The Boston Red Sox made a decisive move on Saturday following a 17-1 blowout win over the Baltimore Orioles, firing manager Alex Cora along with four other coaches. The Red Sox are 11-17 and sit at the bottom of the American League East.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox are not the only team that is struggling right now. Three other teams are off to slow starts and may have managers on the heat seat soon, if they don’t already.
One of those teams is the Houston Astros, who have the worst record in the entire American League at 11-18. They aren’t out of contention yet based solely on how many games back they are, but the season is starting to slip away from them.
Following Cora’s dismissal from the Red Sox, Bob Nightengale of USA Today proposed a solution for the Astros if they decide to can Joe Espada.
“You believe the Houston Astros will simply still stick with Joe Espada without making a call to Cora, their bench coach when they won the 2017 World Series championship, to at least gauge his interest?” Nightengale wrote.
Astros, Cora Reunion Possible
Cora was one of the most prominent names brought up when news of the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal came to light. He left for Boston after the Astros won their title in 2017. He was ultimately let go before the 2020 season as a result of the scandal, but Boston brought him back in 2021.
Still, Cora has a strong track record, having won a World Series title in 2018 with Boston, so there could at least be some intrigue from the Astros’ point of view. They could use somebody with the experience that Cora brings, and it’s not as if they have had a lot of success under Espada.
Espada took over for Dusty Baker after the 2023 season. Houston had to overcome a dreadful start just to win the weak AL West in 2024 and were bounced out in the wild card round. Last season, they narrowly missed the postseason as the Detroit Tigers took the final wild card spot.
Cora is obviously quite familiar with players such as Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa. Those are the last two holdovers from Houston’s 2017 World Series championship team, so reuniting with them could be an interesting turn of events, especially if the Astros do not recover from their slow start to the season. We’ll see if they give Cora a call or decide to at least move on from Espada.
Multiple Teams Could Make Sense for Cora
Of course, the Astros are not the only team that was brought up in Nightengale’s assessment of Cora’s future. The New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies are both tied for the worst record in Major League Baseball. Both Rob Thomson and Carlos Mendoza could be on the hot seat before long, if they aren’t already.
So, if the Astros want to bring Cora into the fold, they won’t be the only team that may show interest in him as a possible solution to their problems.
Astros Mentioned in MLB Insider’s Assessment of Alex Cora’s Future