In town for the 81st annual Boston Baseball Writers Association Dinner Thursday night, Red Sox infielders Michael Chavis and Xander Bogaerts were still reeling over the decision by the Red Sox and Alex Cora to part ways earlier this week.
"Obviously, it's very unfortunate,'' said Bogaerts. "He's someone that we all enjoyed playing for. He'll be someone we all will miss a lot and obviously, me especially who grew to have such a great relationship with him.''
"You hate seeing someone lose their job,'' said Chavis, who made his major league debut under Cora last April, "and Alex has been so kind and genuine to me, so I can't say enough and thank him enough for that. He was very good to me. (It was) my first time in the big leagues, I'm trying to learn as much as I can, I'm nervous and he did a very good job of making me comfortable. In my opinion, he went out of his way to make sure I was comfortable because having played and in been in that position before, he knew how much pressure there was.
"I'm very thankful for that. I would have loved to play for Alex again, but it's out of my control. All I can do is focus on what I can control and that's make sure I'm ready to play."
Bogaerts had an even closer relationship with the former manager. Cora made Bogaerts into a sort of personal reclamation project in Cora's first season in the Red Sox dugout, urging him to be more aggressive at the plate while working with him to clean up his play at shortstop.
"I think he helped me to get to that other level that I was trying to reach,'' Bogaerts said. "I'm very thankful to him. I was always a fan of him as a person, especially when was doing the TV stuff and when he was with Houston. Just seeing him on the field, he was such a smart baseball guy. When he came here, he just pushed all of us to heights that we wanted to reach.
"I'm so thankful for him, being part of the organization the past couple of years. It obviously was a blessing for me to have him as a manager -- all that he taught me and to do stuff the right way, and all he did to make me get better.''
Asked whether he would prefer the Red Sox find Cora's replacement in-house in order to offer more stability, Chavis said: "That's out of my control, man. When I was in Greenville, I tried to play GM about when I would get called up to Salem and I learned that I performed very badly when I did that. So I'm going to stick to being a player.''
When Bogaerts was asked what he wanted in his new manager, he didn't hesitate.
"Someone like (Cora),'' said Bogaerts.
Chavis was in communication via text with Cora and thanked him for what he's meant to his career.
"I thanked him for everything that he did to me and for caring for me so much, just man-to-man, as a person,'' said Chavis. "I like how he approached things, treating me as more than just a player. From my initial interaction with him, he cared about me as a player, which meant a lot to me. ... I think he was more than just a manager (with players); he looked out for as a person.''
It's likely that Red Sox players are going to hear that they won the 2018 World Series unfairly and be called cheaters, but Chavis isn't concerned with that prospect.
"I can't control whatever people say,'' he said. "That's something that I've learned and come to make peace with. People are going to say (whatever) and they're going to have their own opinions and you can't do anything about that. I know my opinion and that's all I can really (worry about), honestly.''
"Absolutely not (tainted),'' said Bogaerts of the 2018 World Series title. "We came to the park every day, worked hard, practiced hard, worked as teammates, had each other's back, had a great coaching staff...We had a great run.''
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