Should the Red Sox give Alex Cora a contract extension?
BOSTON -- The Red Sox are one of the biggest surprises in baseball, sitting at an impressive 16-13 one month into the 2024 season. Despite a slew of injuries up and down the roster, Boston is currently third in the American League East.
How did they get here? Kutter Crawford and Tanner Houck have been stellar on the mound, helping the team overcome the losses of Lucas Giolito, Brayan Bello, Nick Pivetta, and Garrett Whitlock in the rotation. Tyler O'Neill's bat remains hot as he's mashed nine homers in his 20 games played, and after a slow start, Rafael Devers is starting to heat up at the plate as well.
But a lot of the success can be traced back to manager Alex Cora, who is a master communicator with his players. The Red Sox have an "us against the world" mentality this season, and while there have been bumps along the way, it looks like this team will remain in contention for a playoff spot all the way up to October.
Anything can happen in October. But at the moment, as soon as the World Series ends, Alex Cora would no longer be manager of the Boston Red Sox. WBZ-TV's Dan Roche says the team needs to change that immediately.
With no contract after this season, Cora is sitting as a lame duck manager, which doesn't happen all that often in baseball. Teams either extend a manager before they enter the final year of their contract, or they move on from them. Craig Breslow kept Cora when he took over as chief baseball officer, but the two sides have yet to agree on an extension.
Roche says that retaining Cora -- who led the Red Sox to a franchise record 108 wins and a World Series title in 2018 -- is a no-brainer for Boston.
"If I'm Tom Werner, John Henry, Craig Breslow, and Sam Kennedy, I quickly do a study of what are the top 5 managerial salaries in baseball and the averages of," Roche said during this week's baseball chat with Joe Weil for WBZ.com. "I call Alex Cora in, and just say, 'Listen Alex, we look at what you do and we know that you won a World Series. We know you're in the category of the best managers in the game. Here is a five-year deal at the average of the top-five [managerial] salaries in baseball. We want to secure you as the man that is in Boston for a long time, to lead this organization from a managerial standpoint.'
"I think right now would be the perfect time to send messages all throughout baseball, all throughout the organization, and say this is our guy for years to come," added Rochie. "I think he deserves that status of a Bruce Bochy, a Joe Torre when he was in his prime. You're not going to get much better than Alex Cora in Boston, [a great] match in a tough place to manage. I would secure him, and if he turns it down so be it."
The bigger question is really whether or not Cora wants to remain in Boston, given ownership's lack of commitment over the last few years. And if the Red Sox let Cora go, he probably won't be without a job for long. Teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees could both be in the market for a new skipper after the season, and would jump at a chance to add Cora.
"He's not going to sit out a season," said Roche. "He'll be right back in a dugout in a high-profile job for a high-profile team."
