Boston Red Sox: Red Sox will rehire Alex Cora as manager
It was not a unanimous decision by any means.
It may not have even been the choice of the general manager.
No, we’re not talking about the Chicago White Sox and Tony La Russa.
This is about Alex Cora, who is being rehired as manager of the Boston Red Sox, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation.
Meet the new manager, same as the old manager.
Just over nine months and one dismal season after the Red Sox and manager Alex Cora agreed to part ways amidst a mushrooming scandal, the two sides have agreed to reunite.
A major-league source confirmed a report by MLB Network’s Jon Heyman that the team will bring back Cora, whose prior 27-month run as manager ended abruptly in January when MLB determined he’d played a central role as the bench coach of the 2017 Astros in an illegal sign-stealing scheme and the Red Sox were under investigation for a lesser but similar infraction.
The Red Sox conducted first-round interviews with at least nine candidates and advanced to second interviews with at least four beyond Cora: Phillies player information coordinator Sam Fuld, Pirates bench coach Don Kelly, Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza, and Marlins bench coach/offensive coordinator James Rowson.On Oct. 30, chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom and GM Brian O'Halloran flew to Puerto Rico for a face-to-face meeting with Cora. That meeting was significant, but did not mark the end of the process, as team officials met with another candidate on Monday.
The person spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity because the club had not yet made an announcement.
Yep, 10 months after he was let go by the Red Sox less than two weeks after being reinstated from his suspension by Major League Baseball, Cora is right back where he started.
And you thought the George Steinbrenner and Billy Martin days with the Yankees were crazy times?
Remember when Red Sox GM Chaim Bloom announced the final day of the season that Ron Roenicke would be out the door, and when specifically asked about Cora, said that hes not on our radar?Here's a refresher:I dont want to get into any detail into my thoughts on Alex, Bloom said on Sept. 27. I dont want to say anything about Alex that I haven't said to Alex and obviously I have not spoken to Alex, so there will be a time when I can get into more detail on Alex and his situation, and my thoughts on it, but that time ist now.
That time is now.
Bloom will now have to explain how he interviewed nine candidates, narrowed it down to three finalists, had his personal favorite in Sam Fuld, and still hired Cora.
Yep, the peoples’ choice.
And, of course, the choice by those who write Bloom’s paychecks.
The Red Sox ownership acknowledged that Cora had to go when he was implicated in MLB’s investigation into the Houston Astros in 2017, costing A.J. Hinch his job, too. MLB investigated the Red Sox as well and while investigators found no wrongdoing by Cora in Boston, he was suspended for his actions in Houston, with the investigation determining that Cora was an “active participant in the scheme” and that he “implicitly condoned the players’ conduct.”
Astros GM Jeff Luhnow, who was fired in the scandal and still is unemployed, also blamed Cora in a January statement.
“The sign-stealing initiative was not planned or directed by baseball management,’’ Luhnow said. “The trash-can banging was driven and executed by players, and the video decoding of signs originated and was executed by lower-level employees working with the bench coach (Cora).
“I am deeply upset that I wasn’t informed of any misconduct because I would have stopped it.’’
The Red Sox and MLB stopped Cora, but all he missed was 60 games in a dreadful Red Sox season. They finished with a 24-36 record. It was the worst winning percentage since their 62-100 season in 1965.
So, instead of being punished, Cora caught a break, and won’t have that 2020 season sullying his resume.
Remember Cora’s words in January when he left the Red Sox, saying, “I will forever be indebted to the organization and the fans who supported me ... This is a special place. There is nothing like it in all of baseball, and I will miss it dearly.”
Well, those words ring true today.
Cora is back.
And really, it’s as if he never left.
At the same time, many of those whom Cora has previously managed – including Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, Andrew Benintendi, Eduardo Rodriguez, and others – enjoyed the finest seasons of their careers with him at the helm in 2018 and 2019. Now, the team is hopeful that Cora can once again draw the best out of a group that is coming off a painfully disappointing 2020 campaign.
