Red Sox manager Alex Cora entered the 2024 season without a contract lined up for 2025, and comments he made to reporters, including The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey, yesterday indicate that he and the club do not intend to discuss a possible contract extension during the season.
“We’ll play it out, and whatever is decided is decided,” Cora said, per McCaffrey. “…My situation will be taken care of in the future, whatever the organization decides — or whatever I decide to do.”
Cora has been at the helm of the Red Sox since 2018, with the exception of the shortened 2020 season when he was replaced by Ron Roenicke while serving a one-year suspension due to his role in the 2017 Astros’ sign-stealing scandal. Boston, of course, won the World Series during the first season of Cora’s tenure. The Red Sox missed the postseason in 2019, however, and upon Cora’s return to he manager’s chair in 2021 have generally hovered in the vicinity of .500 with 277 wins and 267 losses entering play today. They’ve made the postseason just once during Cora’s second stint with the club, advancing to the ALCS in 2021 after securing a Wild Card spot.
Of course, much of the blame for that mediocre performance in recent seasons lies at the feet of the front office, which is currently on its third head of baseball operations since Cora joined the staff in 2018 after hiring former Cubs assistant GM Craig Breslow as chief baseball officer this past offseason. Given the turmoil the Red Sox have faced at the top of their baseball operations department and a payroll that has surpassed $200MM just once in the past five seasons after reaching a peak of more than $236MM in 2019 (per Cot’s Baseball Contracts), it’s hard to place Boston’s struggles in recent years at the feet of Cora.
In fact, the Red Sox have generally exceeded expectations to this point in the 2024 campaign, posting an even 29-29 record entering play today despite minimal additions after last year’s 84-loss campaign and significant injuries to key pieces such as Lucas Giolito, Garrett Whitlock, Trevor Story, and Triston Casas. The club’s solid play amid those injuries and low expectations have reinforced Cora’s reputation around the league as one of the game’s most respected managers, and should make him an enticing managerial candidate in the event that he doesn’t return to the Red Sox in 2025. Cora’s situation brings to mind that of former Brewers manager Craig Counsell, who departed Milwaukee after choosing to enter the 2023 season without an extension in favor of a five-year, $40MM contract with the Cubs this past winter.
McCaffrey notes that Cora was “keenly aware” of Counsell’s deal with the Cubs this past season, and it would hardly be a surprise if he hoped to land a similar deal for himself this winter. On the other hand, it’s at least possible Cora could look to take his impending free agent status as an opportunity to move out of the dugout entirely. The 48-year-old has previously suggested that he would like to move to a front office role at some point down the line, although he noted last autumn that he was not yet ready to make the jump.
Coincidentally, the Red Sox themselves figure to be in the market for an addition to their front office brain trust this winter, with Sean McAdam of MassLive.com noting that Breslow recently told reporters he doesn’t expect to hire a second-in-command until this winter. That’s hardly a surprising development, as it was reported just last month by Alex Speier of the Boston Globe that the club had hired an outside consulting firm to conduct an audit of the organization and offer Breslow recommendations regarding potential changes. As noted by McAdam, Breslow suggested that the ongoing audit could have an influence over his decision regarding the GM job, noting that it could nudge them toward promoting an in-house candidate or indicate that they’d be best served hiring from outside the organization.
While the opening in Boston’s front office and Cora’s previously stated long-term career goals appear to line up, there’s been no indication from either side that Cora and the Red Sox are considering the possibility of their manager moving upstairs next season. Instead, it appears that decisions by all parties, both regarding Cora’s future in the organization and the vacant GM role below Breslow in the baseball operations hierarchy, will be set aside until this winter as the club attempts to weather a storm of injuries and return to the postseason after back-to-back last place finishes in the AL East.
Anyone who says that they’re content with being .500 and 10 games back in May as Alex said last week deserves to lose their job.
I don’t know about that. This team’s pitching was supposed to be horrible. So far (albeit a small sample size), they have exceeded expectations.
They are a .500 team with talent alone and the manager can’t fully change that.
