It's a fate that might not be deserved, but welcome to sports. In the aftermath of the Astros (and then Red Sox) investigations by Major League Baseball, the Red Sox and Alex Cora parted ways last offseason, and instead of conducting a long search went within the organization for his replacement. Bench coach Ron Roenicke was given the interim manager tag, with the "interim" part removed shortly before the season. After a pretty miserable 60-game season, he's out.
To be clear, it's not really his fault the Sox finished 24-36, good for last in the AL East. Mookie Betts and David Price were traded, Chris Sale and Eduardo Rodriguez missed the year and the pitching staff that saw a combined 23 starts made by Zack Godley, Ryan Weber, Matt Hall, Mike Kickham, Kyle Hart, Chris Mazza, Josh Osich and Andrew Triggs. Alas, in the business of baseball Roenicke is out, leaving president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom to bring in "his" guy. But who will that be? Here are five candidates:
Alex Cora: Let's get this out of the way now. Boston and Cora mutually parted ways last winter in midst of the writing on the wall. His role in the Astros' sign-stealing scandal (plus whatever slap on the wrist was tacked on for the Sox investigation) ended with a one-year suspension from baseball. That suspension will end once the league year is over, and he's free to return to baseball in whatever form he's capable.
There are two working theories here: 1) He's pretty clearly the best guy for the job, having won a World Series with the Sox just two years ago and working wonders with folks like Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts. 2) Chaim Bloom now runs the team and he seemed timid when asked about Cora on Sunday, saying "I still don't really want to get into any detail on my thoughts on Alex", which isn't a ringing endorsement. Not to mention there would be a round of potential bad PR for whoever is the first to hire Cora (or AJ Hinch for that matter). The likelihood here is that while Cora has proven he can do the job, he won't get it this time around.
Jason Varitek: Fans have pined for him to be the manager for years now, and at first it seemed premature. After retiring in 2011 the former club captain was named a special assistant to the general manager, and has kept essentially the same role now for three GMs (Ben Cherington, Dave Dombrowski, Chaim Bloom). Four or five years ago the theory was that he was too green, never having managed a game before. But he's spent the last few years in the dugout, surely learning aspects of the job, and there is now a proven stretch of managers with no prior experience (Cora, Kevin Cash, Mike Matheny, Aaron Boone, Rocco Baldelli and Dave Roberts all had limited managerial experience prior to their hires).
Matt Quatraro: If I had to pick a favorite, it'd be the 46-year-old Quatraro, currently serving as Kevin Cash's bench coach in Tampa Bay. Bloom obviously has the connection with him already, having come to the Sox from the Rays a year ago, and he's taken your classic route to a big-league dugout: he started out as an assistant in the minors and college, then a minor-league manager, was promoted to Tampa's minor league hitting instructor for four years, became Cleveland's assistant hitting coach 2014, returned to Tampa as the third-base coach in 2017 and finally became the bench coach in 2019. The next step is becoming a manager, and since Cash isn't going anywhere, that would likely have to come outside the Rays' organization.
Mark Kotsay: The former journeyman is of the Varitek mold in that he has no real managerial experience, but is respected within clubhouses. A 17-year veteran (including a short stint with Boston between 2008-09), Kotsay is currently a quality control coach for the Athletics. He's been with the team since 2016, having also served as the team's bench coach, and started out with San Diego as a special assistant to the GM in 2014 before graduating to hitting coach. He didn't interview for the Sox job last winter, but was a candidate in both San Francisco and Pittsburgh, and it seems only a matter of time before the 44-year-old gets a skipper job of his own.
Sam Fuld: Another journeyman MLBer as a player (eight years, four teams), Fuld retired in 2015 and was immediately hired by the Phillies as an information coordinator in the front office, where he's been ever since. He's been linked to a bunch of jobs in the last two years, most notably pulling his own name out of consideration after interviewing for the Blue Jays' opening in 2018, and the consensus around the majors is that he's on a fast-track to manage someone. A New Hampshire native, he'd likely feel right at home in Boston.
