Alex Cora guided the Red Sox to a franchise-record and Major League Baseball-best 108 wins in his first regular season as Boston’s manager. The Red Sox won the American League East.
It earned Cora a new contract with Boston but not AL Manager of the Year honors, as the voters — members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America — instead sided with Athletics skipper Bob Melvin, who led Oakland to 97 regular-season victories and an AL wild-card spot.
Jim Bowden found the voting to be “a joke.”
The A’s shocked a lot of people with their success this season despite having the lowest Opening Day payroll in MLB, but Bowden, a forme…