The Boston Red Sox announced before their 2020 season finale that manager Ron Roenicke will not return as manager of the team next season.
It wasn’t a surprising decision, as the only reason why Roenicke was the manager in the first place is because ownership was pretty much forced to relieve Alex Cora of his duties following his role in the Houston Astros’ sign stealing investigation.
But Cora is the clear answer to who should be the next skipper of the Boston Red Sox.
While it might look weird if Chaim Bloom is sitting alongside Alex Cora at an introductory press conference less than a year after firing him, the Red Sox let Cora go because of his role with the Astros not because of what went on in Boston’s video room in 2018.
And as we all know, Cora was the skipper for the 2018 World Series championship team and the locker room absolutely loved him. Cora’s suspension will be lifted after the final out of the World Series and there will be more than a handful of teams trying to lure in Cora to be their next manager.
But if the Red Sox bring him in for an interview there is no doubt that the Red Sox will be his first choice. He loved Boston. They loved him.
This season was obviously a terrible year at Fenway Park but everyone knew that they weren’t going to contend because they lost their best player and two best pitchers. But the Red Sox are under the luxury tax and will be big players in the free agency market this winter so it shouldn’t be a surprise if this team is a contender next season.
There’s no better leader to manage a contender than Alex Cora and it is clear that he should get to be at the top step on Opening Day in 2021 as the Red Sox manager (again).
(Photo: Michael Dwyer/AP Photo)