After serving a year long suspension from Major League Baseball as part of the 2017 Houston Astros cheating scandal, Alex Cora has been named the Boston Red Sox manager again according to several reports including Jon Heyman from MLB Network Friday morning.
Cora, who led the 2018 Red Sox to 108 wins in the regular season and a World Series title, returns after officially being fired by the team back on January 14. One day later, MLB suspended Cora for the entire 2020 season. Interim manager Ron Roenicke took over the team for this past season, finishing in last place in a coronavirus shortened 60 game schedule at 24-36. The Sox announced in September on the last day of the regular season that Roenicke wouldn’t be returning to manage Boston in the 2021 season.
Cora was investigated by the league for an illegal sign-stealing scheme when he was the bench coach for the Houston Astros in 2017. The Red Sox were also under investigation for a similar but lesser infraction while Cora was in charge of the team in 2018. He is one of just seven managers in the history of the club to win a World Championship, and ranks fourth overall in Red Sox win percentage (192-132) at .593. He is also the third manager to be hired more than once on more of an interim basis joining Bill Kerrigan and Pinky Higgins.
Alex Cora, seen here with our very own Chris Lessner at the Senior Little League World Series in Bangor back in 2015 when he was an analyst for ESPN, was named Boston Red Sox manager for the second time on Friday morning
