Alex Cora will be available to manage in the major leagues in 2021. It seems unlikely he will be doing so with the Red Sox, however.
Talking with the media via a Wednesday night conference call, the Red Sox chief decision-makers, Chaim Bloom and Sam Kennedy, painted the picture that the organization was moving on from Cora despite the fact the former Sox manager's suspension from Major League Baseball ended following the 2020 postseason.
The most pointed determination came from the team's Chief Baseball Officer.
"At the time that we parted ways with Alex we were clear that that was a result of his role and what happened with the Astros and everything the investigation over there revealed," said Bloom, referring to Cora's role in the Astros' 2017 cheating scandal. "It had nothing to do with what may or may not have occurred in Boston and that's still the case. All the reasons we parted ways then are still the case."
Kennedy offered a more tempered take, but still ultimately landed on the same conclusion regarding Cora's fate.
"I think Chaim just said it well. Ron Roenicke is our manager and I can add we did part ways with Alex Cora given what had happened in Houston and it was a mutual parting of the ways," the team president said. "It was a difficult parting of the ways because everyone in the Red Sox — John Henry, Tom Werner, myself, Chaim, BOH — We all have great admiration and respect for Alex. But he had come to the conclusion as did we that we needed to part ways given the conduct in Houston and nothing has changed on that front."
The question most likely won't completely go away until the Red Sox extend Roenicke's current deal, which runs out after the 2020 season. They did at least remove the interim tag from the current Sox' manager's title.
"I should clarify: The fact the contract runs out after 2020 doesn't mean that he can't or won't manage beyond that date," explained Bloom. "It's just we thought we were best served, given the uniqueness of the situation, maintaining the length of the contract. I would repeat everything I said on the day we named him interim manager. I was really impressed getting to know him through the interview process and things I had heard about him throughout the league.
"Right now there are obviously much bigger things going on in society, but when you look at what happened leading into spring training, with the big trade, with everything going on with this investigation, Ron being named the manager immediately prior to spring training, that's a lot for any group to handle. And I thought, seeing how the group went about their business and when you saw how they handled everything, that is a testament to the professionalism of our players but also a testament to Ron and his presence and how he handled things. We were thrilled to see that. It just speaks to how our players responded to him, which is exactly what we hoped for when we named him to that role. I don't see that as a problem for our group. I could see how some people might see it that way but I don't see it as a problem. We were very clear to Ron that the reasons we thought sticking with the terms of his existing contract was the right thing to do. This situation did not imply anything about how we felt about him. He's more than meant the expectations we had for him."
Kennedy was also asked he believed Cora deserved another chance.
"I do, that's my personal feeling," he said. "He does need to go through a rehabilitation process as you said. What he did was wrong. He acknowledged that to us and apologized it to us for that. But I'm a big believer in second chances so we all wish him well."
