Cox agrees to 1-year extension through 2008

 

ATLANTA (AP) -Bobby Cox signed on for another season in Atlanta.
The longtime Braves manager agreed to a one-year contract extension that runs through 2008, a deal the team announced on Wednesday.
It could be Cox’s final contract. He said before the season he plans to manage only two more years, but on Wednesday he indicated that plan could change.
“As long as the players can put up with me, and the organization wants me, fine,” Cox said. “I don’t know. We’ll see. When I was asked that question in spring training, I was good for ’07, ’08. We’ll see.”
Cox, who turns 66 in May, has managed the Braves since midway through the 1990 season. The following year, he guided Atlanta from worst to first to launch an unprecedented streak of 14 straight division titles.
Including an earlier four-year stint with the Braves and four seasons as Toronto’s manager, Cox has a career record of 2,180-1,690 going into Wednesday night’s game against the Chicago Cubs. He is the fifth-winningest manager in baseball history, trailing only Connie Mack, John McGraw, Tony La Russa and Sparky Anderson. Among active managers, Cox trails only La Russa.
“No one is more deserving of this than Bobby Cox, and we are very pleased to extend his contract through 2008,” Braves general manager John Schuerholz said. “We feel that Bobby is the best manager in the game and his place in baseball history is well-secured. His leadership has helped the Braves to set a very high standard of excellence.”
Cox has joked that he and Schuerholz keep asking each other about possible retirement plans, with a presumed but unspoken plan to retire together.
“I feel great. I still love it,” Cox said this spring. “But there comes a time when you have to think about doing something else.”