Red Sox, Cora agree to 3-year extension

The Boston Red Sox and manager Alex Cora agreed to a three-year contract extension, the team announced Wednesday.

The deal is reportedly worth $21.75 million, sources told Jeff Passan and Buster Olney of ESPN.

The extension would give Cora the second-highest salary for a skipper behind the five-year, $40-million pact Craig Counsell signed with the Chicago Cubs last November, notes Olney.

The 48-year-old Cora, who led Boston to a 2018 World Series title, was slated to become a free agent at the end of the 2024 season. He has the overachieving Red Sox within one game of the AL's final wild-card spot after dealing with major injuries to Triston Casas, Trevor Story, and Lucas Giolito.

The Red Sox have gone 494-416 with Cora at the helm. He also led the club to an appearance in the 2021 ALCS.

"What this organization means to me is the world," Cora told the Boston Globe's Alex Speier.

"This is home for us. We put everything on the scale and decided this is a great opportunity. ... Where we're at, where we're going, is what I want."

Cora rejoined the team in November 2020 after being fired prior to the 2020 campaign due to his role in the Houston Astros' sign-stealing scandal during his time with that organization.