54-year-old Joey Cora, the older brother of current Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora, has emerged as a strong candidate to be the New York Mets bench coach, MLB Insider Jon Heyman reports.
Joey Cora has emerged as candidate for Mets bench coach. Has ties to Omar Minaya and Carlos Beltran. Cora, Pirates 3B coach last year and interviewee for their managing job, is thought to be strong candidate for Mets. Other known candidates: Fredi Gonzalez, Jerry Narron.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 18, 2019
Cora has been coaching for the Pittsburgh Pirates since 2017, most recently serving as their third-base coach.
He also has experience with the Marlins in 2012 and the White Sox (2004-11) in addition to minor league managerial experience with the Mets and Pirates organizations.
As first reported by Mike Puma of the New York Post, new Mets manager Carlos Beltran prefers former Mets manager Terry Collins as his favorite to fill the bench coach position, but the team plans to have Collins stay on as a special adviser to general manager Brodie Van Wagenen.
Other candidates include Ron Wotus, Jerry Naron and Fredi Gonzalez.