So, are you asking that Breslow lose his job then? I don’t think Cora can take full blame, cheater or no cheater.
CBP—I get your points, all valid. But I don’t like the “couldn’t care less about winning” attitude that his comments portray. What message does that send to his team? Can’t fault Breslow at this point, so can’t dismiss him. After the same issues resurfaced with Breslow, it’s obvious that this is all on John Henry and Co.
However, I wouldn’t want my field manager being content at .500 and 10 back. At least have some fire in you and pride in your team. He’s not showing any commitment to at least trying to win, IMO. As you can tell, I’m not a Cora guy…never have been, never will be.
Valid point. I liked Cora, but I too think it is time to move on. I think it’s Varitek’s job to lose too.
Fat – Cora has a well documented history of taking a don’t-care-about-winning managerial approach. He singlehandedly torpedoed the 2019 season. He has been known to intentionally use his worst players in key situations just to spite the front office. And he has a massive ego.
I really hope he goes to another team and gets exposed for the bad manager he is, just like Grady Little and Jimy Williams were.
Wouldn’t it be something if ‘tek would take the job as manager and pedy could be convinced somehow to come along as his bench coach? no longer would see questionable attitudes and roster moves, like joely rodriquez ever having a place on the team to begin with in 2024.
Only those earning a spot and those who play hard would both have a job AND play for any team with those 2 in charge, which might be a reason in of itself it will never happen in boston.
And it’s stated here again how much Cora is praised and thought so well highly of all over the upper echelons of baseball. Heck he even might demand a contract like Craig Counsell’s, because of his meta-level baseball god knowledge. What are these people smoking?
Whatever it is, tell me where to buy. The only thing I’m selling is Cora being a good manager. I guess he gave the team time off when base running and infield defense were covered. Yes, they again have a different than planned shortstop and first baseman as well as a rotation at second but other than short, their infield defense was always going to be mediocre at best. Defense saves arms! Separately, their base running for the most part has been Bad News Bears like as much as it has been MLB quality. I blame Cora for the latter and the team for assembling and coaching the infield in the minors. Cora though should have had more drills on those areas as well as bunting and on shortening your swing when you need a key fly ball or ground out.
Manfred let a cheater back into the game, back into his old position. Barely a slap on the wrist. What an absolute disgrace
Agreed. Red Sox ownership though chose to bring him back in 21, which is on them.
Cheater should be run out of baseball
Varitek is the next Red Sox manager. I just have that feeling.
Let Cora leave at the end of the year and
hire a GM from the outside.
Let him ride it out. I am in the minority in that I approved of Cora, but even I think it might be time to turn the page after this year.
I think Cora got the raw end of the stick. I do think he’s a great manager, but I do think the Sox want Varitek. It’ll be a shame when Jason is fired after 3 years of the ownership not wanting to spend money
He deserves the raw end of a stick that cheater
You can’t assume that is how things will happen in three years. Take one day at a time.
@SoxBruinsSaints:
Yeah but if recent history has taught us anything the Sox will win the World Series in year one
It’s the tease that we have
Sounds good to me. just hire managers on one year deals and replace them each season. The Sox will never lose…
but even I think it might be time to turn the page after this year.
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I think that’s about right. We’ve had some injuries, and are still one game over .500. Some of the Cora critics thought we were going 0-162.
But like you said, there is always a time when you want to change direction.
We have Tek in the waiting
This egotistical cheater needs to go.
“Egotistical cheater”…Talking about an “extension” when you’ve finished last 2 of the last four years(if not more)takes a lot of balls and ego.
He was asked ..has never voluntarily brought it up
Pool — You don'[t know if the guy was told by Cora to ask or not. Don’t assume when it comes to dealing with scum cheaters.
Most overrated manager in baseball.
Arron boone thanks you
Close second
It’s ironic how every team complains about their managers. I really think there are only 1 to 2 good managers overall. Everyone else gets the blame.
Dave roberts thanks you
I like Roberts. Cora? No, thanks.
