Alex Cora Won't Rule Out Managing in 2027 After Turning Down Phillies Twice

Alex Cora turned down one of baseball’s biggest jobs twice, and still has not decided whether he wants a dugout at all next season. The former Boston manager, fired in April after a 10-17 start, told a podcast this week that family timing, not a lack of offers, is keeping him out of managing, and that his wedding next month is part of that calculation.

What did Cora actually say about 2027?

He left the door open without walking through it. The New York Post reports Cora told Rob Bradford on the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast, in an episode released Monday, that he does not know yet whether he will manage next season, and that he is not 100 percent sure he wants to do it. Bleacher Report carries the same quotes, with Cora saying he and his family have to wait and see, and that if they decide that is the route they want, it would be cool to go through the process again.

That process, as Cora described it, is not a job hunt. It is a values conversation: a club would hear how he sees the game, what his values as a manager are, and everything that goes with the job, and then make a decision. That is a man in no hurry, which makes sense when the next fact is considered: he is still being paid by Boston through next season, so there is no financial clock forcing a choice.

Why did he turn down Philadelphia twice?

Because of the man who offered it, and the family time he wanted instead. Dave Dombrowski, the Phillies president of baseball operations, hired Cora in Boston in late 2017, when Dombrowski ran the Red Sox front office, and the pair won a World Series in 2018. The New York Post reports Dombrowski offered Cora the Philadelphia job during the 2026 season, after the Phillies fired Rob Thomson shortly after Cora lost his own job, and Cora turned it down to spend time with his family. He did so again after the season, and Philadelphia elevated interim manager Don Mattingly to the full-time position.

Cora told the podcast he still talks to Dombrowski frequently, and that Dombrowski was one of the first people he called after being fired in April, seeking guidance. He also described the aftermath in personal terms, saying that when people he cares about flew into Boston and slowed things down, it became clear the right thing for the Cora-Feliciano family was to stay away, regroup and enjoy the time. That is the context for both refusals: not a rejection of Philadelphia, but a decision to pause.

What is the wedding timing?

It is imminent, and Cora linked it directly to his availability. The New York Post reports Cora is in the final stages of planning his wedding to longtime partner Angelica Feliciano, with the wedding next month, and that the pair share twins born in 2017. Cora also has a daughter with his ex-wife, Nilda. A manager who starts a new job in November would be walking into spring training planning during his wedding month, which is exactly the kind of clash Cora said he wants to avoid while his family decides together.

That family-first framing also explains why the Phillies offers, however flattering, did not change his mind. Dombrowski’s trust in him is not in doubt: he hired Cora once, won with him, and tried to hire him twice more. Cora’s answer, in both cases, was that the timing was wrong for his family, not that the job was wrong for him.

Why was Cora fired in the first place?

Boston’s answer, and Cora’s own, point to April pitching. The Red Sox fired Cora and five coaches on April 25, after a 10-17 start left the club last in the American League East. Cora told the podcast, in the New York Post’s account, that he got fired because the team did not pitch in April, and that it was as simple as that. He also acknowledged that an executive inheriting a manager, as chief baseball officer Craig Breslow did with him in Boston, is never an ideal setup, and that he was upset other coaches also lost their jobs. The World Series itself has since turned on former teammates facing each other, with Freddy Peralta facing his former club in the Fall Classic.

EssentiallySports adds the detail that makes the firing feel stranger in hindsight. The decision had been made before first pitch, even though Boston then beat Baltimore 17-1 at Camden Yards that day, its biggest win to that point. Cora said he already knew what was coming when he received a text from Breslow asking him to meet owner John Henry and chief executive Sam Kennedy, and that Breslow did not travel with the team. The win did not save anyone, because the decision was already taken.

What still bothers him about that Saturday?

The other people who paid. EssentiallySports reports Cora said the thing that really upset him that Saturday was that other guys paid the price, not only the coaches but the players too, because taking a whole group out of an equation takes time to recover from. The coaches dismissed alongside him were hitting coach Peter Fatse, third-base coach Kyle Hudson, bench coach Ramon Vazquez, assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson and hitting strategy coach Joe Cronin, with Jason Varitek reassigned rather than fired.

Cora’s line on that point was blunt: if Boston wanted a new voice, he was the voice to remove. That is not a man bitter about his own fate. It is a manager arguing that a purge, rather than a single change, was the mistake, and that the players were left to absorb a disruption that went beyond one dugout decision.

What happens next for Cora?

Nothing, for now, and that is the point. He has a wedding next month, a Boston contract through 2027, and two declined offers from a club run by his former boss. The managerial news cycle this month has also included Ronald Acuna Jr.’s denial that a podcast remark was aimed at Brian Snitker. If a new managerial opening emerges in the offseason, Cora’s podcast comments give that club a clear signal: he is open to listening, he wants a values conversation, and he will decide with his family, not under financial pressure. Milwaukee’s own World Series run and Brandon Woodruff’s World Series roster return show how quickly a season can turn on a single decision, and Cora’s next decision, whenever it comes, will be judged the same way: not by how fast he takes a job, but by whether the timing is right when he does.