UNDATED (AP) — The Boston Red Sox have picked up Alex Cora’s option for two more seasons. The club is rewarding its manager for taking it to the AL Championship Series in his first year back after serving his one-year sign-stealing suspension. Cora is now under contract through 2024.
A former infielder who was a member of Boston’s 2007 World Series championship team, Cora is 284-202 in three seasons as manager. In his first year, 2018, he led the club to a franchise-record 108 victories and a World Series title. He was let go a year later when he was identified as the ringleader in the Houston Astros cheating scandal.
In other MLB news:
— San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey and Baltimore Orioles slugger Trey Mancini have been named baseball’s Comeback Player of the Year Award winners. Posey was the National League winner. He sat out the 2020 season after twin girls adopted by he and his wife were born prematurely. Posey announced this month he was retiring after 12 seasons. Mancini took the American League prize. He missed the entire 2020 season while being treated for stage 3 colon cancer. They were selected in balloting by the 30 team beat reporters at MLB.com.
— The Texas Rangers have acquired outfielders Billy McKinney and Zach Reks from the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for cash. McKinney has appeared in the majors in each of the past four seasons, and played at least 37 games for three different teams in 2021. He hit nine homers over 116 games for Milwaukee, the New York Mets and the Dodgers. Reks, a left-handed hitter, made his big league debut this year and went 0-for-10 over six games for the Dodgers.
— Speedy utility player Tyler Wade has been traded from the New York Yankees to the Los Angeles Angels for a player to be named or cash. Wade was designated for assignment Friday when the Yankees needed roster spots to protect prospects ahead of the winter meeting draft. The 26-year-old infielder and outfielder hit .268 with five RBIs and 17 stolen bases in 103 games last season. He has a .212 batting average with six homers and 33 RBIs over parts of five big league seasons.
— The Cleveland Guardians are involved in a couple of deals. The Chicago Cubs have acquired outfielder Harold Ramirez from the Guardians for cash. The 27-year-old Ramirez batted .268 with seven home runs and 41 RBIs in 99 games for Cleveland last season. He was designated for assignment on Friday. And the Milwaukee Brewers acquired pitcher J.C. Mejia from the Guardians for a player to be named or cash. The 25-year-old right-hander owned a 1-7 record with an 8.25 ERA in 17 games this past season, including 11 starts.
— David Ortiz, Ryan Howard, Tim Lincecum and Alex Rodriguez are among 13 first-time candidates on the Hall of Fame ballot of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, joining 17 holdovers. Steroids-tainted stars Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens make their 10th and final appearance on the BBWAA ballot along with Curt Schilling, who fell 16 votes shy of the necessary 75% in last year’s balloting.
— Doug Jones, a five-time All-Star reliever who had his best success closing for the Cleveland Indians, has died. He was 64. Jones spent seven seasons with the Indians and ranks third on the club’s career saves list with 129. The club, which officially transitioned to Cleveland Guardians last week, said Monday it was “saddened by the loss of one of our organization’s all-time greats.” The team said Jones died in Arizona. A cause was not immediately known.
