Roenicke, Febles Sox's in-house skipper options

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- By their very nature, MLB coaching staffs take their cue from their manager.

And that’s why this is such a strange time for the Red Sox and their coaching staff, a group that is set to report to Spring Training in less than a month not knowing who will lead them.

The news of Alex Cora’s abrupt departure -- due to his association with the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal in 2017 -- stunned them earlier this week, and now they have to wait and see who their leader will be.

What could settle some stomachs on the coaching staff -- and the team in general -- is if the next manager winds up being a familiar face.

Two current members of the staff -- bench coach Ron Roenicke and third base coach Carlos Febles --- figure to at least get consideration.

“Yeah, I’m comfortable with both guys. They can handle it. We’ve had good relationships and done a lot of good things together the last two years,” hitting coach Tim Hyers said on Saturday at Boston’s Winter Weekend. “So it would be really comfortable in my position if that did happen.

Febles would be appealing because he shares an important trait Cora had of being bilingual. He also has 904 games of Minor League managerial experience, all for the Red Sox organization.

“That’s huge, just knowing the players, being around them, knowing them for so many years, guys that I’ve managed in the Minor Leagues and had the opportunity to coach here in the big leagues,” Febles said. “There’s an advantage because you don’t have to work hard to build relationships. I’ve already been around here a long time.”

Of all the current coaches, Febles was probably the closest with Cora. He would be honored to be his friend’s successor.

“I mean, I would definitely welcome it,” said Febles. “If you want to manage in the big leagues, this is the team that you want to do it -- the Boston Red Sox -- not just because of the talent we have, but the organization, the fanbase, and you putting all the perspective together, this is the perfect scenario for any manager to come into this organization. This is a real special organization and an organization that wants to win every year, year in and year out.”

Even if Febles doesn’t get the top job, he is rooting for it to go to someone within the organization’s walls.

“Definitely, it’s their decision, but it will make it easier for all of us, coaches and players,” Febles said. “It’s going to be hard if whoever comes in tries to build relationships at this point, this late, with Spring Training only [a few] weeks away. You guys know how long it takes for any manager to build relationships throughout the offseason. You can imagine how difficult it is going to be to do it in two weeks.

“I think internal will be a lot easier for all of us then having somebody come from the outside. But at the end, it’s a front office decision.”

The trait Roenicke brings that’s different from any of the other internal candidates is that he has managed in the Major Leagues before -- from 2011-15 for the Brewers.

When Cora was hired two years ago, one of the first things he did was bring Roenicke over to Boston to be his bench coach, so that he could lean on his experience. It was a unique relationship, as Roenicke had once been Cora’s Minor League manager.

Because Cora’s departure is so raw, Roenicke had a hard time embracing the idea that he could take over his friend’s old post. But he didn’t rule it out.

“I don’t know. We’ll see what happens with that,” Roenicke said. “I enjoyed it in Milwaukee. We’ll see what happens there. It’s hard to think about things when it’s so recent what happened to him. We had dinner with him a couple nights ago. So, it’s hard.”