Close third!! The trifecta of stinkity!!! Need to print the t-shirts!!! Maybe Pat Riley will trademark it!!!
Carlos Marmol thanks you
I’m not an Astros fan, but a fan of a team within that division, and from what I have seen from Joe Espada I am very underwhelmed.
Derek Shelton and Marmol are the other two obvious cases. Haven’t heard too many positive things about Carlos Mendoza but I haven’t been able to watch him in action. One guy I did change my mind on is John Schneider. Have had a lot more respect for him this season and it’s obvious his front office likes to interfere & cause chaos.
Nice win today.
As you were.
can’t think of another person with as much unearned confidence as alex cora
dasit – John Henry loves him, that’s where Cora gets the confidence.
Or perhaps others are right in that Cora has blackmailed Henry.
Keep in mind John Henry had interest in promoting Cora to Bloom’s job last year, but Cora rejected the opportunity.
Crazy thought what if they hire cora as GM..and then tek as manager
I can’t imagine Cora wants to stay as manager or GM–he’s been in Boston a long time and it’s all been downhill since the WS in 2018. From the other side, I can’t imagine Breslow will want to keep Cora around–he’ll want his own person, whom I think is just as likely to be David Ross as Tek, although the GM position is a bit of a wildcard as far as hirings go, and the audit may have some influence over that process, too. Ownership was once strongly behind Cora–I don’t think they’re going to want to go anywhere near Counsell-money to retain him, so Breslow will get his way in hiring a new manager.
Yeah, 8 million a year is a lot of money to pay a Mgr to take the blame for the front office not making substantial upgrades &/or for the players under performing.
Horace – Great post! Last year I often mentioned Ross as a potential managerial candidate along with Tek. I totally agree if Cora wants to continue managing he will demand a record-setting salary.
And Cora has gone on record as saying he wants more talented players like the 2018 team, I doubt he will want to continue managing for a cheapskate team that doesn’t care about winning.
I doubt many in Boston will shed tears if and when Cora leaves. He isn’t good at all as a manager and he wants to be a GM, which is frightening.
He’s ok as a manager, but can’t seperate between ‘budships” with certain players and having the best players available.
That said? As a former player, he’s been a better manager than jeter was as a gm, which was a 100% failure.
I don’t think Jeter was a failure. That was all because they shafted him out of his job and didn’t let him run the team the way he wanted to.. Kim NG followed. Marlins are a mess, this has nothing to do with Cora
Cora is not a “bad” manager..hes OK…you want to talk bad have a look at Marmol in St Louis
Pool – Get serious Cora makes more mistakes in a day that most of the others make in a week. He simply sucks and should have been gone in April 2018 when he proved he had no idea what he was doing.
He’s awful on every level. Don’t have a crystal ball to see how he’ll do, but it sure seems like Varitek is next in line for the job. Cora’s act has worn thin……
I can’t tell if he is a good manager or not, he won the WS and had 2021 too, but besides that he hasn’t done much
Is it his fault that the team is bad now or is it ownership for not spending now or is it Craig or Chaim?
Sad – Players win championships and managers lose them. 12 games blown cost Boston from winning 120 in 2018. Cora didn’t win a single game, the players won the games with thieir baseball talent. Something they hadd in 2019 too except Cora cost them wins. In 2021, the players did great and Cora’s mistakes were overcome by excellent play. Since then, he’s been killing the team daily and their record reflects it.
I don’t get the Red Sox ownership love affair with this guy.
LordDog – I firmly believe he has leverage on them and used it. He’s a scumbag and nothing is too low for his lack of integrity.
I feel like it’s time to move on from Cora. This team seems to be running in place with him at the helm and you have to think Breslow would like to bring in his own guy
Sad thing is, we’ll get Tek and then move off from him in a few years when management doesn’t want to spend
So glad I don’t actually pay to read the garbage Deeds “writes”. Try Grammarly. It won’t help with the many factual reaches, but at least it will help with poor sentence structure and basic grammatical errors.
