The Red Sox announced on Sunday that they have hired Astros bench coach Alex Cora as their next manager. Boston gave Cora a three-year contract with a club option for 2021. The team will hold a press conference to introduce Cora after the World Series between the Astros and the Dodgers concludes.
It’s no surprise that the Red Sox chose the 42-year-old Cora, who quickly emerged as the favorite to take over for previous skipper John Farrell after his firing on Oct. 11. Newly named Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire and Detroit predecessor Brad Ausmus also drew consideration for the job.
Unlike Gardenhire and Ausmus, Cora doesn’t bring any major league managerial experience to the table, and this will go down as his only year on A.J. Hinch’s coaching staff in Houston. Nevertheless, it seemed inevitable he’d get an opportunity somewhere this offseason. The Tigers showed interest in Cora before going with Gardenhire, while the Phillies, Mets and Nationals also eyed him for their openings.
From a talent standpoint, Cora will enter an enviable situation in Boston, which won its second straight AL East title in 2017 before falling to Cora’s Astros in a four-game American League Division Series. The Red Sox’s array of quality players, not to mention their big-spending ways, should help Cora’s cause, though he’ll also enter a pressure-packed position that comes with high expectations from fans and media alike. Farrell can attest to that, given that he wasn’t particularly popular during his five-year Boston tenure despite being in the dugout for three seasons of at least 93 wins – all of which included division championships – and a World Series title in 2013.
Cora is the first managerial hire in Boston for Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, who inherited Farrell when he took over the franchise’s front office in 2015. In the Puerto Rican-born Cora, Dombrowski will get a bilingual manager who’s known to value analytics. Cora’s also already familiar with the Boston organization, having been an infielder with the Red Sox from 2005-08 during a major league playing career that lasted from 1998-2011.
Jon Heyman of FanRag first reported that Boston offered the job to Cora. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported the length of Cora’s contract. Ian Browne of MLB.com reported that the Red Sox could announce the hiring Sunday. Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe reported that the Sox would indeed hire Cora. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Great choice hopefully our hitters will be ready to hit from the first pitch on instead of taking pitches with no plan other than making a pitcher work smh.
Umm, taking pitches isn’t a bad thing. Unless you’re, like, Chris Davis.
Taking pitches is good when you don’t get a pitch in the area you’re looking for. Papi used to talk about waiting for his pitch and if that happened to be the first pitch he would have been ready for it that’s the difference.
Exactly!!
You’re talking about a hall-of-famer. Most hitters aren’t David Ortiz.
Ortiz isn’t a hofer
He took roids
Proven that he did not. MLB apologized to him for making it seem that he did too.
The late great Tony Gwynn said, the at bat doesn’t start until after that first strike
@lowtalker1 Vlad Guerrero
Vlad good bad ball hitter but tony gywnn was better
Taking pitches and making a pitcher work has worked out pretty well for the Dodgers this postseason
It works when the other team has a bad bullpen but the way teams are building their bullpens now you better do your damage against the starters.
If you do hire Cora, I wish the Red Sox organization nothing but success and a great rivalry moving forward.
May the best team win next year and beyond.
-Yankee Fan.
Nice post, and best of luck to Yanks,
Awesome, looks like they both will be competitive for a while at least.
Yup. Until baseball implements a salary cap you will both be competitive. If a cap is implemented you will quickly become the New York Knicks.
Or LA Lakers.
Or Boston Celtics.
Nitpick all you want, but Steinbrenner are smarter owners than idiot Dolan (Not CLE owner, his nephew James Dolan)
Pleased the Sox avoided Ausmus, disappointed they missed on Gardenhire. Best of luck to Cora.
Cora is the bigger gamble. No Mgt experience at big league level. Brad has learned much from his rookie experience. Only a handful of mgrs have been successful in their first go round. Tito, Torre and Maddon come to mind all either current or future HOF mgrs. I have a feeling Cora will be fried by Boston fans and media this time next yr
I’m hopeful about Cora, but I agree with your point about first timers. Your point is even stronger than you say: Torre’s managerial career started with 6 losing seasons with the Mets and then 1 first place Dinah over the next 8 years spent with the Braves and Cardinals all before he got to the Yankees. Boston was Tito’s second stop after a losing stint as the Phillies manager.
