Despite being in the midst of a lockout, which has frozen all transactions around baseball, Mets manager Buck Showalter can still fill out his coaching staff during the work stoppage.
And beyond pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, whose club option was picked up by the team earlier in the offseason, the Mets' staff is full of vacancies that must be addressed prior to spring training.
Fortunately, Showalter is already close to landing a familiar name to join him in Queens. According to Mike Puma of The New York Post, the Mets are finalizing an agreement to bring Joey Cora in to be their next third base coach.
Cora, 56, is the older brother of former big-leaguer and current Red Sox manager Alex Cora. Cora most recently served as the third base coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 2017-2021, but was let go following last season.
Ironically, Cora interviewed for the Mets' managerial vacancy during the 2017-2018 offseason. He was also a candidate to become Carlos Beltran's bench coach with the Mets back in the 2019-2020 offseason.
After retiring as a player, Cora managed in the Mets' minor league system for three seasons. He was then brought on to be Ozzie Guillen's third base coach with the White Sox in 2003, and helped them capture the 2005 World Series. Cora was promoted to bench coach in Chicago in 2006, which is a role he served in until September of 2011. Cora was also hired to be Guillen's bench coach with the Marlins in 2012, before joining the Pirates' organization as their Double-A manager in 2016.
The Puerto Rican native played 11 seasons in the majors for the Padres, White Sox, Mariners and Indians and was an All-Star in 1997.
With Cora set to join Showalter's staff, The Post also revealed that John Russell is a possibility for the Mets' bench coach opening. Russell was Showalter's bench coach in Baltimore from 2011-2018. In addition to Russell, Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough impressed Mets officials when he interviewed for their managerial role in December. That is why he is a possible candidate to land the bench coach job on Showalter's staff as well, per Puma.
More must-reads: