MLB WINTER MEETINGS

December 5, 2023

Alex Cora

Boston Red Sox

Press Conference

Q. How are things with Craig? How has that worked out?

ALEX CORA: It's been good. Just learning a lot. As you know, I think one of the things that we probably are going to do different is the pitching part of it, and that's an area that throughout my years I want to keep growing, keep learning, and just to be around him listening to his ideas now with Andrew, and the philosophy is going to be a little bit different and the structure is going to be different, and I'm very eager to learn from them. It should be fun.

Q. When you say that, do you mean for individual games on how you guys prepare...

ALEX CORA: I think everything. Philosophy, how we're going to protect guys, how we're going to recruit guys. I'm telling him, the last ten days going through the process, showing the free agents what we are all about in the pitching department. Showing a few things that are probably different than in the past has been refreshing. It's been fun.

I know the feedback we've been getting has been positive, and from my end I've been impressed with the new stuff that we are talking about.

Q. How do you feel about your contract situation going into the year with just a year left?

ALEX CORA: I'm very comfortable with it. I think at the end of the day if Angelica is happy and the boys are happy and my daughter is happy, we're fine.

I understand how it works. I know there's something we're going to discuss. We're going to talk with time, but I think right now from my end I'm not being selfish. I think the most important thing right now is to make this team better.

We're in the process now of trying to acquire guys, and there's talks about trades and all that stuff. So let's do that first. Whenever they want to talk about it, we'll talk about it. We'll see what happens.

Q. How do you project your rotation right now?

ALEX CORA: Right now? Obviously there's the swing guys, whatever you want to call it: Whit, Houck, Winck. Somebody that towards the end of the season I view more as a reliever than as a starter, but I think with the information provided and the new group, there's a new vision with him. I'm not saying he's going to be a starter, but he is a guy that he can go multiple innings with his stuff and the characteristics of his pitches against lefties and righties.

So stretch everybody out. That's where they're working at, and we'll see what happens in the upcoming weeks, month, whatever it is. If we add people, then we make adjustments, but as of now all those kids are going to be stretched out as starters.

Q. Have you met with any players this offseason in your visits?

ALEX CORA: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've been traveling a lot.

Q. Which ones?

ALEX CORA: I went to Fort Myers. I mean, from our guys. I went to Fort Myers not too long ago. Chris was there. We actually had dinner.

Interesting enough that the kid from Miami, he didn't work out in Fort Myers, but he made sure to show up at the restaurant. Casas. I haven't seen a guy demolish a Tomahawk steak the way he did that day. It was amazing.

But it was him. It was Crawford. It was Reese, Connor. We had a good group. We have, like, six or seven guys working out at JetBlue, led by Chris Sale. So it's been good.

I saw Rafi not too long ago. I went to the Dominican Republic. Rafi was there. I missed Bello, but it's been good.

Next week we're going to go -- Pete, Huddy, myself, Kiyoshi, we're going to go to the Academy again, and we're going to see Rafi, Valdy, Pablo, Bello, Abreu, probably Rafaela. Rafaela was in the group too in Fort Myers. There's been a lot of traveling and trying to connect, and hopefully it works.

Q. Towards the end of the year you were saying that you thought Rafaela probably needed at least a little more development time and would be unlikely to make the team out of camp. Is that still your thought here, depending on what happens in the next month?

ALEX CORA: I think where we're at right now, there's a chance he might. This guy is versatile enough, and defensively we do believe he will impact center field. We know that, but he can do it at short.

There's a chance that he might play in Curaçao. There's a league there. I think versatility comes into play. Obviously the offensive part of it, he needs work. He knows it. We need him to get stronger too, but as of right now there's a chance with where we're at and where we envision, there's a chance that he might make the team.

Q. Craig told us yesterday that you are looking to make an internal hire for third base coach and would probably have one fewer coaches overall. Can you talk to us about your vision for the coaching staff this year?

ALEX CORA: I think versatility is very important. I think we're capable with the guys that we have. Foxy has done the infield part of it. Ramon has done it. I've done it too. It's just a matter of sitting down as a group and just breaking down and go from there.

