The Boston Red Sox have narrowed their managerial search down to a handful of candidates, and the biggest name among them is a very familiar one.
MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reported on Sunday that Alex Cora is considered a finalist for the Red Sox manager job. Cora joins several current bench coaches from around Major League Baseball.
Sources suggest these are the likely finalists for the Red Sox managing job: Sam Fuld, James Rowson, Don Kelly, Carlos Mendoza and Alex Cora.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 1, 2020
Cora’s year-long suspension for his role in the Houston Astros’ cheating scandal officially ended last week. The Red Sox have reportedly been in touch with him multiple times since then, and there is a growing belief that they want to bring him back.
Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom has not ruled out including Cora as part of the team’s search for a manager, and a recent report claimed Cora still has the support of Boston’s ownership group.
Cora was painted as one of the masterminds behind Astros’ sign-stealing scheme. He was a bench coach with Houston at the time, but the Red Sox were also accused of committing violations while Cora was manager. Those violations were much less severe and Cora was found to be not involved.
As far as Major League Baseball is concerned, everything Cora did wrong came before he was hired as manager of the Red Sox. Cora won the World Series with Boston in his first year on the job in 2018, and players stood by him after news of the Astros scandal blew up.