Dave Roberts in LA ?
More pressure in Boston for sure.
Cora is a solid choice.
Torres was NOT successful w first team.
My point was that most mgrs aren’t successful including some HOF and future HOFers- Torre, Tito and Maddon to name a few. People blast those like Ausmus who weren’t successful first time but that doesn’t mean anything. The example I was making
Those appear to be the exception. Look at the successful managers this year. Craig Counsell, Paul Molitor, Mike Scioscia, Torey Lovullo, and Dave Roberts all never managed before. Dusty Baker was successful with his first team. So were Tommy LaSorda, Sparky Anderson, Davey Johnson, and Jim Leyland. Tony La Russa took the White Sox to the playoffs in his first stint as manager.
John Farrell and Joe Girardi didn’t get much of a shot in their first managerial stints but you can say they weren’t successful. While Joe Torre didn’t win with the Mets, it appears that successful managers were much more likely to be successful with their first team.
This shouldn’t be a surprise though. Those managers who were successful with their first team likely get a second shot. Those that weren’t likely don’t. Dale Sveum is far less likely to get another job than Ron Gardenhire.
Oh goodness.. Managers that took over awful teams why not mention that had a wonderful chance of finishing in the cellar?
why not mention some really great managers? Earl Weaver and leo Durocher. HOF’ers that won right off the bat and continued winning for decades?
Tito was fired after several loosing seasons in philly, Torre the same with the Cardinals and Maddon lost for quiet a while in Tampa. Not really sure their fisrt rounds were succeful ones…
They weren’t, that is my point. They weren’t successful in first terms as mgrs but were in following. You can’t judge a mgr based one first term ie Ausmus, nor is Cora a sure thing even though it appears people think he will be
And Maddon did horribly this year
Most teams wouldn’t think getting to the NLDS is “horrible”
NLCS
Sarcasm meter activated.
Good choice.
I realise it’s made clearer in the next sentence, but it says “the Astros season WILL end on Saturday”… missing a “Should “ there
This is a great choice for the Red Sox. He indeed comes into a organization with high expectations. The Sox will indeed put the best team together for him, where money is hardly an issue (unlike the Astros). The thing is, they will be expected to contend almost from Day 1, and you better believe everyone will scrutinize every decision he makes.
Extremely high expectations that he won’t meet as a first time mgr
If the players play as they should, he’ll be fine.
A brand new manager is a risk. Will he be a Matt Williams or a Dave Roberts? I’m not a huge fan of Dombrowski so who knows.
Dave Roberts really? Every skipper should have a franchise with an open checkbook.
They don’t. Will try to work under salary cap which is difficult for trader Dave as he wants
More Freeman’s that are expensive.
Um…. the red sox spend in similar fashion.
Should be a huge improvement, World Series in our future!
“Our”…What job do you hold with the Red Sox?
yes, because fans NEVER refer to their team as “us”……
Only packer stock holder fans can legitimately say “our,we,or us”….
I’m invested in the team. Hat, tickets, gear, emotionally. The team is glad to have “us.”
Players continually refer to the fans as “us” and we can do it together and all that. It’s definitely us. Ask the Seahawks.
Gary made a point so…STFU
Definitely not directed at anyone in particular, and you all know I don’t make good points very often LOL.
go kick rocks cereal boy
Nick you’re right we should ignore him, but the annoying POS trolls every Sox post. Sometimes I get tired of him and mikeystank blathering.
Too optimistic of you w/ a first time mgr
Here goes Dave again. Do you not learn from your mistakes? The Red Sox have a roster capable of a WS run, yet you bring in a rookie to manage. You should not waste any of the window while Cora learns on the job. Three of the four years that Ausmus had the Detroit job, the Tigers were the favorite to win the division. That’s not how things ended up. Their window is now closed. Gardenhire, Dusty Baker, and even the now experienced Ausmus would be better choices.
