Alex Cora

A Dodgers Starter at Shortstop and Second Base

Cora made his major league debut for the Dodgers at Seattle on June 7, 1998, at 22, and played his last game on September 28, 2011. From 2000 to 2004 he was a starter for the Dodgers, first at shortstop and then at second base. One of the minor leaguers in that organization in those years was Jesus Feliciano, a fellow Puerto Rican whose sister Angelica is now Cora's partner. "He took me under his wing my entire career," Feliciano told the Globe in 2024.

Before the 2005 season Cora signed with the Cleveland Indians as a free agent. On July 7, 2005, Cleveland traded him to Boston for infielder Ramon Vazquez, a player who would one day serve as Cora's bench coach with the Red Sox.

The Ramon Vazquez Trade and a Bunt in the 2007 World Series

Cora was a middle infielder for the Red Sox from 2005 to 2008, appearing in 301 games under Terry Francona. His only home run at Fenway Park was a two-run shot to right field off Roy Halladay in the seventh inning on August 31, 2006, which gave Boston a 6-4 win over Toronto. His only plate appearance in the 2007 World Series came on October 27, a sacrifice bunt in Boston's Game 3 win over the Colorado Rockies. The Red Sox swept the series, and Cora had his first ring.

He and Feliciano were teammates again with the New York Mets in 2009 and 2010, the years Feliciano made his big league debut at 31. The St. Louis Cardinals released Cora at the end of spring training on March 25, 2012, and he retired after 14 seasons.

ESPN, the Criollos de Caguas, and the Astros Bench

Cora sat out a season, then joined ESPN and ESPN Deportes as an analyst on February 19, 2013. He kept a second job at home. For five winters he was general manager of the Criollos de Caguas in the Puerto Rican Winter League, and from 2014 to 2016 he managed the team as well. In the winter of 2016-17 Caguas won Puerto Rico its first Caribbean Series title since 2000, and the following spring Cora helped build the national team that reached the championship game of the World Baseball Classic. He interviewed for the manager's job in Texas and in Arizona without getting either one.

The Houston Astros named him bench coach in November 2016. Houston won 101 games in 2017, beat the Red Sox three games to one in the Division Series, and went on to the World Series. Astros manager A.J. Hinch called him "one of the brightest baseball intellects that I've been around."

108 Wins and a Trophy on a Flatbed Truck

The Red Sox fired John Farrell on October 11, 2017, after two straight 93-69 seasons that ended in the Division Series. On Sunday, October 22, they announced Cora as their 47th manager on a three-year contract with a team option for 2021; he was 42. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski picked him over Brad Ausmus and Ron Gardenhire. Cora was the first Hispanic manager in the club's history, the youngest since Kevin Kennedy in 1995, and the first former Red Sox player to take the job since Butch Hobson in 1992. "Returning to the Red Sox and the city of Boston is a dream come true for me and my family," he said in the team's statement.

His twin sons had been born in 2017, the same year Hurricane Maria tore through Puerto Rico. In January 2018, before his first spring training, Cora arrived in Caguas with a delegation of Red Sox players carrying food, water and a $200,000 check from the Red Sox Foundation for hurricane relief.

He managed his first game on March 29, 2018. Boston won a franchise-record 108 games in the regular season, beat the Astros in Game 5 of the ALCS on October 18, and beat the Dodgers in the World Series on October 28, 2018. Cora was the first Puerto Rican manager to win it. Minutes after the final out he promised to take the trophy to Caguas, and on November 3 he rode into the town square on a flatbed truck with it. "You made me a better ballplayer, and you made me a better man," he told the crowd in Spanish, and added that managing the Criollos had been harder than managing the Red Sox. Red Sox president Sam Kennedy told the same crowd that Boston was now "forever connected" to Caguas.

The Athletic's Report and the 2020 Suspension

From the start of the 2017 season, Astros employees in the video replay room had used the live center-field camera feed to decode opponents' sign sequences, and the Globe's timeline of Cora's career records that he quickly became involved in the scheme. The Athletic published its report on the trash-can system on November 12, 2019. Cora declined to comment to the Globe the next day. On January 14, 2020, the Red Sox announced that the team and Cora had parted ways. On April 22, 2020, commissioner Rob Manfred suspended him through the 2020 postseason for his conduct as Astros bench coach; the Associated Press reported that Manfred's decision on the Astros mentioned Cora 11 times and said he developed the system. The same ruling stripped Boston of its second-round pick in the 2020 draft for breaking video rules in 2018. "Since we parted ways with Alex, we were clear that that was the result of his role with the Astros," chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said that day.

Ron Roenicke managed the Red Sox to a last-place finish in the shortened 2020 season while Cora sat out. In his first interview with a Boston outlet since leaving, on June 19, 2020, he told the Globe's Dan Shaughnessy he "would love to be back in 2021 in some capacity." The Red Sox brought him back as manager on November 6, 2020. He won his 200th game on April 14, 2021, and that October his team beat the Tampa Bay Rays in four games in the Division Series before losing Game 6 of the ALCS to the Astros on October 22, 2021. It was Boston's last postseason series win under him.

