Coras enjoy opportunity to reunite in spring

JUPITER, Fla. — At 36, Alex Cora [stats] isn’t sure how much time he has left in his playing career.

The Cardinals signed the utility infielder and former University of Miami shortstop last month really for one thing — to help mentor the team’s less-experienced infielders.

But if signing with the defending World Series champions in his 15th major-league season has provided Cora with anything of real value, it has been allowing him the chance to reunite with his older brother, Marlins bench coach Joey Cora.

With the Marlins and Cardinals sharing Roger Dean Stadium and its facilities, the Coras have been living together in Jupiter since arriving for spring training.

"It’s been great being able to sit down together and just have dinner," said Alex, who is 10 years younger than Joey, a former first-round pick out of Vanderbilt who made his major-league debut with the Padres in 1987 at age 22.

"Our father died in 1988. When you lose your dad when you’re a young kid, your big brother becomes everything for you. This is the most time we’ve been able to spend together since we were kids in (Caguas,) Puerto Rico. He doesn’t know how much it means to me. Hopefully, his dream of becoming a big-league manager will come true soon."

Every manager has a right-hand man. For Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen, Joey Cora has been that guy.

Friends since their playing days when they were the double-play tandem for the White Sox from 1991 to ’94, Guillen gave Cora his first big-league coaching job in 2003 after a short stint as a manager in the Mets’ minor-league system.

Except for when Cora has been called away to interview for other managerial jobs with the Mariners (2008) and Brewers (2011), Guillen has always had him by his side to provide a calming effect for his own volatile personality .

"Great coach. Very organized. A great baseball man," Guillen said of Cora, his bench coach since 2006.

"Surprises me this kid is not managing in this level right now. Very, very surprised. Very disappointed. I think he has a lot of potential to be a pretty good manager. Maybe I’ve hurt him. Maybe they say ’We don’t want to hire somebody like Ozzie.’

"But, he’s my right-hand man for a reason. When you have a guy like Joey Cora, it makes the manager’s job very easy. I don’t have (stuff) to worry about. He’s a good one. The day he’s a manager I’ll be very proud, very happy. But I’ll also be very sad."

Cora handles a lot of duties for Guillen. He coordinates spring training and "takes care of all the little things," so the manager can concentrate on evaluation. When Guillen wants to see a hitter face a right-hander or a left-hander, Cora said, "my job is to try and accommodate that."

"During the season, it’s a matter of getting all the information we have and trying to present it to him as simple as possible so he can make a decision as easy as possible," Cora said. "I’ll break down the matchups, give him on-base percentage, all kinds of stats so he can make the best decision possible."

As passionate as Guillen is about the game, he said Cora "might love it even more."

"What I remember of Joey when I was in middle school was his work ethic. He never rested," Alex Cora said. "He was running early, taking ground balls, hitting. He would carry his pitching machine with him in the trunk of his car everywhere he went so he could put it up and get batting in when he needed it. He worked on his craft.

"As a player, he maximized everything he had. He was 5-7, 100-whatever pounds and became an All-Star in Seattle. As a baseball player, it was amazing to see him work. As a coach, it’s the same thing. That camp the Marlins are running? He had that set up in December. He’s very passionate about work."

Alex Cora said his brother learned that from their father, who served as a scout in Puerto Rico and also started their neighborhood’s Little League chapter in 1969.

"What we learned from him is you have to be passionate about whatever you do and I think Joey is a perfect example of that," Alex Cora [stats] said.

"I think people around baseball know how important he is for Ozzie and Ozzie is for him. He gets the respect. It was tough last year with everything that happened (in Chicago) and the way it ended (Cora received a text message from White Sox management telling him he had been fired). But everything happens for a reason and he’s at home now. He lives down there in Miami and can see his two kids every day while he enjoys his passion."

And what Joey Cora is passionate about now is winning another ring.

"We’ve got a pretty good team here," he said. "All we want to do is win."


(bostonherald.com)