The Boston Red Sox fired manager Alex Cora on April 25, ending an eight-year run with the team. Cora had gone 10-17 with the team before his firing, with the Red Sox near the bottom of the league.
With interim manager Chad Tracy going 54-37 with the team, including some red-hot streaks, Cora has said little about his tenure ending.
Cora spoke to Karl Ravech and Justin Musil on the “Dirt from the Dugout” podcast Monday night. He repeatedly spoke about being happy to have spent this time with his family and also touched on the end of his tenure with the Red Sox.
What Did the Former Boston Red Sox Manager Say?
Cora preached about his love for his family amid his absence for most of the season.
“I’m like, you know what, I needed my family, for how much I love the game,” Cora said. “I’ll say it again, it’s three different feelings: happy for my family, upset that they didn’t let me finish the job, and honestly, relieved I don’t have to go through scouting reports and the matrix and talk to the media twice a day and live in the bubble of, ‘We have to do this.’
It’s understandable to enjoy the break from the game and to spend quality time with loved ones. However, Cora might have the itch to get back soon.
“I think at one point, I’m gonna get back,” Cora said. “When? We don’t know. We don’t know.”
However, he will delegate the decision to his family.
“There’s three different opinions in that room up there,” Cora added in a nod to his children and fiancée at home. “If you ask the boys, they want me to manage, and they have their teams. If you ask Angelica, she’s very polite about it. Let’s see what the future holds.”
Update on Team
Despite firing a World Series champion in Cora, the Red Sox have not missed a beat. At one point, Tracy had the Red Sox win 31 of 36 games from June 25 to early August.
However, since then, the Red Sox have lost three consecutive games to the Athletics and Toronto Blue Jays.
In those three games, the Red Sox have scored a combined seven runs, falling far from where they were on that electric streak.
This included an absolute wild loss to the Blue Jays on Monday night, where the Red Sox scored their only run by review on a scoreboard mixup. While that play benefited Boston, not much has gone their way of late.
Jake Bennett on Saturday had a bad start against the A’s, with four runs in 5.1 innings. The bullpen could not hold it to a close game that night, nor could they the next day. In a bullpen game when Brayan Bello was the bulk reliever, Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman gave up runs to lose the game.
On Monday, Sonny Gray was just outdueled by Jameson Taillon, Simeon Woods Richardson and the Blue Jays bullpen.
While it could be the Red Sox just going back down to earth for a little bit, it is a concerning stretch nonetheless that could impact the playoff race as Boston sits third in the AL East.
Ex-Red Sox Manager Alex Cora Reveals True Feelings on Firing, MLB Future