Its far past time for the Sox to move on from Cora. That time should have been 2020.
Replace the cheating manager. Replace the bland boring dump of a stadium. Replace the boring rip-off team logo (complete copy/ripoff of the Yankees). Replace the vile despicable fanbase. Replace the obnoxious idiotic lame “tradition” of singing sweet caroline.
Funny my original comment was deleted… Many of these are traditions you are throwing away. Do you call yourself a fan?
Trashtros will be interested.
The team that cleaned up/saved baseball is who youre referring to. And how dare Rob call it a piece of metal.
He can go anytime he wants. No reason to even finish the season. Can’t handle a bullpen, cant set a line up and he always struck me as having bad breath. Just go
We need a package deal. Cora needs to go and Devers needs to move to DH and Yoshida needs to be traded so the team eliminates redundancies.
It’s not Alex’s fault, it’s not the players’ fault, it’s not Breslow’s fault.
It’s ownership. Sam Kennedy blamed the players the other day for “under-performing.” Nice try, Sam, you empty suit. Join Henry and Werner and get out of town.
I think he’s done a very decent job with the players he has had. I think the length of any future contract will be the issue, and also his desire to do less travel.
rlburgs – Yeah and you probably describe Hitler as a decent leader whose real issue was how long he was going to hang around.
Are you insane? Cora sucked the entire time. A manager only has a few things to do to be considered decent and he failed at ALL of them!!!!!
1 – Lead with integrity NOPE
2 – Set a logical baseball line-up daily NOPE
3 – Set a logical starting rotation NOPE
4 – Substitute pitchers on a timely basis NOPE
5 – Treat the players equally no favoritism NOPE
6 – Don’t cheat NOPE
7 – Don’t over rest your star players NOPE
8 – Don’t lie to the press NOPE
9 – Don’t point the finger at the players and not yourself NOPE
10 – Don’t blame the owners and GM for your ineptitude NOPE
CORA SUCKS!!! That’s a FACT not an opinion!!! Look up SUCKS in the dictionary and you will see a picture of the ugly butt head.
He should have been fired in April 2018 and all it’s cost Boston is great performances by Sale, Price and all the pitchers for leaving Devers at 3B. The missed opportunities for wins are too great to even attempt to count.
FIRE CORA should be a t-shirt all Red Sox wear to games..
He was a co-mastermind (with Carlos Beltran) of the cheating scandal with the Astros, and then goes to the Red Sox in 2018 and they suddenly win the World Series. Betts, JD Martinez, and others all have career years at the plate in 2018 that are unlike any other seasons in their careers…yet we are to believe that they didn’t cheat too? What a joke. This guy was at the root of it all, but gets zero heat for it.
Scrap Iron – ANYTHING touched by Cora is tainted!!! You are correct. Nobody has ever cheated as much as Houston did thanks to Cora but a small cheat or a big cheat is still a cheat whether the Commission agrees with me or not!! Selig opened the door for guys like Cora to deface the game of baseball and now commissioner are trained to look the other way on almost all offenses except political ones. That makes a guy like Cora with the biggest cheat of all time, a minor offender when in fact he deserved the death penalty for baseball!!! Yes he still should be banned from the game forever for what he did in Houston.
We agree about Cora but to say no one has ever cheated as much as Houston is a flat out non-truth. Baseball has been rooted in cheating since the game was invented. Before Houston (and many agree it was most of baseball and not just them), it was the steroid era, amphetamines in the 70s and 80s, and much more. Hank Aaron was known to have an amphetamine cocktail in his locker that he would drink before every game.
Scrap Iron – You are misinformed and I think we disagree about how to measure cheating. I will address each of your assertions one at a time.
The HOUSTON cheating impacted up to 90 games that included regular season and post season. It impacted the order of finish in multiple division, the entire playoff picture and the ultimate outcome of the season. NOTHING has impacted RESULTS more than the HOUSTON cheating. The 1919 White Sox threw 5 games and got a lifetime ban. The 90 game impact drew a shortened season ban for 3 coaches who designed and implemented the cheating. NO players were penalized like Joe Jackson in 1919 because he knew about the cheating and told nobody.