Bobby Valentine,Ventura and any other former Manager to.
Very good choice DD!! Change is good, free agent will love to come here now!! DD now trade Bradley and prospects for Ozuna and sing free agent Santana plus Nunéz!! Go Sox Go
Your rant is the same and you still haven’t come up with any reason the Marlins would prefer Bradley to Osuna. Trades have to make sense for both sides.
Don’t know how Cora will fare, but your term “rookie”, although technically true, applies to John Farrell as much as anyone. The guy was totally clueless. He lucked out in 2013 with a team that had all the breaks. He maxed out his staff and roster in general so that when late September/playoff time came, they ran out of gas. Two years in a row. He learned nothing. He mishandled his bullpen, got players injured playing them out of position, let the Machado and Eckersley incidents fester when he should have stepped in and seemed to lose respect with his players as early as 2015.
Please, I never said anything about Farrell. His performance in Toronto was observed by the front office and liked so much they traded for him. Cora has not even given a performance. What he will provide is unknown. That seems like the better risk on a rebuilding team, not on a team currently in their window. How soon before Betts and Boegarts hit free agency?
So,
Ausmus fails in 3 out of 4 years, but yet he’s now “qualified” based on experience? Experience in what, losing?
Don’t be such a homer.
And, lots of press and fan pressures in Beantown.
Let’s see what he can do with the club before we crucify the man. I know baseball fans are cynical but jeesh….
When the short list came out I think most Red Sox fans were hoping for Cora. He was pretty well respected by the fans and players when he was with the Sox. Us Sox fans might be more cynical and superstitious than most but I think Cora is kinda being seen as a calming influence.
Having been a player has nothing to do with being s successful mgr. when something is new, people have a blank canvas to put their wishes and fantasies on. Then reality hits
Was really hoping La Russa would make a return to the bench haha
Ausmus should be his bench coach
Doubt Brad would want the “demotion”. Once you’ve had caviar, it’s hard to swallow peanut butter and jelly.
Gardy took a step back for a while and took a “demotion” before getting the Detroit gig. I’d personally take a bench job in a heartbeat and love my skippy pb&j, never been much of a caviar guy 😉
Brad already said he doesn’t want to coach
At the very least, as a player, Cora was a very smart base runner. God willing, he imparts that knowledge to the reckless running Red Sox who led the majors in outs recorded on the base paths.
Can’t compare the 2. Totally different ballgame when player is a mgr
You can compare the two. The manager has the ability to instill the stop sign to his players and base coaches.
Nice! I respect Farrell’s work, especially the epic “Boston Strong” 2013 season. But i’m excited to see Cora’s Hiring.
Hope he delivers what Sox fans and media usually expect, nothing short than the world series!
He won’t
Most people (including myself) weren’t expecting too much about the 2013 Red Sox.
At this point, Rays were a much more consistent, seasoned Team with Price, Shields, Zobrist, Longoria, Rodney etc, Blue Jays made the blockbuster trade with the Marlins and Mets that created sky-high expectations. Yankees had won the last 4 division titles and still had the air of “evil empire”. Even the Orioles went to postseason previous season after the long streak.
Than, those barbed guys made history.
Just wished Cora would stay with the Astros for a few more years. The players and others coaches really like him a lot. ASTROS World Series champs 17
Team winning always creates other teams wanting their staff, like the magic will rub off or something. Happens in NFL too
Nothing’s better than shutting the mouths of Yankees fans !!! Congrats Stros fans
Why can’t you Stay classy like the classy yankee fans? (and Red Sox) You saw 4th post in this thread, I posted 6 hours ago? (as of now) I Posted that before the game started, or when it was a 0-0 game.
Even if we weren’t expected to make the post-season, it still stings.
Being s players mgr, having learned from experience the past 4 yrs as mgrand having good communication and relationships in locker room, with right coaches Ausmus would have gotten Sox to WS long before Cora. Cora has not had much influence w Astros. My doubts are high and expectations very low.
We all get it. You aren’t a fan of first time managers.
Best of luck to Cora. He will be missed greatly in Houston.
