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July 25, 2024

Alex Cora's Contract Extended Through 2027

The Red Sox and manager Alex Cora have agreed on a three-year contract extension ($21.75M), which will last through the 2027 season.

If Cora is still around at that time, he will have managed the Red Sox for nine seasons, the second-most in franchise history, behind only Joe Cronin (13 seasons, 1935-47) and just ahead of Terry Francona (8 seasons, 2004-11).

Jarren Duran  who leads MLB with 12 triples, tops the AL with 30 doubles, and is 14th in the AL in OPS+  liked the news.
He's pulled me aside a couple times and we've talked about stuff. He's willing to learn. He's played this game for a long time and he's been a manager for a good amount of time, and he's willing to adjust, especially being patient with us young guys running around with our heads cut off sometimes. He reels us in and keeps us calm. He's one of the best managers out there, I think.
The Red Sox are currently 54-47, third in the AL East, and in the thick of the Wild Card race.

Craig Calcaterra (Cup of Coffee) relates an embarrassing moment for Boston catcher Reese McGuire during last night's 20-7 loss to the Rockies:
Despite the fact that this game was in no way close, Rockies pitcher Cal Quantrill was all jacked up after retiring Sox catcher Reese McGuire on a fly out to end the fourth inning. Quantrill, who has always been a bit more demonstrative than your average pitcher, pumped his fist when he recorded the out. McGuire said something to him and then Quantrill shouted "you jacked off in a fucking parking lot, you dumb fuck" at him, which led to the benches clearing.

Which is not a lie[*]! Back in February 2020, McGuire was indeed charged with a misdemeanor count of indecent exposure after he was found masturbating in his car in a shopping center parking lot in Dunedin, Florida, near the Blue Jays spring training complex. He pleaded no contest to a charge of disorderly conduct and was fined $500.
*: It's also not a misquote. That's obvious from the video.

The best course of action for McGuire, Calcaterra muses, would be to "keep [his] head down and play out the rest of [his] career as inconspicuously as [he] can". He also noted:
And this is fun: since June 15, the Mets have the best record in baseball. Since June 15 the Yankees have the second-worst, ahead of only the Chicago White Sox. Yikes.
He's right. That is fun. (I may have to gather some back pages from the last five or six weeks . . .)