. Hinch and Luhnow were fired by Houston owner Jim Crane shortly after.
Cora, who was the Astros' bench coach at the time and allegedly helped organize the electronic sign-stealing operation, is under investigation for what he did with the Astros and later as manager of the Red Sox, where he has been since 2018.
Mets manager Carlos Beltran played for the Astros in 2017 and is the only player named in Manfred's report, with the commissioner noting that nearly every player on Houston had knowledge of and/or was involved in their sign-stealing scheme.
Beltran and all other Astros players were spared punishment by Manfred.