As soon as news broke that the Philadelphia Phillies had relieved Rob Thomson of his managerial duties Tuesday morning after a 9-19 start to the season, the next step seemed predetermined:

President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, who hired Alex Cora to manage the Red Sox in November 2017, would do so again to right the ship in Philadelphia.

But according to several reports, Cora already had the perfect job waiting for him, full-time dad. So the Phillies named bench coach Don Mattingly, who previously captained the Yankees and managed the Dodgers and Marlins, interim manager instead.

“Alex Cora was offered the Philadelphia Phillies’ managerial job before Don Mattingly, but declined,” wrote USA Today’s Bob Nightengale on X (formerly Twitter). “He has decided to spend time with his family.”

Cora, who was only 13 when his father passed away, has spoken often in recent years about what he wants his future to look like: not decades managing in the majors, like his former manager, Terry Francona, but a path that allows him to be more present for his children, including nine-year-old twin sons, Xander and Isander, and adult daughter Camila.

“We’re in this world for a purpose, right, and for me, it’s to raise her, try to do the best we can,” Cora said last May, when he was criticized for missing a single Red Sox game to attend Camila’s graduation from Boston College. “People have their own opinions. I bet those people, they have families too, and at one point they had to make decisions, too. And I bet they made decisions for the best of the family. I made the best decision for my daughter, and for those who don’t understand, I’m not gonna try to convince them.”

Cora and Dombrowski last worked together in Boston in September 2019, when the Red Sox unceremoniously fired the longtime exec during a Sunday Night Baseball game against the Yankees, but the two remain close. As recently as last December’s MLB Winter Meetings in Orlando, Cora spoke of his regard for Dombrowski and discussed conversations they had had surrounding Kyle Schwarber’s free agency.

Beyond the bond with Dombrowski, Cora’s comfort in a passionate, high-stakes environment like Boston, both as a player and manager, suggested he could handle a similar atmosphere in Philadelphia.

“Boston for a lot of people is a challenge,” Cora said when he was officially introduced as Red Sox manager in November 2017. “For me, it’s not.”

That day, Dombrowski listed the five qualities the Red Sox had looked for in a manager: leadership, communication, respect, baseball knowledge, and a “very contemporary” approach to analytics. He called Cora the “ideal type of leader for Red Sox organization.”

Instead Cora wants to be what he feels is the ideal type of father.