Barnes ‘ very excited’ about Cora’s return

You can include Matt Barnes among the Red Sox players who approve of Alex Cora returning as their manager.

The Red Sox reliever and ex- UConn star, who is the club's longesttenured pitcher, appeared on MLB Network Radio on Friday afternoon after news broke that Cora was coming back, and his reaction was overwhelmingly positive.

"It's very exciting," Barnes said. "Obviously a lot of the players and the fanbase and everybody loves AC, and it's kind of undeniable ... you can't talk about him without talking about what we were able to do in 2018, and just the relationship that he had with the players. I'm very excited to have him back. I think it's awesome and I can't wait to get after it."

Barnes said he followed the Red Sox' managerial search just like most people — through social media. He never ruled out the possibility that Cora, his manager in 2018 and 2019, would return.

The Red Sox had reportedly narrowed their search to five finalists this week, and it was trimmed to two by Thursday with Cora and Phillies player information coordinator Sam Fuld, who spent time with Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom with the Rays.

News broke of Cora's hiring on Friday morning.

"I was following it through social media on Twitter, and I kind of saw a bunch of names thrown around, and then it kind of got heavy towards AC the last couple of days," Barnes said. "To be honest with you, I didn't find out until somebody broke the news on Twitter, so I guess I thought there was always a chance, right? But definitely excited to have him back."

Cora was always viewed as a popular and player- friendly manager since leading the Red Sox to a record- setting championship season in 2018, and the excitement seems to be palpable about his return within the Red Sox clubhouse. Barnes offered a reminder of what made him a successful manager during his first two seasons.

"From the people that I follow and the people that I know, even some of my friends were super excited to have him back," Barnes said. "I think AC does a really good job, and I've said this before, I think AC does a really good job of being a player's manager. He's a guy that everybody gets along with, he communicates well, he's a guy that's just open with everybody, completely up front and a guy that you can just sit down and talk to him and he's going to keep it straight and give you a really good idea of everything that's going on.

"He keeps it light and keeps it fun in the clubhouse as well as in the dugout. I think a lot of people are really excited to see him back in a Red Sox uniform."

It's not much of a secret that at least some players were hoping Cora would return.

Christian Vazquez said after the season during a Facebook Live video that he "would love" if Cora came back. And on Friday after the news broke, Eduardo Rodriguez made multiple social media posts expressing his excitement.