Back in July of 2024, the Boston Red Sox made a bold midseason decision to sign Alex Cora to a contract extension ... even though the team had just lost five of six games and were sitting at 54-48 to begin the second half of the year.
The three-year, $21.75 million contract made Cora the second-highest paid manager in the league and avoided any further questions about his future in Boston. His deal at the time was set to expire at the conclusion of the 2024 season, leading many to believe why the front office hadn't just gotten this done at the beginning of the year.
Fast forward to Saturday, April 25, 2026, and Cora is out of a job. The Red Sox stunned Major League Baseball by firing him alongside hitting coach Peter Fatse, third base coach Kyle Hudson, bench coach Ramón Vázquez, assistant hitting Coach Dillon Lawson, and major league hitting strategy coach Joe Cronin. Jason Varitek, who was serving as the team's game planning and run prevention coach, was reassigned.
In the interim, Chad Tracy will take over as skipper and get a promotion from his current job as manager of the Triple-A WooSox. He will be joined by Chad Epperson and Collin Hetzler at the big league level.
A new era is ahead but ... the Red Sox can't quite forget about Cora until after the 2027 season, which is when his current contract was set to conclude. At the time of reporting back in 2024, it was said Cora was set to make "over $7 million per season."
Red Sox shockingly fired Alex Cora knowing they'd owe him a ton of money
Assuming it was evenly spread across the three seasons (there is no confirmation of that, however), Cora, hypothetically, was making $7.25 million per year. He already collected that amount in 2025 and, at just about four months into 2026, collected $2.42 million. That means Cora is owed (at least) a staggering $12.08 million, a unfathomable number for an organization that has been penny-pinching (for its big-market standards) dating back to 2019.
Maybe John Henry just needed to disrupt the headlines a bit since Liverpool soccer fans are losing their minds across the pond? Maybe Craig Breslow has decided to exercise his influence in a greater manner after his offseason plan has looked like a house of cards early in 2026?
It wasn't long ago Cora led the Red Sox to the playoffs and seemed to be validating the team's decision to keep him in town. He was supposed to be the grizzled veteran manager helping cultivate the next wave of young Red Sox stars. We have no idea why there was such as aggressive change of heart, especially with five months left in the season and knowing they'd be on the hook for at least $12 million empty dollars.
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