The Boston Red Sox Wednesday, October 28, 2020 * The Boston Globe With the World Series over, the Alex Cora watch has officially begun Alex Speier The Alex Cora watch is officially underway. With the World Series over, Cora’s yearlong suspension for his participation in a sign-stealing scheme by the 2017 Astros has concluded. The former Red Sox manager, who’d been on MLB’s restricted list, is now able to interview with teams for the 2021 season and beyond. The conclusion of Cora’s suspension comes at a time when the Red Sox are looking to fill the very managerial role he vacated was his nine months ago. Curiosity is running high in the industry — including in many corners of the Red Sox organization — about whether Cora and the Red Sox will pursue a reunion. The Red Sox have already interviewed at least seven managerial candidates — none with major league managing experience. While many see Cora as a presumptive favorite to be rehired based on the strong relationships he has with many members of his former team, the Red Sox front office was meticulously noncommittal as to whether they will consider him as a candidate for his former position. “I don’t want to get into the business of saying a lot of things about him that I haven’t had a chance to say to him,” chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said at the end of September. “So I don’t want to get into any more detail that that.” Cora left the Red Sox organization Jan. 14 after MLB released its findings from an investigation into the illegal sign-stealing practices of the 2017 Astros. The report concluded that Cora, then Houston’s bench coach, played a central role in devising a plan to use a closed-circuit camera to steal signs and then bang a trash can from the clubhouse to convey pitch types to hitters. While Cora wasn’t initially punished at the conclusion of that investigation — MLB was withholding his penalty until the completion of a separate investigation into sign-sequence stealing by the 2018 Red Sox — the Red Sox and Cora agreed to part ways amidst the exploding controversy. “We all agreed that it was wrong and that we had a responsibility as stewards . to have a standard here where that sort of behavior is not acceptable,” Red Sox chairman Tom Werner said in January. “I don’t know if you would call it a logical conclusion,” Red Sox principal owner (and Globe owner) John Henry said in the same news conference, “but . this was the right decision.” In April, MLB concluded that the Red Sox had illegally used their video room to steal sign sequences in 2018 — a less elaborate scheme than the one used in Houston — but that Cora had been unaware of the behavior. With that conclusion, the league suspended Cora for the duration of the 2020 season — a judgment rendered solely for his role in the Astros' transgressions. Even so, the Red Sox suggested both at the time of the news conference and subsequently in 2020 that Cora’s role in the rules violations by the Astros had been sufficient to produce the conclusion that he should leave the Red Sox rather than riding out the proverbial storm. “At the time that we parted ways with Alex we were clear that that was a result of his role and what happened with the Astros and everything the investigation over there revealed. It had nothing to do with what may or may not have occurred in Boston,” Bloom said in April. “That’s still the case. All the reasons we parted ways then are still the case.” Bloom and others in the organization repeated that line of thinking multiple times in 2020. But the organization also repeatedly expressed its affinity for Cora and its view that he is an exceptional manager. “We all have such respect for Alex,” Werner said in January. “He admitted that what he did was wrong, but that doesn’t mitigate in our opinion the extraordinary talent that he has. We continue to be very fond of Alex.” Despite that fondness, questions loom. To what degree should Cora’s transgressions with the Astros affect his candidacy with the Red Sox? Does Bloom — who joined the Red Sox last October, and has never worked with Cora on a day-to-day basis during a season — see the former manager as the right fit? Would he rather the Red Sox move forward with a new hire? And does Cora want to return to the Red Sox, at a time when there are also managerial vacancies with the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers? The questions have lingered for months. Now, with the World Series concluded and Cora’s suspension completed, it’s possible to start formulating answers. * MassLive.com Boston Red Sox prospect Thaddeus Ward has topped out at 97 mph, has action to sinker similar to Corey Kluber, Lance McCullers Jr. (minor league notebook) Christopher Smith Red Sox prospect Thaddeus Ward topped out at 97 mph during a 2019 Carolina League semifinal game. It marked his fastest pitch ever, and it capped a season of impressive two-seam fastball velocity after he sat in the low-90s at the University of Central Florida. As Baseball America explained, “Ward showed unexpected velocity in 2019, working at 93-96 mph with his sinker.” The 6-foot-3 righty’s two-seamer also had different action to it. “The two-seam doesn’t really sink as much as it used to,” Ward told MassLive.com on Tuesday. “The action we’re looking for is more like how Corey Kluber throws his two-seam and Lance McCullers (Jr.), that action where it just kind of darts back. And that’s kind of the action we’re looking more for, not as much just true sink anymore. That was something I kind of adjusted last year. Last spring training, they (the coaching and development staff) made that observation. They wanted to see what the difference would be. It worked for me. I felt comfortable with it. So that was my primary two-seam from then on.” The 23-year-old is part of a fascinating core of Red Sox pitching prospects not too far behind Tanner Houck who pitched so well in his three big league starts during September. Baseball America has projected 2023 lineups and pitching rotations for all 30 clubs. It projects Ward as the No. 4 starter in the same 2023 rotation with Chris Sale, Eduardo Rodriguez, Bryan Mata and Jay Groome. Ward posted a 2.14 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and outstanding .198 batting average against in 25 starts (13 with Low-A Greenville, 12 with High-A Salem) during 2019. He averaged 11.2 strikeouts and 4.1 walks per nine innings. Ward is at the JetBlue Park complex participating in Boston’s six-week fall instructional camp after working out this summer on his own because of no minor league season due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Red Sox have plenty of pitching talent in the system. Baseball America has Mata (No. 4), Darwinzon Hernandez (No. 6), Ward (No. 7), Groome (No. 8) and Noah Song (No. 10) ahead of Houck (No. 11) in the organizational rankings. But Ward and his peers face a major challenge in 2021, returning to minor league game acton for the first time since early September 2019. “I think it is going to be difficult for everybody,” Ward said. “But at the same time, I do have the confidence that I put in the work. I really committed to making sure I stayed on top of myself, made sure I kept doing what I was supposed to be doing and not let circumstances dictate if I get better or not. ... I’ve got to be better at the end of the day than when I woke up. That’s how I approached every single day. So hopefully when we get back into the games come spring training, or next season, whatever, hopefully I’ll be ready for it.” Boston drafted Ward in the fifth round in 2018. He then showed first-round raw stuff. He features a plus slider and he added a cutter during the final two weeks of spring training 2019 that became a primary pitch for him, as he explained to MassLive.com last year. According to his Baseball America scouting report, the cutter “tunneled off his two-seamer and mid-80s slider" and "allowed Ward to induce weak contact in the strike zone as well as chases outside of it.” He also throws a four-seamer, curveball and changeup. He wasn’t pleased with his changeup at the beginning of 2019 because of the lack of separation between his fastball and changeup — only about a 2 mph difference, he said. “So I got rid of it for the time being to focus more on the cutter,” he said. "And then toward the end of the season last year I kind worked back into the changeup again. So aside from that cutter, nothing’s been added or taken away. It’s been more learning about the selection of pitches and the sequencing and tunneling of it.” He also has made some slight mechanical adjustments while in the Red Sox organization. “Now I’m starting to step more across my body, than I had been,” Ward said. “A third of the way through the season last year they made that observation and so I gave it a try.