Like I told you guys towards the end of the season, it's not only about challenging players. It's about challenging our group led by me, so that's something we've been talking about.

You saw Huddy last year at third base, and he's had experience there. Andy has had experience with the Marlins at first base. Ramon will be in the bench. He stays there as a bench coach.

We'll talk about it in the upcoming days, upcoming weeks, and whatever formation, you want to call it, we decide, it's going to be beneficial for the group.

Q. Did you actually have a third base coach specifically in mind yet, or where does that stand in the process?

ALEX CORA: I think we have a pretty good idea, but we have to talk to the people involved. When we do that, then we'll announce it.

Q. Is Trevor doing that infield boot camp?

ALEX CORA: It will be in January, early January. Yeah. There's a few guys that are going. I'll go there too. I think the Bucks are playing the Mavericks, so that's the only reason I'm going.

Yeah, he's in a good spot. Healthy. As you know, he's very structured with his workouts, with his team that helps him out. It's going to be a good opportunity for some kids to go there, work with him. Casas will be there too. Just trying to get everybody together in the same place.

I mentioned, sometimes the word culture is overused you in a sense. I know there's a lot of people out there that probably are, like, what he is saying is not right, but yeah, it's overused. We just want everybody together in the same place and work and keep getting better.

As you know, we finished last the last two years, so we just have to improve a lot.

Q. You said yesterday that you thought something to the effect of the way the game is moving, Story is in for kind of a big year. What did you mean by that?

ALEX CORA: He hits the ball out of the ballpark. He can play elite defense, and he can run the bases. You saw him last year whenever he got on. It's just elites are elites. The decision-making is elite. When he's right, he can run into 30. We know that. He's done it before.

It's just a matter of the consistency. I gave him a mulligan last year because of the at-bats he missed, the elbow. We always talk about the throwing part. How about the swinging part? He is a tough hand, so there was a lot of adjustments that he had to make.

He wasn't able to catch up with the fastball, and he knows it. That's something that he's been working, cleaning up some moves, but I think if he puts it all together -- power, speed, and defense -- that's where the game is going to go. Especially the defensive part of it.

We were a lot better with Trevor at short. I forgot who won the Gold Glove, but with 40 or 50 more games, I mean, hands-down he was the best defender in the league in that position. Expect him to have a great offseason. So far it's been good, and just go out there and impact the game the right way.

Q. How was Chris when you talked to him?

ALEX CORA: Good, good. He is in a good place. He's actually going through his progressions, throwing up to 120, finishing on the mound, which he hasn't done that in years; right? I remember last year, When is going to be the first bullpen for Chris? I don't know. In a few weeks, whatever.

Now he's in a position that physically he's right, mentally he's right. Just a matter of keep going through his progression. Dan DeLucia has been amazing with him down there throughout the whole process of the pitching coach, what's going on. Devin Rose, Kevin Walker, and Dan, they stayed on top of it, and we're in a good place because of those guys. Chris is one of them.

Q. Given his history, how do you kind of approach him coming into the season?

ALEX CORA: The way he finished the season, it gives me hope that we're going to be okay. There were some good days and some grind days towards the end, but he wanted to post. He wanted to pitch.

I think it was more -- he kept saying it was to show the group that, hey, I'm part of this, I want to do it, but I think it was more for him. You know what, I can do it throwing 89, 90; right? He finished strong and threw the ball extremely well.

I know we cannot do this, but take the Orioles out of the equation, right, and probably he had a 2 ERA and nine strikeouts per nine. Just take care of him as always, but I think he's way ahead compared to the last three or four years.

Q. Craig has mentioned giving you some versatility at the DH spot in a potential -- potential to maybe rotate some guys through that role, or obviously the other option is to go out and get somebody. How do you view that in terms of just how you like to kind of create your lineup every day?

ALEX CORA: I think it all depends where we're at in the upcoming weeks or months. Obviously last year we had one of the best. He's still available. He's out there. We haven't closed the door with him.

