Alex Cora, Red Sox Agree to Contract Extension, Reportedly Worth $7M-Plus Per Year

The Boston Red Sox and manager Alex Cora have agreed to a contract extension, the team announced Wednesday:

Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported the two sides agreed to a three-year contract worth $7 million-plus per season.

Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow discussed the agreement on The Greg Hill Show on Audacy's WEEI 93.7 on Thursday:

ESPN's Jeff Passan and Buster Olney first reported on Wednesday that the two sides were in negotiations and that there was "momentum toward a deal."

Cora wasn't signed beyond the current season, and he declined to go into detail about his future when asked in May.

"Out of respect to the organization and the players, and the season, we're not going to talk about contracts," he told reporters. "We'll play it out and then whatever is decided is decided."

Perhaps ownership wanted to see how the team performed in 2024 on the heels of back-to-back 78-84 campaigns before it recommitted to Cora. If that were the case, then the Red Sox's 54-46 record has provided a compelling reason for him to stay.

Boston trails the first-place Baltimore Orioles by six games in the American League East but is just one game off the final wild-card spot. That's not bad considering the organization didn't go "full throttle" this past offseason.

Compounding matters, two of the Red Sox's veteran additions have yet to even suit up. Starting pitcher Lucas Giolito had elbow surgery that will probably keep him out all season, while three-time All-Star reliever Liam Hendriks was recovering from Tommy John surgery when he signed.

"Unless Rafael Devers or Triston Casas secretly learned how to pitch over the winter, that's about it for the club's playoff chances," The Ringer's Zach Kram wrote in March.

Instead, postseason baseball is a very real possibility in Boston. FanGraphs gives the team 40.7 percent odds of getting there.

The Red Sox won 108 games and claimed a World Series title with Cora in 2018 and then advanced to the ALCS in 2021, giving him plenty of equity with ownership already. Now, Cora will have the opportunity to show he can lead the franchise back to those heights.