Boston Red Sox: Manager Alex Cora Hates Competitive Players

On Tuesday, the Boston Red Sox faced off against Marcus Stroman and the Toronto Blue Jays. Manager Alex Cora was none to pleased about Stroman’s pitching tactics, and he was not afraid to voice his displeasure.

With hot-hitting Boston Red Sox rookie Michael Chavis at the plate, Marcus Stroman came set and was about to deliver a pitch to home. When Chavis stepped in the batter’s box, he immediately called time out, which was granted by the umpire.

This was done to throw Marcus Stroman’s rhythm as he was working quickly and having a pretty good game up to this point.

When Chavis stepped back in the box, Stroman delivered a quick pitch to home which Chavis made contact on and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. bobbled, allowing the runner to make it to first on the error.

After the quick pitch, the Red Sox dugout was visibly upset, with both Chavis and other members in the dugout yelling at Marcus.

Even manager Alex Cora made sure the umpires were aware that he was frustrated with what just occurred, and would even go on after the game to tell reporters that he was still upset (which you can see in the image below).

Now here’s the thing.

What Marcus Stroman is doing on the mound is by no means illegal or against the rules of baseball. I went and checked.

If Chavis had stepped in the box and still had a timeout (which the umpire would still be granting), and Stroman threw it to home, the umpire would have deemed the play dead, awarded Chavis a ball to his count, and Marcus would have been given a finger wag.

Stroman has always, always, always, done this on the mound.

He has come out and said that he uses it, and it is his method of throwing the hitters off in terms of their timing when they are at the plate. Stroman does it legally, unlike a balk, but he does come to home quickly when the batter steps into the box (hence the timing issue).

The only things you are not allowed to do on the mound is the obvious balk/non-stop motion and the two foot mound touch (which the Cubs and Nationals just had a big quarrel over).

There really aren’t any other pitchers who utilize the quick delivery, with Johnny Cueto being the only guy that comes to my mind other than Stroman (I am sure there are a few others).

When you step in the box, you have to be ready for the pitch to come to you.

But for Cora to go out and say that Marcus, “competes a certain way,” is probably one of the stupidest things I have ever come out of a managers mouth other than Charlie Montoya saying he wasn’t playing Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on a holiday Monday.

He competes in a certain way?

Don’t you want your players to be competitive and win games?

Don’t you want your players to try and gain every advantage to get runs, strikeout opposing hitters, and win ball games?

Stroman utilizes the quick pitch timing technique just like, I don’t know, how Michael Chavis did by immediately taking a timeout when he stepped in the batter’s box?

He just spent eternity staring at his bat, going through his pre-bat chest routine (which again, is fine and legal), and breathing like he just ran the Boston Marathon.