Alex Cora Is The Red Sox's New Manager

It's official. Alex Cora will manage the Red Sox in 2018.

Cora, who turned 42 last Wednesday (he is one month older than David Ortiz), signed a three-year contract as the 47th manager in franchise history. Cora played with the Red Sox from 2005-08, winning a World Series in 2007.

Cora is not quite ready to assume his new duties, however. As bench coach for the Astros, he will be busy battling the Dodgers in the World Series for the rest of the month.

Cora:

I am extremely honored and humbled to be named manager of the Boston Red Sox and I want to thank Dave, John Henry, Tom Werner, and Sam Kennedy for giving me such a tremendous opportunity. Returning to the Red Sox and the city of Boston is a dream come true for me and my family and I look forward to working towards the ultimate goal of winning another championship for this city and its great fans.

At the same time, I want to express my appreciation for Jim Crane, Jeff Luhnow, A.J. Hinch, and the entire Houston Astros organization for giving me the chance to start my coaching career. It has been a very special season and an incredible organization to be a part of and I am looking forward to the World Series and winning with this group.

Dave Dombrowski:

We were very impressed when we interviewed Alex. He came to us as a highly regarded candidate, and from speaking with him throughout this process, we found him to be very knowledgeable, driven, and deserving of this opportunity. He is a highly respected and hardworking individual who has experience playing in Boston. Alex also has a full appreciation for the use of analytical information in today's game and his ability to communicate and relate to both young players and veterans is a plus. Finally, the fact that he is bilingual is very significant for our club.

John Henry:

In Alex we have found a natural leader to guide our clubhouse. He is extremely smart with a dedication to what it takes to be successful in today's game on the field. His baseball acumen and his ability to think strategically are uncommon for someone his age. We could not have found a better match for our players, our front office and for where we intend to go over the coming year as an organization.

Tom Werner:

As someone who has played in Boston and knows what it takes to win here, Alex is uniquely positioned to instill a championship culture. Baseball is in his blood and we could not be more pleased to have found someone so accomplished to lead our team.

Astros manager A.J. Hinch:

He's all about the competition and small advantages within the game. One of the brightest baseball intellects that I've ever been around. He challenges people. He challenges me. He's someone who's all about winning. And to watch our players respond to him, he's got a lot of respect in that clubhouse because of the work he puts in and the attention to detail that he brings. That's why he's the hottest managerial candidate on the planet, and deservedly so.

Carlos Beltran, Astros:

Alex brings a lot to the table, my friend. He's a guy that always is looking for information that he could use against the opposite team. He has good communication with the guys, respects the guys. He's always in the clubhouse getting to know the players, getting to know which buttons he could push on each player to make them go out there and play the game hard, which is great.

Ty Anderson of WEEI points out that Cora "has served as general manager for the Criollos de Caguas in the Puerto Rican Winter League [for five seasons], doubling as the club's manager for two of those (2014-15, 2015-16). Last winter, his Caguas club earned Puerto Rico its first Caribbean Series title since 2000. Cora also was the general manager for the Puerto Rico team that finished second in the 2017 World Baseball Classic.