Maybe Hinch can take a brief vacation and give Cora some practice in some meaningless games before he takes the helm of the sox.
Alex Cora named Red Sox manager
- Thread starter RedOctober3829
- Start date
Perhaps Cora can arrange for some flying monkeys to attack the MFY bullpen. Just keep him out of rain delays.
I'd be surprised as well. I'm a little concerned about where he would play and how the other pieces would have to be rearranged.
I figured at least pitchers and catchers day.
By all reports this is a good hire. What will be interesting is as the Sox hitters regress (upgress?) to their career norms; does Cora get the credit or is just the young kids figuring it out.
Obvious fit might be his brother Joey as bench coach. It’s a promotion from his base coach position in Pittsburgh.
Carl Everett for hitting coach. If the players don't hit he'll beat the shit out of them. Or beat up the Umps if the zone sucks (He loves beating on Umps). Just don't mention dinosaurs in the dugout.
Very pleased with this move, I swore it’d be Ausmus. Cora is loved by players and Pedro, Papi, Tek, etc have to be very excited.
Seems like the right hire. He'll make head-scratching moves, and the team will still do some stupid things. Some fans will even think that the team looks "unprepared" at times. But it appears that he'll be a really good clubhouse presence and will do well relating to the players, areas that seem to have been Farrell's biggest shortcomings.
This. I’m excited about this hire. By all accounts an excellent baseball mind. They just need a good pitching coach. I’d love Hickey because of Price.
I like your thinking! Everett for hitting coach, Alcantara for assistant hitting coach, and Aceves for pitching coach.
Thanks for putting it so clearly.
This.
Dave Dombrowski off-season to do list:
- Fire John Farrell. Replace with Alex Cora. Done.
- Sign a power bat.
- Find new hitting and pitching coaches.
- Sign Nunez or similar.
- Settle on an 8th inning guy.
- Resolve the 1B / DH question if not resolved by above.
Great addition! I knew there was another hothead pitcher that I was missing. LOL
So isn't Cora the first minority manager in team history? If so, shouldn't this narrative be a big part of his hiring? And once again, isn't this yet another level of behind-the-curve crap from this organization on minority hires (i.e., in addition to the players themselves)?
Is it really that important? Can't it just be a good hire of a guy whom everyone has been saying is the next big thing as far as managers go?
No, this shouldn't be a big part of this hiring, unless you think he was hired because he is a minority.
You know how many minority Managers there were in MLB this past season? Three, and one has since been fired. The whole league is behind the curve on this, not the Sox.
This is the hottest of hot takes.
The Sox are actually ahead of the curve in hiring a minority manager because they are nowhere near the last team to hire one.
I like the move. As I've mentioned before, Cora used to be on the Baseball Tonight podcast a lot before he became Astros bench coach, and he always seemed to be very sharp.
I don't think they hired him BECAUSE he's bilingual, but I think that could be a nice advantage.
And one person who has to be happy with the hiring is Rusney Castillo. Cora is his biggest booster, and since the Sox will be over the luxury tax anyway, maybe Rusney gets a chance to fill Chris Young's role next year.
I don't think they hired him BECAUSE he's bilingual, but I think that could be a nice advantage.
And one person who has to be happy with the hiring is Rusney Castillo. Cora is his biggest booster, and since the Sox will be over the luxury tax anyway, maybe Rusney gets a chance to fill Chris Young's role next year.
It is a pretty short list. As far as I can tell, only the Yankees, Twins, A's and Phillies have never had a minority manager. A couple other teams have never given a minority permanent status as manager, but at least had them managing on an interim basis.
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In case people aren't aware, Cora has social media accounts worth following:
https://www.instagram.com/ac13alex/
https://twitter.com/ac13alex
https://www.instagram.com/ac13alex/
https://twitter.com/ac13alex
Coma may be a genius, but not sure if he can survive the SoSH criticism.
JK. Bring on the new season, now that 2017 won't be an addition to the rings of the Evil Empire. Put Tek in as bench coach, because even the genius needs access to a computer.
JK. Bring on the new season, now that 2017 won't be an addition to the rings of the Evil Empire. Put Tek in as bench coach, because even the genius needs access to a computer.
I could see it working out depending on their relationship, but I'd generally lean against having the bench coach be a sibling or close friend of the manager. The bench coach has to be willing to challenge the manager when he makes a bad call.
Aren't Tito and Brad Mills the best of friends? That partnership seems to have worked out pretty well.
I can't remember being as excited about a new Red Sox manager as I am with Cora's hiring. We obviously didn't know what we had with Tito, and while I did like the idea of hiring Farrell the fact that his tenure didn't go so well in Toronto was at least a little concerning. Otherwise - meh (or worse in BV's case). I can't recall Boston ever being the destination of choice for the top managerial candidates in the game.
