What Would Roberts Do?

New Red Sox manager can learn from the Dodgers

- Peter Gammons

Alex Cora is who the Red Sox wanted as manager from the beginning, but they knew they would have to act fast before the Nationals or some other team could swoop in.

President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and Red Sox ownership acted decisively to hire Cora, the Astros bench coach this season who blew them away in his interview. He understands the landscape in Red Sox Nation.

Since Pumpsie Green integrated the Red Sox in 1959, Cora is the club’s 19th manager but the first minority. He was born on one of the rainout days before Game 6 of the 1975 World Series between the Red Sox and Reds. He was a member of the 2007 Red Sox team that won the World Series.

I remember being in Vero Beach, Fla., in spring training with the Dodgers in 2004 and having Cesar Izturis, Paul Lo Duca, Jayson Werth and manager Jim Tracy all tell me Cora was the smartest player in the game. He was Dustin Pedroia’s sidekick in 2007 as Pedroia broke into the big leagues. He has fiercely led the revival of baseball in Puerto Rico and served as general manager for the island’s World Baseball Classic club that made it to the finals last spring.

Cora is a man of boundless energy, a man whose people skills are immense. I remember him calling from the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy graduation in 2012 when a 17-year old Carlos Correa graduated first in his class.