Two 78-84 Seasons and a $21.75 Million Extension

The 2022 Red Sox finished 78-84, the club's first losing season since 2015, and the 2023 team posted the identical record. Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom was fired that September; Cora stayed. He entered 2024 in the final year of his contract with a 440-370 record over five seasons, and he told the Globe in February that whatever came next would be a family decision. On July 24, 2024, the Red Sox announced a three-year extension running through the 2027 season. The Globe put the value at just over $7 million a year, and USA TODAY Sports later reported the total as $21.75 million.

Boston clinched its first postseason berth in four years on September 26, 2025, on a walk-off triple by Ceddanne Rafaela, finished 89-73, and was shut out by the Yankees in Game 3 of the wild-card round on October 2. On March 20, 2026, Cora told the Globe: "Honestly, we're in a good spot. I think the family is happy and things here look tremendous, right?" Five weeks later, on Saturday, April 25, 2026, the Red Sox fired him and five coaches, Ramon Vazquez among them, after a 10-17 start that left the team last in the AL East; the announcement came after a 17-1 win in Baltimore that had ended a four-game losing streak. Triple-A manager Chad Tracy took over on an interim basis. The Associated Press put Cora's Red Sox record at 620-541, the Globe's timeline at 619-541; either way it is the third-most wins by a manager in club history, behind Terry Francona and Joe Cronin. "Alex Cora led this organization to one of the greatest seasons in Red Sox history in 2018, and for that, and the many years that followed, he will always have our deepest gratitude," owner John Henry said.

This article does not give a net worth figure for Cora. The only sourced inputs are from the manager's contract: USA TODAY Sports reported on October 7, 2026, that Boston still owes him about $7.25 million for 2027, the last year of the $21.75 million deal. His playing salaries over 14 seasons, his ESPN pay and his assets were not disclosed in any page opened for this article, so no total can be computed.

Angelica Feliciano and the Twins

Cora's partner is Angelica Feliciano, whose family is as deep in the game as his own. Her father was a longtime pitcher and carried Puerto Rico's flag at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Her brother is Jesus Feliciano, Cora's old Dodgers and Mets teammate, now general manager of the Criollos and executive director of the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy and High School. The Globe reported four children in Cora's household when he took the Boston job in 2017; the twins, born that year, were six when the family spoke to the paper in February 2024.

The couple said they work to keep some distance from baseball in the Puerto Rico offseason, though Cora admitted the Criollos' games pull everyone back in. He was inducted into the Puerto Rican Sports Hall of Fame in October 2023, and in February 2024 he played in an alumni game against University of Miami players so his sons could see him on a field for the first time. "The Red Sox, the whole madness of Boston, winning the World Series, the suspension," he said of that stretch, and of Feliciano: "without her, no way I survive this."

Why the Phillies Are Still Waiting

The Philadelphia Phillies fired Rob Thomson on April 28, 2026, after a 9-19 start, and Dombrowski, now their president of baseball operations, offered Cora the job the day after Boston let him go. Cora turned it down and said he wanted to spend the rest of the summer with his family. Philadelphia promoted bench coach Don Mattingly to interim manager. In August, Newsweek quoted USA TODAY's Bob Nightengale reporting that Cora was expected to be the Phillies' next manager unless Mattingly reached the World Series.

That expectation collapsed this week. On October 7, 2026, Nightengale reported that Dombrowski had spoken with Cora about managing the Phillies in 2027 and that Cora told him he is taking the season off. The source was a high-ranking Phillies executive who spoke anonymously because the club had not decided who would manage. Cora did not respond to USA TODAY's text message, and the report gives no reason for the decision beyond the April remark about family. Mattingly, who led the Phillies to a wild-card berth, is under contract for 2027 as bench coach. Sports Illustrated and other outlets carried the story the same day, each quoting the USA TODAY report rather than adding sourcing of their own. As of this writing, Cora has made no public statement, so the "not managing in 2027" headlines rest on one anonymously sourced report.

Sources

• Timeline: Alex Cora's Red Sox career, on the field and as a manager
• Red Sox name Alex Cora as new manager - The Boston Globe
• Hometown hero: Alex Cora makes joyous return to Puerto Rico, with trophy in hand - The Boston Globe
• For Alex Cora, baseball is a family matter with Felicianos
• Phillies spurned again by Alex Cora, as manager says he's taking 2027 off - Yahoo Sports
• Phillies' Next Manager Appears Set Unless Team Reaches World Series - Newsweek
• Alex Cora - Society for American Baseball Research
• Alex Cora Stats, Height, Weight, Research & History | Baseball Almanac
• Boston Red Sox fire manager Alex Cora and 5 coaches
• Fired Red Sox manager Cora suspended 1 season for role in Astros' cheating scandal | CBC Sports
• Phillies Next Manager Reportedly Won’t Be Alex Cora