Boston — Alex Cora will no longer have to respond to queries about whether he can see himself managing the Yankees or any other team next season.
If any clubs were interested in the Red Sox skipper, who was slated to enter free agency following this season, those talks are over.
Cora, who was just awarded a three-year extension reportedly worth $21.75 million, can avoid questions regarding his future.
“I think in the end, people forgot about how much [my family and I] love this and how great this place is, regardless of the last two years,” Cora said Friday before his Red Sox defeated the Yankees 9-7. “To be quite honest, this is a dream job. “I have fallen in love with the city.”
Craig Counsell allowed his Brewers contract to expire last year and went on the free market, where he signed with the Cubs for five years and $40 million, reshaping the managerial market.
Cora, regarded as one of the finest in the game, might have used his leverage, as Counsell did, to see whether the Yankees would be willing to replace Aaron Boone at the end of the season — and, of course, what contracts any other team may have offered.
Instead, he used his clout to get what a beaming Boone described as “a pretty good deal.”
“Happy for him,” Boone remarked. “Obviously, he’s an important part of that organization and what they do.” One of the game’s truly outstanding managers. I’m quite happy for him; it’s well earned.
“He’s paying next time I see him.”
Cora admitted that money was important, but the two most important aspects for him were winning and ensuring that his family was comfortable.
His family is content in Boston, and he hopes that the winning — he mentioned players he likes in the big leagues and minor leagues with the Red Sox — will follow.
Cora and his family are pleased with the Red Sox, in large part because the team welcomed them back.
He was sacked in January 2020 and suspended for the rest of the season following the league’s investigation into the Astros’ cheating plan in 2017, when Cora was bench coach and was discovered to be one of the masterminds of the sign-stealing system.
In 2021, he returned to lead the Boston clubhouse.
“These people, they gave me a chance in 2017,” stated Cora, who was first hired in October 2017. “After the scandal and suspension, they gave me a chance to join the team.” And that was a significant factor in our selection.”
