Red Sox officially hire Alex Cora as their new manager

We’ve more or less known that the Red Sox were probably going to hire Alex Cora for the last few days, and when Ken Rosenthal reported it was going to happen any apprehension mostly went away. Still, it’s never over until it’s really over. Well, it’s really over. On Sunday, the Red Sox officially announced that Cora, a former Red Sox infielder and current Houston Astros bench coach, will be their next manager. He’s been signed to a three-year contract with an option for a fourth year.

Cora was always the preferred choice of this blog, both by the writers and the readers. He seemed like the perfect candidate as the Red Sox were looking for a change from John Farrell. In Cora, they have a younger coach who has experience both in the dugout and the front office — though it should be noted that most of that has come in Puerto Rico rather than in the majors. He has been renowned in Houston for his ability to connect to all players in the clubhouse, something that Dave Dombrowski specifically said he was looking for. There is also the important fact that he has experienced baseball in Boston before, so he at least has some idea of the media storm that will be awaiting him at his new job. On the field, he has also shown a willingness to embrace analytics, which has to be encouraging. There is a lot we don’t know about Cora, both with respect to his handling of clubhouses and his in-house managing styles. Still, all signs point towards this being the ideal hiring.

Cora is, of course, on the Astros staff which means he still has some unfinished business in 2017. Since his team is still participating in the upcoming World Series, the introductory press conference will wait until that the conclusion of the series. The team will also refrain from comment from now until then as well. That being said, both Cora, Dombrowski and John Henry did release statements on the hiring, which can be read below.

We’ll have more on this story as we learn more, but for now we can relax. Step one for the Red Sox offseason in complete.