It's just a matter of how are we going to be roster-wise for opening day? We can use it for one guy to dominate the way J.T. did and the way J.D. did it before, or we can go another route. We'll see how it goes.

I think it's -- well, it's not early in the process; right? We're here, but I think as far as that market and the way things are moving right now, it feels like it's very early in the process because not much has happened.

Q. With Turner we've asked you obviously over the course of the year and into the offseason of just what he brings outside of what he does on the field. If he doesn't return, how irreplaceable is that?

ALEX CORA: Even if he returns, there's a lot of stuff that we have to do as a group. Like I said, the word "culture," we have to -- one of the things that we're going to do in Spring Training is compete. I'm telling you, you'll see it. You might see a big group in the bowling alley. You see a big group at Top Golf or in the escape rooms.

We're going to compete the whole time. I think that's something we haven't been great the last two years about. We've been close, right? Like one game behind on the trading deadline or two games back or whatever, and then all of a sudden, we stop playing in a sense. It's not that we quit. It's that we didn't play well.

You have to compete all the way throughout. If he's here, he's going to be part of that. If he's not, we still have to do it that way, and that's something that -- if we're going to pick a topic or theme of Spring Training, it's going to be competition. That's something that -- it's going to be from the roster to the coaches to the front office to the organization. We have to be better at competition, and hopefully we can do it next year.

Q. Do you feel like you want to give the okay to some DH at-bats next year, it's a matter of how it shakes out?

ALEX CORA: We have to wait and see. I know people questioned his defense, but we feel like at the end of the season, he got used to it. The one thing from my end he needs to do better is decision-making. You know, where to throw the ball at Fenway. I think there were too many throws that -- coming at first and second, and then the ball off the wall, and we threw to third. It was second and third, and then they scored two runs. That's something that comes with experience; right?

The other thing I think I told you guys towards the end, we're going to do a lot of stuff at the stadium at JetBlue. We have to. We have to be better running the bases. We have to be better defensively. And we play 81 games in one of the most home field advantage stadiums in the Big Leagues, and we haven't done that in years. It's not the last two. I think in '21 we weren't great either.

Hopefully with what we're going to do in spring, he can get better in the outfield. We still have to wait and see where we're going to be in a few weeks.

Q. What type of advice would you give Joe Espada or have you given --

ALEX CORA: Just be you. I think that was the most important thing. Tito told me back in the day -- Tony, which I saw him today and by the way, he looks great -- La Russa. Just a little bit -- the hair, I couldn't get used to it.

Just be you. I think that's the most important thing. He's in a perfect situation. He's still in Houston. His family loves it, and he knows the group since 2018. He got horses too, right?

Bregman, Altuve, and Lance, they've been there since I don't know when. 2017, 2016, right? So he has the leaders. One of the best DHs in the league.

He has Verlander. He's in a good spot. I wish him nothing but the best, and he's prepared for it.

Q. What does it mean to you to have six Latino managers in Major League Baseball?

ALEX CORA: It's great. Six out of 30. It's amazing. I know we talk about the ceiling rule and all that stuff. I always said that when they see us as capable, the numbers are going to go up. There's a lot of managers. There's a lot of coaches. I still believe the third base coach for Detroit, he's a good manager. He should be, but he's not going to get a job doing that.

But I'm very proud of all of them. They have earned the right to become Big League managers. There's only 30 in the world, and we have six Latinos, which is great.

Q. Has anybody this offseason gone to visit Yoshida?

ALEX CORA: Kiyoshi went over there. Masai went over there. He's doing well. Getting stronger. That's one of the goals that we wanted too. He started swinging, I want to say, like, two weeks ago. He's in a good spot.

Q. A lot of modern pitching seems to be maximizing every pitch. That's why you are going to the bullpen. Is there still a spot in today's game for that back of the rotation, just innings eater guys? Is there still value in that?

ALEX CORA: The reason we didn't make it to the playoffs last year I think is that. The previous year, it was the back end. We struggled. Last year we were really good the last three. Whenever we had the lead in the sixth, we won games, but we weren't able to get to the fifth.

