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Alex during his
Red Sox playing
days. Photo by
Cindy Loo.
Cora’s ability to deal with all types of players stems from
his own background. He began his career as an everyday
player with the Dodgers, but evolved into a role player for
many years. He knows the mindset of the starters and the
backups because he’s been in their shoes. And the fact that
Cora can speak to players in English and Spanish will only
help strengthen his relationships throughout the clubhouse.
“Too close to players? That doesn't exist,” Cora said.
This season, Cora will manage a player in Dustin Pedroia
who was one of his best friends when they were teammates.
In fact, Pedroia recently said that Cora and Mike Lowell were
the two closest friends and teammates he’s ever had in
baseball. Cora isn’t going to shy away from that now and he
doesn’t think he’ll need to because of the trust he’s built with
Pedroia.
“I want to make this clear. The relationship with me and
Dustin Pedroia is going to be forever,” Cora said. “I love that
kid; I love his family; they've been amazing for us, and that's
not going to change. This kid, well he's older now. He has a
bad hairdo. Talking to him, he's very excited, he understands
that I'm the manager and he's a player.”
The type of clubhouse Cora envisions in Boston will be
filled with laughter and competitiveness.
“For them to get along, I think that relationships can't be
only baseball relationships,” said Cora. “You've got to care
about each other.
“The one thing I would love is to hear music after the
game when we win,” Cora said. “That's the cool part of the
whole thing. Play music. Enjoy the moment because at the
end of the day to win a big-league ballgame is hard enough
and if you don't enjoy it, if you don't have fun doing it, it's
going to get to the point where it's going to be like 'blah, this
is not fun,' so we're going to celebrate when we win.”
Red Sox Chairman Tom Werner, President and CEO Sam Kennedy and President
of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski joined Alex on stage during the Town
Hall Meeting at the Fox Theater in Foxwoods Resort & Casino to kick off Winter
Weekend in January 2018. Photo by Michael Ivins.
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