On Sunday, the Boston Red Sox officially announced that the 47th manager of the team will be Alex Cora. Cora will inherit a young team from John Farrell who was dismissed a few weeks ago with a year left on his contract. Cora's contract is for three years with an option for a fourth year. Because the Astros have made it to the World Series, which starts Tuesday, the Red Sox will have to wait until after to hold a press conference and introduce Cora to Fenway.

Cora was top candidate

Cora was interviewed last Sunday by Red Sox President of Baseball Operations David Dombrowski who said in an email from the clubhouse, "We were very impressed by Alex.

He came to us as a highly regarded candidate, and from speaking with him throughout this process, we found him to be very knowledgable, driven, and deserving of this opportunity."

The email was tweeted by Tim Britton earlier today and more details can be seen below:

Cora, 42, is currently the bench coach for the Houston Astros, and while he has no experience managing within the majors, he was the general manager for the Criollos de Caguas in the Puerto Rican league. He led that team to the Caribbean Series in his first season with them, and he is highly regarded as having tons of potential and a natural ability to lead a team.

Red Sox principle owner John Henry said of Cora, "In Alex we have found a natural leader to guide our clubhouse. He is extremely smart with a dedication to what it takes to be successful in today's game on the field." (according to ESPN).

Alex Cora returns to Boston

This is not Cora's first time with the Red Sox, having played for the team from 2005-2008.

He will be the 22nd former Red Sox player to become manager in the team's history, and the first since Butch Hobson, who managed the team from 1992-1994. On returning to the Red Sox, ESPN reported Cora stating, "Returning to the Red Sox and the city of Boston is a dream come true for me and my family and I look forward to working towards the ultimate goal of winning another championship for this city and its great fans."

As ESPN noted, Cora has a pretty close relationship with veteran second baseman Dustin Pedroia, whom he played with from 2006-2008, and, his ability to relate to various players from different backgrounds will hopefully help bring a ray of sunshine to a clubhouse which has been fairly dour over the last few years under Farrell.

He will also hopefully be able to bring out leadership qualities in some of the younger members of the team such as Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts, among others.

It certainly is an exciting time for the Red Sox, who will enter next season with a young line-up, a young manager, and the drive to win. This will hopefully draw out leadership skills and abilities currently hidden within the team.
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