Alex Cora hilariously admits he just made Pirates' Konnor Griffin decision tougher

Baseball's No. 1 overall prospect sure looked like it on Tuesday in Fort Myers. Konnor Griffin hit two mammoth home runs against the Boston Red Sox, and Boston's manager, Alex Cora, could only laugh about it later.

Joking with reporters, Cora quipped that he and his team had just made the Pittsburgh Pirates' decision about Griffin's Opening Day roster status a lot more complicated.

“I think we contributed to the whole thing now,” Alex Cora said, per The Boston Globe's Tim Healey. “Sorry, Ben [Cherington].”

Griffin's momentous day at the plate began with a two-run shot off Ranger Suarez in the top of the second. The 19-year-old phenom followed that up with a 440-foot moon blast off Seth Martinez in the top of the fourth. MLB social media went wild. So did Bryce Harper.

With two swings, Griffin sent a vivid reminder of his singularity as a prospect, and although Cora was merely joking, it's not at all difficult to argue that Cherington, Don Kelly, and the Pirates' leadership should have Griffin on the Opening Day roster when Pittsburgh begins its season on March 26 in Queens.

Pirates' big Konnor Griffin decision just got a lot more interesting

Throwing Griffin into the fire, or rather, showing him off to the rest of the world, would fall right in line with the bold, performative approach that the Pirates embraced this offseason as they made admirable attempts to re-enter relevance and give their fans hope.

This was the spirit of Pittsburgh's ceremonial contract offer to Kyle Schwarber, which, though scorned by some, was followed by real-life acquisitions that reflected a front office not messing around.

On that note, to say that the Pirates should have Griffin on the Opening Day roster purely for PR purposes would be to misunderstand Cherington's mindset. But if Griffin keeps looking like this in spring training, Cherington might be able to validate a Griffin roster spot on merit alone.

Then there's the question of Griffin's development — would it be negatively impacted by a "rushed" debut in the bigs? That's for Cherington, Kelly, and others to determine, of course, but a split season across MLB and Triple-A could be a happy medium for Griffin if things get too fast at any point.

Griffin doesn't appear to be lacking in confidence, and his reputation (really, his growing legend) just skyrocketed to lofty heights. It feels likely that neither his swagger nor his perceived value would be heavily impacted by a rough MLB start, which is tough to imagine in the first place.