Yankees Should Get Revenge on Red Sox and Hire Alex Cora for Front Office Job

Alex Cora somehow went from potential dynastic Red Sox manager in 2018 to persona non grata this winter, fired in the wake of the Houston Astros' cheating scandal.

He was by and large absolved of blame in Boston's subsequent scandal on Wednesday, though, when MLB's soft-as-a-baby's-bottom report declared the blame mostly fell on a video room operator. Seemingly, this cleared a path for Cora to return to managing in Boston in 2021...until they ceremonially removed Ron Roenicke's interim manager tag an hour later, followed by a Chaim Bloom press conference that made it clear that no circumstances of his firing had changed, thanks to the report.

Chaim Bloom on whether Alex Cora could return at some point to manage the Red Sox: "All the reasons we parted ways with him then are still the case." Said it had to do with his actions in Houston, not Boston.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) April 22, 2020

Could Bloom flip-flop following a disastrous (or absent) 2020 season? Sure. Wouldn't be the first time someone in Boston's done something that's not above board.

But many are speculating that Cora's ambitions will differ entering his next big league shot, noting that a front office position might be a softer landing, especially since he did such an excellent job assembling Puerto Rico's World Baseball Classic squad.

Well...if Boston's going to shy away from their own illicit hire of 2018, why can't the rival Yankees offer just that?

Cora has long expressed front office aspirations. Absolutely loved as Puerto Rico's WBC GM. Hiring him in a front office role in 2021 would be more palatable for teams than bringing him onto on-field staff. Rehabilitation? Nah. Reinvention? Yup. https://t.co/clxh5wBlpc
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) April 23, 2020

On the purely petty side of the equation, it would be a nice jab in the rivalry to directly swipe someone who once seemed likely to be a beloved Boston asset for 20+ years. But in an effort to embrace the darker side of baseball...clearly, Cora was doing something right in 2018 if an outright investigation.

The Yankees already tried to poach a key codebreaker from a rival in 2019, when they brought in Carlos Beltran, who immediately helped their efforts, per Cora himself. If every team is doing something dirty, it's obvious Cora found a way to absolve blame in 2018 for whatever behavior he was up to. The Yanks could surely use that type of teflon ambition in the higher reaches of their front office.