May 24, 2018; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Boston Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski manager Alex Cora (20) talk prior to the game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports Kim Klement
PHILADELPHIA — In his first meeting with media members since the Phillies fired Rob Thomson and promoted Don Mattingly to interim manager, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski was asked if he tried to hire Alex Cora as manager as USA Today's Bob Nightengale reported Tuesday morning.
"Yeah, I did," Dombrowski acknowledged. "I talked to Alex. We never got down to the nuts and bolts of things, but I did talk to him. He actually called me Saturday night. He just called me as a friend Saturday night after he had heard about it. I guess he calls me one of his mentors, and we talked, he had never been through that before.
"We talked on Sunday morning. I think Alex Cora is one of the finest managers in the game of baseball. I've been fortunate enough to work with Hall of Fame managers like Tony La Russa and Jim Leyland. I've been very fortunate in my career. I think if Alex Cora decides to keep managing, he has a chance to be in that same category, that's how good he is."
Cora, and much of the staff for the Red Sox, was fired last Saturday following a 10-17 start for Boston. Dombrowski was the president of baseball operations for the Red Sox from August of 2015 through September of 2019. He hired Cora to be the manager of the Red Sox ahead of the 2018 season. The 2018 Red Sox won a franchise record 108 games and the World Series with the Dombrowski-Cora duo at the helm.
Ultimately, despite great mutual respect between the two, Cora opted not to take the job now.
"And I talked to him on Sunday morning. We talked about potentially taking the job. I told him I had really come to the conclusion at that point if he took it, I was going to make a change. And I thought that he might take it. But as time went on over the next day into Monday morning, it was apparent from his perspective that he wanted to take time with his family. It wasn't because of pay, or because he's paid through next year, but he just felt that he at this point wanted to be a father first and foremost. And so, that's what he had decided."
Cora is under contract with the Red Sox through 2027, and Boston will still be on the hook for the remainder of a three-year/$21.75 million deal over that period. There's no rush for the 50-year-old to jump back into another job. He'll likely have plenty of suitors in the offseason, not just the Phillies. He's hinted in the past about being unsure as he wants to manage as long as guys like La Russa and Leyland did.
Dombrowski was later asked whether it should be assumed Cora will be the manager after this season.
"No, you should not," Dombrowski replied.
Still, until Don Mattingly is either given the job on a full-time basis or someone else is hired, it's hard not to feel like Cora is the front-runner to be the skipper of the Phillies in 2027.