The STEROID ERA is a complete joke. As a player in the 70s I was exposed to steroids all the time and nobody cared because it simply added the physical attributes of the players but not the skills. In 1987, somebody mistakenly changed the source of the MLB baseballs to a new provider. The balls were juiced compared to the 1986 and previous baseball so HRS jump close to 25% in 1987 which happened to be the year Mark McGwire joined the MLB. Canseco was a known steroid user and he hit a lot of HRs back then. What’s not mentioned is that well over 50% of the rest of players who weren’t big HR hitters also took steroids. Why did it help one guy and not others? Simple, it’s the bull crap people talk about when one player is far better than others. In 1988, the normal baseballs were returned to the MLB and HRs dropped close to 25% and the steroids were still common among players. That shows there was no impact from steroids just an illusion of an impact due to the added muscle. In 1994 the strike hit and Selig the former owner of the Brewers who supported his players taking steroids, stole the commissioners job from Fay Vincent and decided to make a name for himself as commissioner by swapping out the 1994 baseball with the 1987 baseball with 25% more juice. The end results was once again HRs jumped over 20% in 1995. Was that from steroids too? Absolutely not. Yes steroids were still common place as they had been since the 70s but the source of the baseball was the primary reason HRs jumped. Selig like the results and implemented the change in the source of the baseball and new slogans like chicks dig the long ball were implemented to help grow the game through the new juiced baseball. When angry fans from Mays and Aaron’s generation started complaining about the huge jump in HRs that would impact records Congress was petitioned to look into the fake scandal to protect the records of guys like Ruth and Aaron. Selig didn’t want to be known as the guy who jacked up the home run rate by introducing a juiced baseball so he threw and entire generation of players under the bus over steroids which had been around for over 3 decades without a mention. Then he crusaded to clean up baseball and find a place in the HOF as a commissioner. As far as cheating goes, as you are suggesting, it was NOT against the rules of baseball to take steroids in the 70s, 80s or 90s. In 2004 it a rule was passed banning steroids. The juiced ball was still in effect so HRs did not decrease as would be suggested by stricter testing because steroids didn’t drive the rise in HRs but clearly was being blamed by Selig the liar. So the steroids you mention wasn’t cheating NOR did it impact HR production like is being suggested.
Yes cheating has always existed and for the most part it was handled internally by baseball. Ty Cobb intentionally spiking players, cork in the bats dated back to when my father played in the 30s, stealing signs was always considered gamesmanship not cheating but it was one team seeking an advantage. Pitchers put foreign substances on the baseball or created notches to make the ball break more and that was cheating but in the end nothing had any close to the magnitude of tell every Houston player what pitch was coming for every home game during the regular season and playoffs for home games.
Was it ever against the rules of baseball to drink? Nope. Take amphetimines? Nope Steroids? Not til 2004. Relaying signals from 2nd base or the coaches box to the batter? Nope Hiring people to sit in the stands and relay the signs to the dugout so they can hit a can to tell the batter what the pitch was? No specific rule stated you couldn’t do it BUT the commissioner had the right to deem it unethical much like what the 1919 White Sox did and using the integrity of the game clause ban the three coaches and suspend all players who participated in the cheating. That didn’t happen thanks to the Players Association and Commissioner. All parties in the decision should have been reviewed after the fact and eliminated from their jobs for malfeasance.
What I wrote was NOT a flat out non-truth. You are simply uninformed as a baseball fan..
I simply refuse to read your long diatribe of feelings and emotions, none of which is actual fact. You provided more non-truth in your first paragraph about the Astros. All evidence points to it being a part of the season, not the entire season. It has been proven that they did not use the system in the playoffs, so, your arbitrary number came up with is incorrect.
