Terry Francona reacts to Alex Cora being fired by Red Sox

"It does happen, unfortunately, and it’s part of the job, and you kind of know that going in.”

Alex Cora and Terry Francona met on the baseball diamond in March. AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

April 28, 2026

2 minutes to read

Terry Francona is no stranger to the pressures of the Boston market.

The former Red Sox manager — who won two World Series with Boston in 2004 and 2007 — was eventually let go by Boston after a 2011 season in which the Red Sox won 90 games but collapsed in September, missing the playoffs.

Given his experience in Boston, Francona was asked about his reaction to Alex Cora — and several of his coaches — getting fired by the Red Sox on Saturday.

“You never want to see somebody lose their job,” Francona said on “The Show with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman” on Tuesday. “It doesn’t feel good ever. And so most of these guys are pretty good friends of mine. Like, Cora’s one of my favorite people in the world. It does happen, unfortunately, and it’s part of the job, and you kind of know that going in.”

Francona — now the manager of the Cincinnati Reds — stressed that even the most seasoned and successful managers in the big leagues will inevitably have to pick up the pieces and start anew after getting the pink slip.

“It’s nice to know you can go through a tough period,” Francona said of moving forward after getting fired. “And not necessarily, people are just going to point fingers and say, ‘Well, it had to be you, so we got to have a sacrificial lamb.’

“Sometimes the best way to go about it is figuring things out together. And that’s how I feel here [with Cincinnati]. And I’m glad about that because I don’t know if I want to be in that situation.”

Cora, who played for Francona in Boston from 2005-08, spoke highly of his former manager earlier this season when the Red Sox opened their 2026 campaign in Cincinnati.

“He’s a Hall of Fame manager, we know that,” Cora said of Francona, per Gabrielle Starr of the Boston Herald. “It’s just a matter of when he’s going to retire. Doesn’t seem like he wants to retire. But [I’m] excited about the opportunity to be here, blessed, to say the least.”

“I learned a lot from him those years,” Cora added. “I learned a lot from him just watching him from afar.”