It’s kind of hard to believe that Alex Cora had no managerial experience before the Boston Red Sox brought the former infielder in as skipper ahead of the 2018 season.
Cora interviewed for a few managerial spots in advance of the 2017 season before landing with the Houston Astros as their bench coach.
One of the teams Cora interviewed with was the Arizona Diamondbacks. At the time, the D-Backs were pretty sold on Torey Lovullo as their next manager, but brought Cora in for an interview nonetheless. And with the Red Sox heading to Arizona for a three-game set, Cora joked about the process, bringing up the phone call he had with D-Backs’ general manager Mike Hazen as he learned he wasn’t getting the job.
“When I got home a few days later, Mike calls me,” Cora said, via MLB.com’s Ian Browne. “And he’s like, ‘We’re going in a different direction. We feel like you need to gain experience.’ Jokingly, sarcastically, but actually being honest I said, ‘You thought I was going to gain experience from San Juan to Phoenix (for the interview)?’ ”
Cora eventually landed with the Astros, turning down a bench position on Lovullo’s staff.
“I was like, ‘It’s the trendiest organization, sabermetrics, the way they do things, and the chance to win.’ It was right there with the Astros,” Cora said. “But Mike was the one that said just be on the field and things are going to happen quick. He was right.”
A year later, he strolled into Boston like the new sheriff in town, and the rest is history.
Safe to say he has enough experience now.
