Alex Cora Red Sox Extension Answered These Burning Questions

The Red Sox were on the wrong end of an ugly loss to a bad team amid a playoff push Wednesday, but it still managed to be a monumental day for the organization.

Boston and manager Alex Cora agreed to a three-year contract extension the team announced after an unsightly 20-7 loss to the Colorado Rockies. Despite an insistence that Cora wasn’t going to talk about his employment status while entering the 2024 season in a lame-duck status, the Sox put an offer in front of the longtime skipper that was too good to pass up.

As a result, the would-be hottest managerial candidate on the market this winter is now slated to call Fenway Park home at least through 2027.

The borderline shocking development answered a lot of questions Red Sox fans probably had as his current deal neared its end. Among them are:

Will Alex Cora be the manager of the Red Sox in 2025 and beyond?
A softball start. The answer, of course, is an emphatic yes. This would be a hard thing to look up and quantify, but anecdotally, it does seem rare that a manager or coach reaches the end of a deal as a lame duck and still returns. For that reason alone, there were legitimate questions about whether Cora would be in the Boston dugout on Opening Day in 2025. That calculus was complicated by uncertainty and lack of clarity about just how good the team would be in 2024 and beyond. Thanks in large part to Cora, this is a team ready to contend for a playoff spot this season, so it’s pretty evident things are headed in the right direction.

How does Craig Counsell’s baseball-altering contract affect Cora’s negotiations?
Counsell became the highest-paid manager in baseball when he defected from Milwaukee for the Cubs, a division rival. His five-year, $40 million deal was expected to be an industry-resetting standard. Cora actually has a World Series ring as a manager, and with him set to hit the market, the assumption was he’d get something that eclipsed Counsell. The Counsell deal probably was some sort of benchmark for negotiations, but it’s still a little surprising the reported terms of Cora’s deal — three years, $21.75 million — fell short of Counsell.

What’s the No. 1 priority for Cora when it comes to 2025 and beyond?
Kind of tied into the previous inquiry, but Cora made it clear both with his actions and then his words that money wasn’t necessarily the primary motivator. Cora spoke Wednesday about how comfortable the Red Sox have made him dating back to his playing days, and it’s clear that comfort in Boston was a major reason he’s staying put.

“I’m very comfortable,” Cora said. “I love wearing this uniform. I love the passion this city brings on a daily basis whether we’re winning or losing. … I love everything that comes with this uniform. I love everything that comes with the Red Sox.”

Will Craig Breslow look elsewhere to hire “his” manager after Cora’s contract ends?
Quite frankly, Breslow and Cora started their professional relationship in a weird spot. Cora having to adjust to an entirely new baseball operations direction ahead of the final year of his deal is uncomfortable. Breslow, meanwhile, came in knowing how much sway Cora carried in the organization while being tasked with being the one responsible for determining his future. On top of that, it would have been perfectly understandable to believe Breslow would get a chance to bring in “his guy” at some point to take over in the clubhouse and dugout.

There’s no reason to believe there’s any sort of friction between the two, though. Breslow spoke very highly of Cora after the announcement, and just as important, it’s what Cora said that speaks to the general effectiveness of the duo.

“There’s more structure, and the philosophy’s different, and it’s going to keep growing,” Cora said of Breslow’s organizational pitching overhaul. “The draft was kind of a very telling thing to what we were kind of a very telling thing of what we were trying to accomplish not only the present but the future.”

Does Cora believe he can win (again) with the Red Sox?
Ultimately, this is the most important question for all involved. There’s no guarantee the Red Sox win the World Series again with Cora at the helm, but you have to believe he wouldn’t have been as keen on staying if he didn’t believe in the direction of the franchise. That on its own should make Red Sox fans happy about the news.