Red Sox to interview D-backs’ bench coach for manager job

The Red Sox have been granted permission to interview Arizona Diamondbacks bench coach Luis Urueta for their managerial vacancy, according to a major league source. Urueta is the first known external candidate to interview for the Red Sox job that opened in mid-January with the departure of Alex Cora.

Urueta, a 39-year-old native of Colombia, has a wide variety of experiences in the game. Though he grew up thinking of a career in soccer, according to a profile by La Vida Baseball, countryman Edgar Renteria’s walkoff single in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series led Urueta to reimagine his future.

Urueta played five years in the Diamondbacks and Cardinals organizations, then spent three years playing in Italy. He served as a coach, manager, and coordinator in the Diamondbacks system from 2008–17, then joined Torey

Lovullo’s big league staff as a coach in 2018.

Urueta also has experience as a winter league manager in both Colombia and the Dominican Republic.

He managed Colombia in the World Baseball Classic, and he served as general manager for Tigers del Licey in the Dominican Winter League in the 2017– 18 offseason.

“His communication skills and his ability to relate to players is really, really off the charts,” Lovullo said by phone. “He is bilingual and has the ability to communicate with just about any player on the field. He’s very comfortable stepping into normal conversations and very difficult conversations. I think those are some of the qualities that some of the best managers that I’ve been around possess.”

Former Yankee and Met Curtis Granderson, a three-time All-Star outfielder, announced his retirement Friday after 16 seasons in the major leagues. Granderson played for seven teams. He was an All-Star for the Detroit Tigers in 2009, and for the New York Yankees in 2011 and 2012.

In 2011, he led the majors with 136 runs and led the American League with 119 RBIs while hitting 41 homers. In 2007 with Detroit, he became only the third player to collect at least 30 doubles, 20 triples, 20 homers and 20 steals in a season.

Matt Adams agreed to a minor league contract with the New York Mets, hoping to earn a job as a backup and a bat with pop off the bench. The 31-year-old is primarily a first baseman but also has played the outfield. He batted .226 with 20 homers and 56 RBIs in 333 plate appearances last year for the World Series champion Washington Nationals, hitting 12 of his homers in June and July.