The Red Sox are in the midst of a COVID outbreak and being lambasted for being one of six MLB teams below the 85% vaccination threshold.
Alex Cora is pushing back against that commentary.
In his weekly interview Wednesday with Merloni & Fauria, the Red Sox’s skipper said he doesn’t think some of his players are receiving their comeuppance for being unvaccinated. “I deserved to be suspended, because I broke the rules,” Cora said. “I don’t deserve for my players to get COVID. I’ll leave it at that.”
Seven Red Sox players have tested positive for COVID-19 since Friday, including infielder Yairo Munoz, whom Cora revealed tested positive this morning. Xander Bogaerts was removed in the second inning of Tuesday’s game against the Rays.
Hirokazu Sawamura, Martin Perez, Matt Barnes, Kike Hernandez and Christian Arroyo have also tested positive. Some of those players, such as Barnes and Hernandez, are vaccinated.
In particular, Alex Cora responded to Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy, who called the Red Sox a “dumpster fire."
“There’s more to this,” Cora said. “Without getting into details of our situation, I don’t think what he’s saying is correct, in a sense. The 85%, there’s less testing, a lot of things you van do as a group because you’re there. But I don’t think it’s one of the reasons we’re getting COVID. It’s happening all over the world.”
Even with all their absences, the Red Sox are still slated to take the field Wednesday for an important matchup against the Rays. Earlier in the season, MLB postponed games when teams were experiencing COVID outbreaks. The same gesture hasn’t been extended to the Red Sox.
Cora says they’re just trying to fight through it.
“We can do everything possible: keep the distance, wear the masks, eat by yourself. Wear masks in the dugout, and all that,” he said. “But tomorrow, we hop on a plane again, and we’re going to Boston, we’re going to our families. It’s one of those that you start wondering what can happen. How’s it going to work this weekend when we get home? It’s frustrating — like I’ve been saying.”
