He will turn 51 next Sunday, and is getting married to his partner Angelica in November. He’s involved in the day-to-day activities with their 9-year-old twin sons and spending more time with his adult daughter, who recently returned to Puerto Rico after grad school.

Being fired — and still getting paid by the Sox through the 2027 season — gave Cora the time and money to travel with his family and be present beyond baseball’s offseason. More trips are planned, and the Red Sox owe him just over $7 million.

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The timing makes sense in terms of baseball, too.

With a lockout on the horizon and the very real possibility of at least a shortened spring training, taking over a new team would be challenging. The current opportunities aren’t ideal, either.

The Phillies have an aging and expensive core. Bryce Harper, who turns 34 on Friday, has five years and $137.7 million remaining on his contract. Kyle Schwarber turns 34 in March and has four years and $132 million left on his deal. Trea Turner, who will be 34 in June, has seven years and a whopping $191 million remaining.

The Mariners have a vacancy, but a West Coast team likely isn’t on Cora’s radar. The Astros would move on from Joe Espada, but it’s safe to assume they could not bring Cora back given his role in the 2017 sign-stealing scandal.

For now, Cora remains involved in the game peripherally, maintaining his relationships with Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Chris Sale, and others who played for him with the Red Sox.

Cora reached out after Sale had a scoreless relief appearance earlier this month to close out the Braves’ Wild Card Series victory against the Phillies.

“Just getting a text from him was awesome because he was someone I learned a lot from as manager,” Sale said. “Talk about a winning mentality and all hands on deck and just the love of your teammates and the willingness to sacrifice yourself to do whatever it is for the team.”

Sale said he communicated “a lot” with Cora during the season. The same was true for Betts, Bogaerts, and others.

Cora is running the Chicago Marathon on Sunday with his fiancée. They’re raising money for Home Base, a veterans’ mental health charity affiliated with the Red Sox and, in particular, team chairman Tom Werner.

Gabby Vázquez, the wife of former Red Sox catcher Christian Vázquez, is running for the same cause.

Catcher Adley Rutschman, acquired at the trade deadline, is one of 17 arbitration-eligible Red Sox.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff

DECISIONS TO MAKE

Red Sox have host of arb-eligibles

The Red Sox have 17 players eligible for arbitration, matching the Rays for the largest group in this cycle.

MLB Trade Rumors published its list of projected salaries. Jarren Duran ($11.1 million), Adley Rutschman ($9.1 million), Wilyer Abreu ($4.6 million), and Tanner Houck ($4.1 million) are the only Sox over $2.8 million.

Duran is a good candidate for either a trade or a non-tender. His production has dropped steadily since his 2024 All-Star season.

Triston Casas would not be costly at $1.7 million. But the 40-man roster spot could be more valuable at this stage, given that he has not appeared in a game since May 2, 2025, because of injuries.

Kutter Crawford, Romy Gonzalez, Zack Kelly, and Jahmai Jones are other non-tender candidates. The deadline for those decisions is Nov. 20.

A few other observations on the Red Sox:

▪ Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said 11 months ago that the Sox needed more power in their lineup given the importance of home runs, especially in the postseason.

But the Red Sox finished 12th in the American League with 163 homers, 23 fewer than 2025.

This time, Breslow said the team needed to identify “development opportunities” to add more power.

“I think it’s important to call out that we had, I think, something like seven guys who set career highs in home runs,” Breslow said.

It’s true, seven players did that. Willson Contreras went from 24 to 27 home runs and Abreu from 22 to 24. It’s also fair to point to Mickey Gasper hitting 10 home runs as something the team and the hitting coaches can be proud of.

Claiming the other four as evidence of success is more than a bit specious.

Caleb Durbin climbed from 11 to 13. He also had 80 more plate appearances than he did in 2025 for the Brewers. And six of those 13 homers were to left field at Fenway Park.

Andruw Monasterio had 212 more plate appearances and hit two more homers than he had before, also for Milwaukee. Nick Sogard didn’t homer in 190 previous career plate appearances over two seasons and hit five in 277 plate appearances this season.

Anthony Seigler didn’t homer in 34 games for the Brewers last season and hit three this season in 49 games. One of those was down the left-field line at Fenway.

