Red Sox manager Alex Cora was succinct on Tuesday when asked about a follow-up report suggesting that Hanley Ramirez is not part of an investigation into an alleged Lawrence drug ring.
"I never had a doubt, honestly," Cora said. "I know the guy and I know his principles. I know how he cares about his family. I don't think he was going to put himself in a position like that, and I'm glad it's not true."
Ramirez spent the weekend in the news after former Boston Herald reporter Michele McPhee, in a series of tweets and radio interviews, reported that Ramirez was "being eyed" in a state and federal investigation into an alleged fentanyl ring in Lawrence. The primary evidence was a FaceTime call a suspected drug dealer made to Ramirez after being pulled over en route from New York with drugs in his car, a call that eventually involved police.
The Boston Globe reported on Sunday, however, that Ramirez was not part of the investigation, and that the friend who dropped his name to police did so only in the hopes of avoiding arrest. The man's attorney told the Globe his client used Ramirez's name, "to get the cops off his back, which didn't work."