Alex Cora seems to be exactly what this particular team needs right now - the clubhouse missed David Ortiz's leadership badly this season and we are now hearing that Farrell was more of a hands-off management figure and let the clubhouse be. I like that Cora is coming from a team where a similar young core of talented players has established themselves, as well as his experience working in the Puerto Rican winter league and being the general manager of the island's WBC team. I'm confident that this experience and his bilingual abilities are going to pay tremendous dividends for this particular Sox team.
Regarding coaches - I hope Brian Bannister is given first shot at the pitching coach position unless Cora feels strongly about another candidate. Similarly, I hope Butterfield and Levangie are retained in their roles based on how highly both seem to be regarded. The rest of the staff is fungible IMO - Chili Davis seems like a good guy but a new voice is almost certainly needed for the hitters. While the conventional wisdom says that Cora should bring on an old hand as his bench coach, his own experience in that role for A.J. Hinch might lead him to find his own 'next Alex Cora' to serve in that capacity. I wouldn't be shocked if he does hire his brother for that position.
Alex Cora seems to be exactly what this particular team needs right now - the clubhouse missed David Ortiz's leadership badly this season and we are now hearing that Farrell was more of a hands-off management figure and let the clubhouse be. I like that Cora is coming from a team where a similar young core of talented players has established themselves, as well as his experience working in the Puerto Rican winter league and being the general manager of the island's WBC team. I'm confident that this experience and his bilingual abilities are going to pay tremendous dividends for this particular Sox team.
Regarding coaches - I hope Brian Bannister is given first shot at the pitching coach position unless Cora feels strongly about another candidate. Similarly, I hope Butterfield and Levangie are retained in their roles based on how highly both seem to be regarded. The rest of the staff is fungible IMO - Chili Davis seems like a good guy but a new voice is almost certainly needed for the hitters. While the conventional wisdom says that Cora should bring on an old hand as his bench coach, his own experience in that role for A.J. Hinch might lead him to find his own 'next Alex Cora' to serve in that capacity. I wouldn't be shocked if he does hire his brother for that position.
If Xander turns into Carlos Correa under Cora's watch, I'll surgically erase the parts of my brain that make me remember all the dreaded Sunday lineups that featured Cora.
Might be time for somebody to start a Cora's Coaching Staff thread (I'm probably not the best guy) but I was going to chime in with the same thoughts on Butterfield in particular. He seems well liked by the players and offers some stability and familiarity during the transition. I would like to see them hold on to Bannister as well but I think you have to make a call to Mike Maddux now that he's available. Particularly with a young manager I would like to see him surround himself with a more experienced staff.
Hiding behind the poor recent minority hiring numbers in all baseball doesn't justify squat - it just makes the Sox one of a number of teams that should be criticized. And even moreso than most other teams because at least a good number of those teams have hired minority managers in the past. Sorry, but the Sox should be scrutinized especially hard here because of their shameful history of lagging behind everyone else in breaking the color barrier on the field. The organization has made great strides in minority-related issues over the last few decades on multiple levels so there's that of course, but still, the first Latino (Preston Gomez) and black (Frank Robinson) managerial hires happened over 40 years ago, and for us, it was yesterday. I'm not trying to be a buzzkill - I'm very happy about the Cora signing including because he seemed by far the best candidate - but just feel that this sorry legacy should be acknowledged somewhere
I dunno, I can see an older brother fulfilling that role really well. "Nice call on that bunt play, numb nuts. Pedroia! Hold my brother's arms while I give him a purple nurple."
With ex-#Rays pitching coach Hickey meeting today w/ #Cubs, expect decision within a few days. #RedSox, #Cardinals very much interested also
You're worse than my sister yelling at me for not doing the dishes enough *while* I'm doing the dishes. They did a good thing. Move forward with them.
Man, that takes me back to the time Correa was chasing Bogaerts on the BA top 100 list, and EVERYONE was hoping to catch Jurickson Profar. Granted, Correa was just 5 spots back of Xander while 2 years younger...
Consider current management criticized. And hey, they just hired a minority manager, so that's that.
If you want to criticize them about an ongoing problem in hiring minorities for other positions, and/or criticize other teams about minority hiring, please do, because it's a real issue. But, honestly, the timing of this seems like a johnny-come-lately critique prompted by the fact that the Sox have actually hired a minority manager. If you've been beating this particular drum re: minority managers prior to this week, you have my apology regarding the timing of your critique.
I mentioned this in the game thread, but didn't see it called out elsewhere... soon after the Astros took out the MFY, relief hero Lance McCullers Jr was caught on the field looking around and calling out "Where's Cora?" obviously looking for a hug.
I know it means next to nothing, but I liked it.
I know it means next to nothing, but I liked it.