Really good decision and here is why….Cora relates well to younger players. This current group of players have had one really good stretch where they played with fire and enthusiasm and that was when Torey Lovullo was acting manager. Dombrowski should have never let him get away and instead moved Farrell to the front office or let him go….cancer or not. Cora can and will relate to Betts, Benitendi, Devers and the rest of the young guys much better than Farrell did which will allow them to be more natural and less uptight. I am betting that he gets an old hand as his bench coach and a good supporting staff around him. I don’t see him being intimidated by the Boston media either….he is a very low key guy and he has experienced them in the past so he knows who the jackwads are going in. I like the hire….too much talent on this team for them to be such a lifeless group.
Ausmus is as low key as you get, and the Detroit media got to him at times. I can only imagine Boston media can wake up a comatose pt. Cora’s Latin so not that laid back!
I like this move, although I would of preferred Gardenhire. Cora was built for managing. You think he’ll hire his brother Joey? Joey Cora would also make a great manager some day.
What does everyone think about Butterfield as Bench coach?
He is butt.
I feel like they should let the past be the past and let him go. I also always felt he was part of the reason the team ran into so many outs.
I agree. Time to move on. Frankly I’m tired of hearing what a genius Buttefield is while seeing X regress and the team run into outs more than ever. I also like strawberry rhubarb pie.
Coaching the Sox is the toughest job next to coaching the Yanks. In my opionion the players make the coach succeed . I think this years team under achieved. The front office has drafted well, but they have made many mistakes with players. I would be more concerned with Dumbo moving forward, than Cora. He drained the Tigers, and couldn’t win the big one with Verlander, Scherzer, Price, and Pocello, and a triple crown winner. That is concerning to me!
Yeah I remember his brother was on the fast track to be a manager and never got a shot and now baby brother blows right by him
His brother looked like the alien from Mac & Me. That held him back
I still remember his something like 19 pitch at bat with the Dodgers…hopefully for the Sox he’ll be just as scrappy as a manager as he was as a player
I wish they had at least interviewed Jason Varitek for the position! I think he would have made a great manager
Why?
Tek is a part of the Sox front office. If he had ANY interest he would Have gotten an interview
Deja vue with DD and Tigers. Ausmus had all the same pros listed with him as Cora does and the high expectations and good team. Seems almost identical situation. Look how that went. I suspect their will be more deja vue in the future. Fans getting all worked up with no results. Wait til the season starts before you talk…
This looks to be a great hire. If they go out and sign a couple power bats the team is capable of going from 93 wins two years in a row to 100 and maybe another WS championship.
Nothing against Cora congrats but dumbo is destroying the Sox !!!!
By going out and trading for Kimbrel, Sale and Pomeranz, and giving up a lot of worthless dregs to to do it, Dombrowski saved this season and the next few. Margot is fair and the rest of that package isn’t much. Sale is worth everything the Sox gave up and more even if Moncada and Kopech develop and Pomeranz was a steal for Espinoza who will not pitch again until 2019, if at all. Without those three stars this year’s Red Sox would have finished 69-93, not 93-69. You can’t blame Dombrowski for Cherington’s insanity.
Great choice by the Red Sox! Now john Henry has to expand the payroll for dombrowski. Should he do this the Red Sox could pursue free agents like hosmer and jd Martinez who would both add much needed power to the lineup
Good choice. Bilingual is a great asset in the game now. Now the second language swear words directed at the manager will not go unnoticed.
Is this really an upgrade?
Anything is an upgrade from what they had
So, does Cora still get to be coaching in World Series?
No. He has to report immediately to Red Sox school.
This isn’t about the choice of hiring Cora. My gripe is that this announcement could have waited until after the WS.
Sorry Boston, but this time of the year is about the Dodgers and the Astros.
No freaking class. Now we have to hear Buck talk about Cora and Boston as they put him on the screen every other inning.
We’ll be stuck with that instead of the WS hame and players on the field.
Once again, no freaking class!
Just curious why we haven’t heard much re Ausmus. Genuine question, no snarky remarks pls. I think he is happy to take yr off and interviewed out of courtesy. ???