BOSTON — Sooner or later after Purple Sox reliever Liam Hendriks took to social media to sentence offensive messages made towards him and his household, supervisor Alex Cora empathized together with his participant.
Cora spoke Friday forward of the primary sport of a doubleheader towards Baltimore at Fenway Park.
“We’re in the public eye and people feel they have the right to say whatever they want,” Cora mentioned. “Sometimes, it comes from real people. Other times, it comes from burner accounts … fake people. It puts everyone in a tough spot.”
On Thursday, Hendriks expressed his displeasure about loss of life threats he says he obtained following Boston’s most latest loss to the New York Mets.
Posting on his private Instagram account, Hendriks wrote: “Threats against my life and my wife’s life are horrible and cruel. … I think I speak for all players who have had to deal with this in their career when I say enough is enough.”
Hendriks is in his second season with the Purple Sox and is 0-1 with a 5.56 ERA in 11 video games. In 2023, he underwent remedy for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Final 12 months, after signing with Boston as a free agent, he missed the complete season with an elbow harm he picked up throughout spring coaching.
“I understand what he’s trying to accomplish,” Cora mentioned. “We have to protect our players and we have to voice what we think.”
Although not on the identical stage as what Hendriks handled, Cora discovered himself in the course of a social-media storm on Monday after attending the commencement of his daughter from Boston Faculty and lacking that evening’s house sport towards the Mets.
“If it’s up to me, I’ll bring my daughter here and go through every account and filter it,” Cora mentioned.
Cora has greater than 78,000 followers on the X social media platform. Once in a while, he’ll put up a quick message. His most up-to-date put up was made in tribute to his daughter graduating from faculty — #perfectday accompanied by a commencement emoji.
Cora famous that he reached out to Main League Baseball’s safety division after getting suspended in 2020 for his function within the Houston Astros’ dishonest scandal in 2017.
“I put my family in a tough spot, especially when the news came out. It was dangerous and we were afraid, to be honest,” Cora mentioned. “I don’t want to go into details, but they did an amazing job.”
In an period the place sports activities playing comes into play, Cora famous the “dangerous path” that crops up when followers look to take out their frustrations on gamers by way of social media.
“A decision, a pitch, a play, it puts them in a bad spot and they take it personally,” Cora mentioned. “That’s not my fault. You have to be responsible with what you’re doing.”
