Alex Cora won’t manage Phillies after Red Sox firing, focusing on being ‘full-time dad’

Alex Cora’s return to a major league dugout won’t happen in Philadelphia this season.

Cora has decided to spend time with family in the wake of the Red Sox firing him Saturday and will not land with the Phillies, who fired manager Rob Thomson on Tuesday. According to people familiar with his thinking, Cora’s focus is on being a “full-time dad” to his twin sons, who turn nine in July, and his daughter, Camila, who is in graduate school at the University of Miami.

According to multiple reports, Cora was formally offered the Phillies’ job and declined. After firing Thomson, the Phillies announced that Don Mattingly will be the interim manager for the remainder of 2026 but did not give Mattingly a full-time title.

Cora was seen as a potential hire for Philadelphia — and reportedly, offered the job — because of his strong ties to their president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, with whom he enjoys a close relationship. Cora and Dombrowski spent two seasons together in Boston and won a World Series title in 2018. The two men have remained close in the years since Dombrowski’s tenure, with Cora often talking publicly about his level of respect for his former boss.

Cora’s firing — paired with the Phillies’ struggles — led to rampant speculation that Cora could land at Citizens Bank Park soon. For now, at least, the Phillies appear committed to Mattingly, whose son, Preston, is Dombrowski’s top lieutenant and carries a “general manager” title.

Cora seems likely to take the rest of the year off and focus on his family, which splits time between a Boston suburb and Puerto Rico. For years, the 50-year-old Cora has warned that he does not see himself as a managerial lifer. While Cora will almost certainly be in the mix for managerial openings this winter — including, very possibly in Philadelphia — he has also expressed interest in a front office role or returning to the media after working for ESPN as an analyst from 2013 to 2016.