The Alex Cora question came up again Tuesday afternoon: Would the Red Sox consider bringing him back as the team’s manager?
This time, Red Sox president Sam Kennedy used his answer not necessarily to clarify the organization’s stance on Cora but rather to make it clear regarding the actual hiring process.
“I think it’s an opportunity to sort of clarify the process and decision making with respect to our managerial opportunity as we go forward,” Kennedy said during an end-of-season Zoom call. “We as ownership, yours truly as president and CEO of the team, were fortunate to be able to recruit Chaim Bloom to the Boston Red Sox from Tampa. We went through a restructuring with Brian O’Halloran taking on more responsibilities. Same for Raq (Raquel Ferreira) and Eddie (Romero) and Zack (Scott). I just want to be very clear that Chaim and his team will run the process and ultimately make the decision on who the next manager of the Boston Red Sox will be. We are not going to talk about candidates.
"Right now, I’m sure at some point it will be appropriate to, and Chaim will address that. My job as president and CEO is to run the organization day to day. Hopefully we do a good job of putting the right people in the right places to make those decisions and trust and empower them to make those decisions. When it comes to the managerial selection for the Boston Red Sox, that rests squarely with our baseball operation and ultimately with Chaim Bloom.”
The answer was notable in part because of one narrative that suggested ownership would be pushing for particular candidates for perception sake.
Bloom mad it clear Sunday that the baseball operations group is still very early in the process, not having made a list of candidates as earlier in the week.
They do, however, have the benefit of having gone through the process in January when Cora and the team parted ways following the former manager’s one-year suspension.
“I think a little bit,” the Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer said when asked if having spent almost a year in his new organization might alter his view of what is needed in a Red Sox manager. “First of all, this search that we were doing back in January was so unique in terms of the circumstances under which the job was open, the timing of it and what that demanded of the manager, and I think this is a little different just by virtue of that timing. I think I also have a better understanding of the organization, a better understanding of who everybody is, and I think that helps. Granted it’s a very different year so I think some of those big picture characteristics that you’d want in a manager I think are things you’d want in a manager no matter how long you’ve been in an organization, no matter where you were, but I do think I have a better understanding. But still, those essential qualities we need to make sure are in place.”