▪ Contreras is one of 10 candidates for the Hank Aaron Award in the American League. Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez would seem like a lock. The award goes to the top offensive player in each league.

A side-by-side view of Red Sox pitcher Payton Tolle from 2026 and actor Nick Offerman from 2012.Brian Fluharty/Getty Images; Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

▪ It finally happened. Actor/comedian [and baseball fan] Nick Offerman talked about his doppelganger, Payton Tolle.

In an appearance on the “The Joy of Baseball” podcast with Molly Knight and Joe Posnanski last week, Offerman said that he’s become a fan of the Sox lefthander.

“Thank you for the joy you bring, the open-mindedness and curiosity and heart and just giggles that you bring to your work,” Offerman said. “I taught you well, my son.”

It goes beyond the mustache. Offerman and Tolle are burly guys who like to laugh.

“I can see it,” Tolle said a few weeks ago. “People have brought it up. It’s cool.”

Jarren Duran peeked in as a celebration of reaching base, but the Red Sox will use exaggerated, fake signs to try to throw a pitcher off.Barry Chin/Globe Staff

ETC.

Murphy goes deep on pitch tipping

Whether Yogi Berra actually said, “You can observe a lot just by watching” or not, it’s certainly true in baseball.

During the Division Series against the Padres, Brewers manager Pat Murphy pulled back the curtain on how teams look for ways a pitcher tips his next pitch.

“I’d be not telling the truth if I didn’t tell you that it’s part of our game today in a big way,” he said. “The most important part is to make sure your pitchers, catchers, infielders, coaches — nobody’s giving anything away.”

Then Murphy explained what to look for.

“So pitchers: by grip, by where they stand, by if their mouth is open or closed, eyes are down, head is up, more turned, feet are a different way — there’s so many elements,” he said. “Big breath, small breath, taps on the ground. There’s so many ways to give away a pitch.

“They’re creatures of habit, so, in fact, you have to practice that and stay on that. As soon as one thing isn’t ideal, then they turn their glove a little or flash in their glove a little or dig a little more. There’s a science to it now.”

As teams watch other pitchers, they have to watch their own pitchers and players closely.

“Making sure infielders aren’t moving early or make sure your catcher’s not taking the same steps defensively every time,” Murphy said. “Coaches sign. Sometimes we give the sign from the dugout — or teams do — making sure that’s not picked up.

“Now, as far as picking up other teams, there’s a whole process to that, and how do you relay it from second base? And are you deking, or are you doing it for real? That’s all part of the game. It’s all part of it right now. And it’s a big part of what’s happening.”

A runner at second base can sometimes see how a pitcher grips the ball and can signal a hitter what’s coming. Base coaches will casually stroll out of the coaching box trying to get a better look at the pitcher’s glove. Or sometimes a player or coach on the bench will see something that gives it away.

Teams, including the Red Sox, will use fake signs to rattle the pitcher. If a runner at second touches his helmet or makes some other gesture, it could mean something. Or not.

Padres closer Mason Miller, dominant all season, allowed two runs over 2⅔ innings in the series and put seven men on base. Miller said Jackson Chourio, in particular, looked comfortable taking certain pitches.

All this is legal. Teams can’t use real-time video, but are otherwise free to crack the code any way they can.

Cohasset’s Ben Rice earned his way into the Yankees history book with a pair of two-homer playoff games, this first coming against the Red Sox.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff

