Sandy Alomar Jr. has long been considered a strong candidate for a managerial position in Major League Baseball. That said, outside of a six-game stretch in which he acted as the interim manager for the Cleveland Indians following the franchise firing Manny Acta, Alomar Jr. has not received an opportunity to manage a big-league club.
Alomar Jr. who played from 1988-2007, fits the mold of an ideal managerial candidate. He possesses the charisma and personality and benefitted greatly from calling games as a catcher, a position in which he would be a six-time All-Star.
Following his playing career, Alomar Jr. would immediately go into coaching, accepting a position as the catching instructor for the New York Mets. He would serve in that position during both the 2008 and 2009 seasons.
After the conclusion of the 2009 season, the Cleveland Indians would hire the former catcher to become their new first base coach. He would be promoted to the position of bench coach for the Indians in 2011 under Manny Acta.
He would be a finalist for the vacant manager’s position in Cleveland after the 2012 season, but the club would ultimately decide to go with former Red Sox manager Terry Francona. However, the Indians would retain Alomar Jr. making him Francona’s bench coach in 2013.
In 2014, Cleveland would shift him back to their first base coach, a position that he continues to serve in with the franchise. Despite not landing a role as a manager in Major League Baseball, Alomar Jr. has been interviewed multiple times since 2011. One of the places in which he interviewed was with the Boston Red Sox, who were reportedly strongly considering him as a candidate before hiring John Farrell in 2011.
If the Red Sox felt strongly about Alomar Jr. previously, it stands to reason that they would still hold him in high regard for a managerial role and may be willing to consider him again should Cora’s role become vacant.