Alex Cora’s next stop still looks like it could come before the 2027 Major League Baseball season, and the interest around him hasn’t cooled off since Boston let him go.
The Red Sox stunned the baseball world in April when they fired Cora and several coaches after a 10-17 start. Boston hasn’t exactly sprinted away from that decision since then, either.
The club is 39-48 overall, and under interim manager Chad Tracy it is 29-31. There has been some progress over the last two weeks, but the Red Sox still have plenty of ground to cover.
Even with Cora out in Boston, the buzz around him never really stopped. The Philadelphia Phillies surfaced quickly as a possible landing spot after they fired Rob Thomson shortly after Boston made its move. Philadelphia even offered Cora the job, but he passed on it for now.
That hasn’t changed the way the industry views him. Despite the 10-17 start that ended his run in Boston, Cora is still regarded around the league as one of the best managers available. That makes him the kind of name every team would want to chase if it needed a new skipper.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported that the New York Mets would “love” to hire Cora, though he is still “expected” to end up with the Phillies after the season.
“While the New York Mets would love to hire Alex Cora as their next manager, Cora still is expected to join the Phillies after rejecting their offer to replace Rob Thomson, who the club fired on April 28,” Nightengale wrote. “The Phillies instead turned to Don Mattingly. Hall of Famer Carlos Beltran is the favorite for the Mets’ vacancy when interim manager Andy Green returns to the front office this winter.”
For Boston, the focus has to stay on its own mess rather than Cora’s next job. Still, either of those National League destinations would suit the Red Sox just fine. If Cora lands with the Mets or Phillies, Boston would not have to deal with him very often.
The firing was always going to spark debate, and it still is. The only way that conversation really fades is if the Red Sox start winning enough to make the whole thing feel like old news.
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