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When the Red Sox arrive at Citizens Bank Park for a three-game series with the Phillies on Friday, Boston manager Alex Cora very much looks forward to meeting up with his former boss.
That, of course, would be Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, who held that same title in Boston for four years.
It was Dombrowski who hired Cora to be the manager of the Red Sox in November of 2017.
Less than a year later, they celebrated a World Series title together at Dodger Stadium.
“Looking forward to seeing him,” said Cora. “He gave me a chance to be a big league manager. He trusted me with a team that had a lot of expectations. People don’t understand how much pressure we had in ’18 going into that season. It was a team that made the playoffs a few years, they didn’t advance [out of the Division Series].
“We added J.D. [Martinez] at that point and everybody felt like ‘OK, here we go, it’s World Series or bust.’ It was a lot of pressure, but it was a great, great learning experience for us to do that and it gave Dave another World Series and put him where he’s at in the world of baseball. It was amazing. We worked together well.”
The Red Sox parted ways with Dombrowski during the final month of a disappointing 2019 season.
After taking a job in Nashville as part of a leadership group that was trying to get a Major League team to that city, Dombrowski reversed course when the Phillies offered him the position of running their front office in December of 2020.
Though Cora was suspended from MLB for the ’20 season, Dombrowski checked in with him regularly as a friend.
“He was one of my biggest supporters personally last year. Once a week, he’d make sure to text me or give me a call and I appreciated that,” Cora said. “The conversations went from baseball to how the kids are doing. I appreciate that from Dave. I’m glad he’s back in baseball. He caught me off guard. I was surprised he accepted that job because he was very settled in Nashville, he loved what he was doing, but he’s where he needs to be, impacting a baseball organization and I’m looking forward to seeing him.”
Pitchers gear up for ‘hitting’ in Philadelphia
Martín Pérez, Nathan Eovaldi and Eduardo Rodriguez are the three starting pitchers for the Red Sox this weekend in Philadelphia. That means they will get a chance to hit, with no DH in the National League park.
As seems to be about an annual thing, this gives people around the Red Sox a chance to make good-natured fun of Rodriguez and his lack of hitting ability. Including the postseason, Rodriguez has 21 career at-bats, 10 strikeouts and no hits.
Will he be able to get a hit on Sunday against Phillies lefty Zack Wheeler?
“I mean, he’s my boy and all, and I would be really happy if he gets one, but I would also be really surprised,” said Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts. “Wheeler’s a pretty good pitcher, a lot of velocity. Eddie’s bat speed is kind of not too fast.”
What percent chance is Bogaerts giving Rodriguez to get a hit?
“One percent chance, just because he has pop,” said Bogaerts. “Listen, man, if he swings at the right time at the right moment on the right pitch, he can hit it far. I’ll give him that. But he needs a lot of things to go in his favor for him to get it. It’s just that he needs to hit it.”
Cora sounded even less confident than Bogaerts.
“Not confident. No. Not at all,” said Cora. “I don’t let them wear earrings. That’s one of the rules that I have, but for his game, he can actually wear one when he hits. It’s a cross, similar to Barry [Bonds]. I’m going to give him a chance to do that to see if he can get a hit, but the chances are very slim.”
Santana likely to join Sox in Philly
Look for the Red Sox to add veteran infielder/outfielder Danny Santana to the roster for Friday’s game in Philadelphia.
Santana, who wasn’t ready for the start of the season due to a severe right foot infection, has been swinging a hot bat for Triple-A Worcester. He hit 28 homers for the Rangers two years ago.
While reports swirled that Santana all but had his bags packed for Philadelphia, Cora wasn’t at liberty to comment.
“You know, he’s still in Worcester, I don’t think he’s in the lineup tonight, but he’s working out down there so that’s all I can give you,” said Cora.