Article: Alex Cora Takes the Blame, but There’s Plenty To Go Around

[Alex Mayes]

Alex Cora once again made himself a shield for his players after the Red Sox were trounced at the hands of a division rival. It's commendable, but there's more than enough blame to share for the team's sluggish start.

When Alex Cora sat down in front of the NESN cameras after the Red Sox lost 16-1 to the Rays, he was ready to take ownership of the on-field failures. “It seems like there was a team that was prepared for the other one and the other one wasn’t prepared for them," he said. "That goes from top all the way to the bottom. That wasn’t a good night for us. I’ll take the blame because it seemed like our team wasn’t ready to go." Statements like these have become a bit of a hallmark for Cora. He’s a player’s manager and is willing to fall on the sword for his team. He can handle the negative attention and comments, that’s part of what he was hired to do.

Eventually, though, you have to wonder if it’s working. On paper, this Red Sox team should be the best team in the American League. They shouldn’t be getting almost swept by the likes of the Blue Jays and the lowly White Sox. Sure, you can excuse a bit away because of the frigid conditions at Fenway Park during the series with the Blue Jays, but the offense was listless. That trend continued into the weekend series with the White Sox. We thought that venturing to a warmer climate in Florida might wake up the bats, but after one game, it looks like more of the same. On top of that, the defense has been terrible. The Red Sox lead all of baseball with 20 errors on the season, a problem that the signing of Alex Bregman and the return of Trevor Story were supposed to help fix (though it's worth noting that according to Statcast's fielding run value, Boston grades out just about average defensively). Bregman currently leads the team with four errors. An outfield that some predicted could sweep the American League Gold Glove awards looks like a weakness so far. Jarren Duran has gotten off to slow start both offensively and defensively, and Ceddanne Rafaela is making highlight reel plays but is still a liability on offense. Wilyer Abreu has been one of the few bright spots on both sides of the ball, but he’s currently battling his way back from his first mini slump of the season. 

All hope isn’t lost. It’s still early in the season, so it’s not yet time to hit the panic button.  Plus, the American League as a whole is underperforming. Most teams are hovering around .500, and as of Tuesday morning, only two teams have nine wins. Unfortunately, those two teams are the Yankees and Blue Jays. There’s still a lot of baseball to be played and the Red Sox should be able to turn it around. If they can’t, though, it’s fair to wonder if coaches like Pete Fatse and, yes, even Jason Varitek will find their seats growing hotter. It’s incredibly rare for coaching changes to happen this early in the season, but should this slide continue, I don’t think it can be ruled out entirely. The Red Sox should be better than this, and honestly, they have to be better than this. If they can't find their footing, then sweeping changes could be coming sooner rather than later.

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[mvp 78]

Houck fell back to earth after July 1 last year. Bello is out. Fitts is injured. Buehler was a shot in the dark for a FA pickup and had horrible regular season numbers last year. Red Sox were relying on Sean Newcomb to provide meaningful innings early on (hasn't pitched 50+ innings in MLB since '19). Seems like the rotation was a little overrated going into the season aside from the tippy top. 

I think we can expect more out of Duran and Casas, but Abreu and Campbell certainly hit above their weight for a long period of time. The defense is still mediocre to bad or at least it feels that way. 

On paper, are they really that good?

[Bellhorn04]

I think Vegas's over/under of 86.5 wins was eminently fair.

[moonslav59]

17 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Houck fell back to earth after July 1 last year. Bello is out. Fitts is injured. Buehler was a shot in the dark for a FA pickup and had horrible regular season numbers last year. Red Sox were relying on Sean Newcomb to provide meaningful innings early on (hasn't pitched 50+ innings in MLB since '19). Seems like the rotation was a little overrated going into the season aside from the tippy top. 

I think we can expect more out of Duran and Casas, but Abreu and Campbell certainly hit above their weight for a long period of time. The defense is still mediocre to bad or at least it feels that way. 

On paper, are they really that good?

I think we will need Bello or Gio to step up in a very meaningful way. Sandoval might be a late season boost, but it seems like those types of signing never give us anything, year one.

Crawford could return and be strong, but I'm not counting on it.

Houck no longer looks like a possible strong #2. He may end up out of the rotation, if he can't improve.

It might have to be...

1. Crochet

2. Buehler

3. Bello

4 Gio

5. Houck/Newcomb/Dobbins/Fitts/Criswell >> Sandoval

[Bellhorn04]

I find it hard to summon much optimism about Giolito. 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

2 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

I find it hard to summon much optimism about Giolito. 

Why? Because he's never thrown a single pitch in an MLB game for the Red Sox, who are paying him $50 million?

At least Paxton came back years later and had a good month... before he broke down again... and before the Sox traded to get him back... before he broke down again again.

Bello, age 25, signed longterm, is the key to stabilizing the rotation.

[Old Red]

3 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

I find it hard to summon much optimism about Giolito. 

I agree, but that contract kind of makes it that way. It’s a long season, and the rotation started breaking down before the season even started. It will be interesting to see how Crochet looks too if he makes it to 150IP+.

[Old Red]

1 minute ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Why? Because he's never thrown a single pitch in an MLB game for the Red Sox, who are paying him $50 million?

At least Paxton came back years later and had a good month... before he broke down again... and before the Sox traded to get him back... before he broke down again again.

Bello, age 25, signed longterm, is the key to stabilizing the rotation.

Yes, on Gio, and, because last seen when he did pitch he was a HR Derby pitcher. Bello is a key, but so is Houck.

[moonslav59]

11 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

I find it hard to summon much optimism about Giolito. 

I'm not optimistic, and I think Bello has the much better chance to "step up," but I also find it hard to be optimistic about Houck, right now. Putting Gio 4th and Houck 5th is not a vote of confidence.

[moonslav59]

7 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Why? Because he's never thrown a single pitch in an MLB game for the Red Sox, who are paying him $50 million?

At least Paxton came back years later and had a good month... before he broke down again... and before the Sox traded to get him back... before he broke down again again.

Bello, age 25, signed longterm, is the key to stabilizing the rotation.

Paxton had 3 good months: May to July: 3.34 ERA in 13 starts. I guess one could call May and July ho-hum.

May 25 to July 14: 1.93 ERA in 7 GS

1 bad start, then July 16 to Aug 20th: 2.96 ERA in 5 GS

[mvp 78]

2 hours ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Why? Because he's never thrown a single pitch in an MLB game for the Red Sox, who are paying him $50 million?

At least Paxton came back years later and had a good month... before he broke down again... and before the Sox traded to get him back... before he broke down again again.

Bello, age 25, signed longterm, is the key to stabilizing the rotation.

It takes 18 months to really come back from TJS. I know he had the brace procedure, but I wouldn't expect him to be fully ready for another few months. It could be a rough ride for a while.

[moonslav59]

57 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

It takes 18 months to really come back from TJS. I know he had the brace procedure, but I wouldn't expect him to be fully ready for another few months. It could be a rough ride for a while.

It's been about 13 months.

He will need some adjustment time.

[mvp 78]

Last night was his first bad outing and it was in not great weather. However, it was against AA hitters. 5 H and 3 BB in 2 IP is not great no matter the weather, unless it's raining.