Alex Cora had his ducks in a row just in case things with the Boston Red Sox didn’t work out.
Cora spent the 2020 season suspended for his role in the Houston Astros' 2017 cheating scandal. He and the Red Sox had parted ways before the season, and a return to Boston never was a sure thing.
But ahead of the 2021 campaign, Cora met with Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom and convinced him that he was worth taking a chance on. Bloom agreed it was worth the risk, and Boston rehired the manager who led them to a World Series title in his first season as a manager in 2018.
Had things not worked out so favorably for Cora, he said on Audacy’s “Inside the Monster” podcast that he was prepared to return to ESPN as an analyst.
“I think Bristol, Connecticut (is what I would’ve done), Cora said. “That was actually my plan. At the moment, going through the whole thing in 2020, talking to the family and planning ahead, it was go back to Bristol, people will see you, you talk about everything and then somebody will give you a chance in two or three years.
“But it just happened that this group, they believe in me, they gave me a chance to talk to Chaim and try to convince him or try to convince the organization that I was the right guy for the job. They gave me a chance, and I’m here because of that. It was going to be Bristol 100 percent. Go back to the Homewood Suites or whatever and stay there for a few days and do the playoffs and all of that, which it’s great, but I never thought it was going to happen this quickly to be honest with you."
Cora led the Red Sox to Game 6 of the ALCS in his first season back with Boston, while being steadfast in his belief that he learned his lesson from the ordeal with the Astros.
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