Alex Cora will not attend team's White House visit to celebrate World Series

BOSTON — Red Sox Manager Alex Cora will not be attending the team’s visit to the White House to celebrate their 2018 World Series championship, the team confirmed to Boston 25 News on Sunday afternoon.

El Nuevo Dia, a media outlet from Cora's native Puerto Rico was the first to report the story.

The outlet claims that Cora will not attend due to, "the state of the recovery efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane María."

Cora has been very outspoken about the need for hurricane relief on the island and has been unsure if he would attend or not leading up to the announcement on Sunday.

"The government has done some things back home that are great, but we still have a long ways to go," he said on Sunday following a 9-2 win over the Chicago White Sox. "That's our reality. It's pretty tough to go celebrate when we're where we're at. I'd rather not go and be consistent with everything."

"We talked about it and decided (not going) was the best way to do it," he said.

Cora said he informed the Red Sox of his decision a few days ago.

The second-year Red Sox manager is a native of Caguas, Puerto Rico.

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Back in November 2018, Cora brought the World Series trophy back to the island following the Red Sox World Series title.

He was joined by Christian Vazquez – also a Puerto Rico native – Sandy Leon, Eduardo Rodriguez and Brock Holt, along with team chairman Tom Werner and team President and CEO Sam Kennedy.

>>>MORE: Red Sox manager Alex Cora to bring World Series trophy to Puerto Rico

Cora is the latest member of the Red Sox organization who will not be in attendance when the Red Sox visit the White House on May 9. The 2018 World Series Champions were supposed to visit President Donald Trump at the White House back on February 15, but the team postponed their trip due to the then-ongoing government shutdown.

May 9 is an off day following Boston’s impending three-game road series with the Baltimore Orioles.

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Several players have already announced their plans to not attend the team’s trip to the White House, citing a number of different reasons. Vazquez, David Price, Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr., Rafael Devers and Hector Velazquez have said they will not be in attendance, according to El Nuevo Dia.

With Associated Press reports

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