Over 162 is impossible to make it to the playoffs if we don't get enough innings from your starters. In October it doesn't matter. That's a different animal. You play two in a row, you get the off days. People don't care; right? Over 162 you need guys to go deep into the game and hopefully we can get those guys.

Q. When you look at first, probably have a right-handed bat, do you feel like you have to protect Triston over there?

ALEX CORA: As far as like certain lefties?

Q. Yeah.

ALEX CORA: I don't believe so.

Q. Not 162, but close to it?

ALEX CORA: He played a lot towards the end until he got hurt, right? I think 30, 40 games in a row. We pushed him to the limit. He is doing well. He is getting ready. I think the offseason as far as his legs is a lot different than last year. Last year he went and was a little bit banged up. He had to change his routine in the offseason.

I'm not going to say he's going to be as explosive as he ran, but that's something he's going to be working on and hopefully can translate on his defense.

Q. That shoulder thing is no big deal?

ALEX CORA: He's actually -- he's in Boston, I think, in the caravan, right? He's going to see the trainers and start swinging. He's going to the Dominican next week with us. He's doing well.

Q. Even if you are okay with him facing lefties, do you need somebody on the roster that can play first base behind him?

ALEX CORA: I think there's a great opportunity for Bobby to be part of this. He can play first. He can play third. He played the outfield towards the end of the season. He's been able to hit lefties. In the situation we're in right now, it makes sense for him. If everything goes well and nothing changes, there's a good chance that he'll be that guy.

Q. As things stand right now, how do he see things at second base?

ALEX CORA: Valdy has been working hard, especially with his arm. He played a little bit there with the Toros. Actually Carlos was helping us out down there.

Pablo played a little bit. He got a little bit banged up. Kind of like sore oblique, so he stopped playing. He might play next week, but those two are part of it.

And Dave Hamilton, he's doing well. He's going to be in Dallas with us in January. He's a guy that's just like Trevor, in a sense -- not the power part of it, but the speed is elite. He's a good defender. I know he struggled defensively last year. But when you're a kid and you're in the Big Leagues and you want to impress everybody, the game is going to speed up and he's a better defender than what we saw last year.

Q. The AL East has always been a challenging division, but --

ALEX CORA: The West too.

Q. Now that Baltimore has emerged out of the rebuild and all five teams are competing, how much more difficult does that make it?

ALEX CORA: It's very difficult. We've seen it since I got here. Baltimore, for everything they've done as far as position players, the pitching is really good. It started towards the end of '21, and they've done an amazing job putting structure and maximizing their talent. There's some good players in the Minor League system that we will see next year, so they're really good.

I called Booney yesterday and FaceTimed him, and he gave me this kind of smile, kind of like -- he let me know that he was very happy. Something big might happen over there.

Toronto, there's a lot of talks about them. It's the toughest division in baseball, and right now we haven't been up to par with the division the last two years.

Q. What more do you want to see out of Duran? Obviously he's coming off a pretty good year. What else can you do to solidify his role?

ALEX CORA: Keep growing as a base runner. I do believe he went from being okay -- because he was a fast guy -- to become a base stealer. I think he can be more aggressive in that sense. He was very efficient last year. But take chances and defensively keep getting better. I think decision-making is the other one.

He has a good arm. He's not a bad one, but he makes -- he needs to make better decisions defensively. But offensively he did well against lefties. He was able to hang in there, hit the ball the other way, hit the ball the other way against righties. Just have to keep him healthy.

Q. You mentioned decision-making with a couple of guys. How do you sort of approach that in Spring Training?

ALEX CORA: I think challenge them. Probably different drills. Using Minor Leaguers in certain situations, infield practice and all that, putting pressure on them.

One of the things that we noticed last year, the game is getting faster. There's better athletes. And obviously with the pitch clock, you don't have too much time to think. It's not only on the mound and behind the plate as a defender. You have to recognize all this stuff.

We'll do a few things differently in Spring Training and challenge them more in more game-like situations, and hopefully we can be better.