You said that you were “ Player in the 70s” which means absolutely nothing. You are some guy on the Internet, who will probably claim that you played at some high-level or something, and there’s literally no way to prove what you were saying is true. You clearly have all kinds of feelings about the Astros, and that is your prerogative. It does not take away. The fact that baseball is rooted and cheating, you just choose to select one instance of cheating in place it above all others. That doesn’t make anything you say true, it just makes it your opinion.
Scrap Iron – I now understand. You are an Astro fan in denial. That’s fine to be supportive and deny the truth of what happened. There is documented proof of both the regular season and post season. Sorry the truth hurts.
As far as my actual baseball experience goes, I find no need to lie. I played against a few well known players from the 70s and there is documentation of it. Since this is the internet, stating my name would be a bad idea but I can prove in any non-open forum that I pitched against Mike Boddicker in college and many other well known players in the 70s.
Also, why would I create such an elaborate story to satisfy the lack of knowledge of a kid like you?
Clearly you are NOT a baseball fan since you make baseball to be all about cheating and not the glory of the game. That tells me you are young and never played but are an opinionated insecure person looking for attention.
I’m just an old guy sitting around talking baseball with other baseball fans who have lived the game for their entire lifetime and love chatting about their experiences. You don’t need to believe me and clearly you can’t share any personal experiences since you are too young and have never experienced the game itself.
Go on believing what you want to believe. If it helps you remain an Astro fan by denying their heinous crimes, that’s fine. I’m a Red Sox fan and I admit that Cora brought his cheating to Boston from Houston and he should have been banned a second time. That’s the difference between an adult talking baseball and a kid trying to rationalize the poor behavior of their favorite team.
Heinous crimes?? Haha you really are just some sensitive old man who has nothing better to do than to be “tragically hurt” by a sport. It’s ok, one day you will become a man.
Scrap Iron – What a bizarre comment. I’m not tragically hurt by the sport. Selig and others have tragically hurt the sport. I’m just reporting on it.
Becoming a man? You must really be young to state such an inappropriate comment. I hope your dad doesn’t punish you for using his id on this website!!
FYI… With no other crime costing more than 5 games doesn’t a crime that is 18 times as offensive make it heinous? You do know what heinous means? Right? It’s 18 time bigger and included many, many more people including front office, managers, coaches and players.
It’s like a murderer killing 18 people not 1. What analogy will help you comprehend the enormity of the Astro crime?
Scrap – Career years in 2018?
That was a team full of All-Stars and future HOF’ers.
Are you really not familiar with how many years Mookie has been a top MVP candidate?
Or that JD had a BETTER year in 2017?
Or that in 2018 Devers had by far the WORST year of his 8-year career.
Or that JBJ had FIVE seasons better than 2018
Or that Sale was injured and pitched just 158 innings in 2018.
Or that 7 0f Kimbrel’s prior 8 seasons were better than 2018.
Cora won in 2018 because he was handed an incredibly talented team by a HOF executive.
Betts batting average in 2018 was 50 points higher than his career average and his ops was over 100 points higher. Makes hitting much easier when he knows what’s coming. Also had one of his highest years with BBs. Deny it all you wish, but the average and ops alone are statistical anomalies for his career.
JD Martinez had the most hits, runs, and RBIs of his career that year. Not even close to other years. Also nearly had career highs in HRs and doubles. Batting average was a few points shy of 50 points higher than his average. Again, deny it all you want, but it’s much easier when you know what’s coming.
Cora won because he’s a cheater, based on everyone who cries about the Astros. He’s associated with all of it.
Scrap – The only one denying is you.
JD had a better year in 2017 before joining the Sox, that’s a fact. His HR% in 2017 was 9.2 and in 2018 it was only 6.6%. In fact his SLG dropped 61 points in 2018.
Mookie was an MVP runnerup in 2016, 2020 and 2023.
Bagging on those two is comical, even from a Sox hater like yourself. They were the best team in MLB that year, get over it.
Fever – Thanks for the support. This guy doesn’t use logic so it’s hard to have a discussion with him.
I’d rip him a new one but I think he’s a teenager or younger and wanted his 5 minutes of fame making ridiculous comments.