Major League Baseball’s latest proposal to the Players Association calls for a 154-game regular season starting in 2029, with an offday once a week, plus a best-of-seven Division Series that would add up to eight more postseason games. The league also proposed that the highest-seeded teams in the Wild Card and Division Series could select their opponents. MLB has been on a good run with rule changes in recent years, and a shorter season makes sense if it reduces roster churn and injuries. Having teams select their opponents feels like an unnecessary gimmick. It would be better to reseed the field after the first round. MLB’s proposal was contingent on the union accepting a salary cap, which isn’t going to happen any time soon, if ever. But some of these ideas could resurface once the financial issues are settled … The Yankees weren’t just swept in their Division Series against the Rays; they never led. Yankees fans have been quick to condemn manager Aaron Boone, who is 27-30 in the postseason and hasn’t won a World Series in his tenure. But the Yankees won 93 games and were third in the American League in runs scored with Aaron Judge playing only 66 games. “Aaron Judge is the greatest player in the world,” Boone said. “That’s a huge — huge — person to be missing. But every team tends to deal with different attrition that they have to face every year, and unfortunately that was for us much of this year.” On the plus side, Ben Rice became the first player in Yankees history to have two games with multiple home runs in the same postseason. The Cohasset native is 12 for 37 with seven extra-base hits and 13 RBIs in 11 career postseason games … Through 24 games of the postseason, teams who scored first were 17-7, and teams who outhomered their opponents were 14-4 … Two former Boston College players, Padres righthander Michael King and Brewers outfielder Sal Frelick, met up in the Division Series. King was at the Heights from 2014-16 and Frelick from 2018-21. “Mike’s been a big role model for me. He was at Boston College when I was in high school. I was committed there. He was on some really good teams there. Helped build that culture there, and he’s someone I looked up to,” Frelick, 26, said. “He’s been great so far since I entered pro ball, helping me and just being a great source in the game.” King, 31, allowed one run on five hits over 14 postseason innings and struck out 15. He has a $30 million player option for 2027 or can become a free agent. Look for the Padres to try and work out a multi-year deal for King. New owners José E. Felicano and Kwanza Jones won’t want to fail their first big test … The Braves were interested in lefthander Tarik Skubal at the trade deadline but wouldn’t part with 21-year-old righthander Didier Fuentes. He showed why in the postseason, allowing three runs over seven innings in five games against the Phillies and Dodgers. Fuentes had a 2.45 ERA in 58 appearances this season, striking out 92 over 73⅓ innings. He averaged 97.3 miles per hour with his fastball and has a devastating slider … With Game 1 of the NLCS on Sunday, Shohei Ohtani hasn’t homered for the Dodgers since Aug. 18. He was 2 for 13 in the Division Series without an extra-base hit or RBI. It was an extension of a 7-for-47 slump in his final 12 games of the regular season … According to Baseball America, MLB is considering moving the amateur draft back to June after talks with NCAA coaches and administrators. Holding the draft during the All-Star break has been a flop. Players don’t want to attend, and the event has become a footnote to everything else going on. The 2020 draft was set to be held in Omaha three days before the College World Series, but the pandemic changed those plans. That location and timetable still makes a lot of sense … The Rockies, who have averaged 107 losses the last four seasons, announced a 12 percent increase on season tickets. Team president Walker Monfort said the hike was necessary to bring the team closer to the league-wide average ticket price. Never mind that the Rockies haven’t had a winning season since 2018. Then there are the Orioles, who fired 16 team employees, including the person who plays the Oriole Bird mascot … Fred Claire, who was general manager of the Dodgers from 1987-88, passed away at 91 last Monday. Claire covered the Dodgers for the Long Beach Press-Telegram, joined the team’s public relations department, and eventually became GM of a World Series-winning team … Sam McDowell, 84, also died Monday. “Sudden Sam” was 141-134 with a 3.17 ERA and 2,453 strikeouts from 1961-74. He spent most of his career with Cleveland and was a six-time All-Star. In 1968, McDowell and Luis Tiant combined for a 36-23 record for the Indians with a 1.71 ERA over 69 starts and 527⅓ innings while striking out 547. McDowell struggled with alcoholism late in his career before going to rehab and becoming a certified recovery counselor. He worked with the Baseball Assistance Team from 1987-2016 and helped many former players … The Springfield chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research will hold its next meeting from 10 a.m. to noon on Oct. 24 at the Storrs Library located at 696 Longmeadow St. in Longmeadow. The meeting, which is free and open to the public, will feature John Dowd, who led MLB’s investigation into Pete Rose, and ESPN producer Andy Billman … Happy birthday to Mike Fiore, who is 82. A first baseman and occasional outfielder, Fiore played 92 games for the Red Sox from 1970-71, hitting .161 as a lefthanded-hitting backup to George Scott. Fiore played 254 major league games from 1968-72 for five teams. He spent most of his professional career, 779 games, in Triple-A. Fiore grew up in Brooklyn and played at Lafayette High, the same school that produced Sandy Koufax.

Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him on Bluesky at peteabeglobe.bsky.social‬.