Alex Cora's Top Potential MLB Landing Spots After Red Sox Firing

The Boston Red Sox made the rather surprising move to fire manager Alex Cora, bench coach Ramón Vázquez, hitting coach Peter Fatse, third-base coach Kyle Hudson, assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson and hitting strategy coach Joe Cronin in April with plenty of time remaining in the season.

But it might not take plenty of time for Cora to land a new job.

After all, he led the Red Sox to the World Series title in 2018 and the American League Championship Series in 2021. He also went 620-541 overall as their manager and had success as the bench coach of the Houston Astros before going to Boston.

With that in mind, here is a look at some top potential landing spots for Cora after the Red Sox fired him.

Philadelphia Phillies

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There may be no more obvious connection for Cora than the Philadelphia Phillies.

While Philadelphia has Rob Thomson as manager, it is a disappointing 9-18 in the early going this season and just snapped a 10-game losing streak with Saturday's win. USA Today's Bob Nightengale went as far as to suggest Cora "could be managing" the team by Tuesday's game against the San Francisco Giants.

Nightengale noted "it was a bit of a surprise that the Phillies kept Thomson after last season when they were knocked out in the first round of the playoffs again," although they "didn't think it would be fair to dump him."

Cora wasn't part of the equation at the time the front office made that decision, though, and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has a history with Cora since they worked together in Boston during the 2018 World Series run.

Former general manager and MLB insider Jim Bowden called Philadelphia "the most likely landing spot" for Cora because of that connection with Dombrowski, and Nightengale called the president's "love" of the now-fired manager "the worst-kept secret in baseball."

Now he has an opportunity to turn that "love" into a decision to hire him.

New York Mets

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The Phillies aren't the only National League East team with high expectations that has massively underachieved in the early going this season.

The New York Mets have the highest payroll in baseball outside of the Los Angeles Dodgers this year but are 9-17 and a half-game ahead of Philadelphia for fourth place in the division. They had a 12-game losing streak of their own this month and are a prime candidate to make a managerial change.

While Carlos Mendoza led the team to the National League Championship Series in his first year in 2024, New York disappointed in 2025 by missing the playoffs entirely and has looked nothing like a playoff team in 2026 to this point.

Given the payroll, the front office may not have much patience. And the biggest move it could make in the short term is making a managerial change.

"You don't think the New York Mets are asking themselves whether they should hire Cora now, and part with Carlos Mendoza?" Nightengale speculated.

They might be thinking just that.

Houston Astros

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The Astros were arguably the best team in baseball from 2017 through 2024 with eight straight playoff appearances during a span that also included two World Series titles and four American League pennants. 

Yet they haven't won a single playoff game since with Joe Espada as manager.

Houston lost in the AL Wild-Card Round in Espada's first season in 2024 and then missed the playoffs entirely in 2025. With that as the backdrop, the fans and front office surely aren't pleased with a 10-18 start in 2026, which is good enough for last place in the AL West.

And now someone who was part of that championship era is available.

Cora was the bench coach in Houston for the 2017 World Series title before he became the manager of the Red Sox. All he did the next year was win another championship in his first season with Boston.

Nightengale also speculated about the Astros, questioning whether they "will simply still stick with Joe Espada without making a call to Cora, their bench coach when they won the 2017 World Series championship, to at least gauge his interest?"

If Houston doesn't turn things around soon, it wouldn't be surprising if it gave Cora more consideration.