Alex Cora has turned down the Philadelphia Phillies again. The former Boston Red Sox manager told Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski that he plans to take the 2027 season off, USA Today reported on Tuesday night, citing a high-ranking Phillies executive with direct knowledge of the talks. It's the second time in less than six months that Cora has said no to his former boss.
The Red Sox fired Cora on April 25 with the team at 10-17. That weekend, Dombrowski asked him about taking over in Philadelphia and told Cora he would make a managerial change if Cora wanted the job, Dombrowski said at the time, per USA Today. Cora decided he wanted to spend time with his family, and the Phillies fired Rob Thomson anyway on April 28 after a 9-19 start, promoting bench coach Don Mattingly to interim manager.
Dombrowski has never hidden how highly he thinks of Cora. "I think Alex Cora is one of the finest managers in the game of baseball," he said in April. Dombrowski gave Cora his first managerial job in Boston, and the two won the 2018 World Series together in a franchise-record 108-win regular season.
Cora went 620-541 over his two stints with the Red Sox (2018-19 and 2021-26). Cora also has little reason to rush back. Boston still owes Cora the rest of his three-year, $21.75 million deal that runs through 2027, and Dombrowski said in April that Cora's first decision had nothing to do with money.
Mattingly, meanwhile, turned the Phillies' season around upon being named interim manager, as Philadelphia went 79-55 under him, finished 88-74 and clinched a wild-card berth on the final day of the regular season. With that said, the Atlanta Braves, who won the National League East by six games over Philadelphia, defeated the Phillies in three games in the NL Wild Card Series. What comes next for Mattingly is unclear.
USA Today reported last week that the Phillies planned to "gracefully" move on from him as manager and offer him a front-office role, according to Newsweek. Mattingly, whose son Preston is the Phillies' general manager, committed to two years when he joined as bench coach in January and expressed in July that he would like to keep managing the team. After the season-ending Game 3 loss in Atlanta, Mattingly deflected questions about his future.
"I want the best for the Phillies," he said. Mattingly, 65, has a 968-1,005 career managerial record with the Los Angeles Dodgers (2011-15), Miami Marlins (2016-22) and Phillies; he was the 2020 NL Manager of the Year with the Marlins. The Phillies have not announced a decision on Mattingly's status.
