Red Sox Given Permission To Interview Diamondbacks Bench Coach Luis Urueta For Managerial Opening
BOSTON (CBS) -- With spring training inching closer and closer, the Red Sox are expanding their managerial search to candidates outside of Fenway Park. Boston has received permission to interview Arizona Diamondbacks bench coach Luis Urueta, as first reported Friday by ESPN Deportes.
Urueta is the first known external candidate that the Red Sox will interview, according to The Boston Globe's Alex Speier, as they search for a replacement for Alex Cora. The 39-year-old Columbia native will bring an interesting resume to his conversation with the Boston brass, which will reportedly take place over the phone.
Urueta dreamed of being a professional soccer player growing up, but that changed when fellow countryman Edgar Renteria hit a walk-off single in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series to lift the Florida Marlins to a title. He had a five-year career in the minors for the Diamondbacks and St. Louis Cardinals before spending four years overseas playing in Italy.
He joined the Arizona coaching staff in 2008, serving a variety of roles in their minor league system -- from coach to manager to coordinator -- before joining Torey Lovullo's big league staff in 2018. He was promoted to bench coach for the 2020 season.
Urueta has managerial experience, manning the bench in the winter league in both Colombia and the Dominican Republic. He's also served as Columbia's manager in the World Baseball Classic.
The Red Sox are in need of a new manager after parting ways with Cora following MLB's investigation into the 2018 Houston Astros cheating scandal, which revealed Cora as the mastermind behind Houston's sign-stealing scheme. The team doesn't have much time to find a new skipper before spring training, with pitchers and catcher set to report to Fort Myers, Florida on Feb. 11.