Article: After A Rough Few Months Is It Time For Alex Cora To Be On The Hot Seat?

[notin]

7 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

LMAO!

How about looking at the rosters of all the other AL teams not named the Tigers and Yankees?

What makes anyone think enough can't go 14 games under .500?

Is the Tigers roster really all that impressive?

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

8 hours ago, notin said:

The fact that you don’t…

So, basically, you got nothing.

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

18 minutes ago, notin said:

Wait.  Are you also TheSplinteredSplendor?  Am I the only one who didn’t know this?

It is true that I am still naive enough to believe every login is a unique person, even after all these years of forum posting…

Not even close to being the same person. Smh......

[moonslav59]

6 minutes ago, notin said:

Is the Tigers roster really all that impressive?

Not that much, but better than the next tier, I think. The Greek has them at 1 less win.

Here is one major difference between them and the Sox:

We have some top hitters that are platoon or have small sample sizes. The Tigers have all 5 of their top batters by most PAs over .773. 8 of their top 9 are over .728. Conversely, our #3 batter in PAs (Story) is at .591. Our #5 (Campbell) is at .658, and our #7 (Rafaela) is at .707. Our #1 OPS guy (Bregman) is on the IL, while our #2 OPS guy (Refsnyder) is 11th in PAs. Toro, at .803, is #12 in PAs.

They also have 5 SP'ers w 9+ GS and all but one have an ERA below 3.72. Their 5th one (Jobe) is at a respectable 4.22. Skubal, Flaherty & Olson are all under 2.96! They have 2 RP'ers with 8+ saves and ERAs under 1.80 plus their pen leader in IP at 1.72.

Maybe to start the year, they did not look all this good, on paper, but they do, now.

 

[moonslav59]

6 minutes ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

Not even close to being the same person. Smh......

You knew the other guy personally?

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

8 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

LMAO!

How about looking at the rosters of all the other AL teams not named the Tigers and Yankees?

What makes anyone think enough can't go 14 games under .500?

The problem is that lately there's been anywhere from 4-6 teams between the sox and the last WC spot.

Maybe a team or two out of that bunch might end up playing out the string 14 games under .500, but to think that 4-6 teams will is highly unlikely IMO

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

Just now, moonslav59 said:

You knew the other guy personally?

I've read enough of his posts.......

 

[Bellhorn04]

33 minutes ago, notin said:

Is the Tigers roster really all that impressive?

This is why baseball is a weird game.  They're 41-22, but people question if they're actually that good.

Pythagoras says they should be (checks notes) 41-22.

[mvp 78]

12 hours ago, Kimmi said:

That's what you get for going into a meeting.

It's a weekly meeting that drains the lifeforce of everyone in the room for 2+ hours. 😮‍💨

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

4 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

It's a weekly meeting that drains the lifeforce of everyone in the room for 2+ hours. 😮‍💨

I thought that being a sox fan drove him to drink and he was now attending AA meetings! 🤪

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

2 minutes ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

I thought that being a sox fan drove him to drink and he was now attending AA meetings! 🤪

In Portland?

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

3 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

In Portland?

Pretty sure they have AA meetings there too.

[mvp 78]

22 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

This is why baseball is a weird game.  They're 41-22, but people question if they're actually that good.

Pythagoras says they should be (checks notes) 41-22.

Unlike the Red Sox, the Tigers don't have a bunch of holes in their lineup. Not a bunch of superstars, but a bunch of 100 and above OPS+ guys. Every starter has an ERA under 4.25. They may not have a bunch of household names, but they have a top 10 offense, defense, rotation and bullpen. 

[mvp 78]

7 minutes ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

I thought that being a sox fan drove him to drink and he was now attending AA meetings! 🤪

If I was drinking heavily, this season would be a lot easier to deal with. 

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

5 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

If I was drinking heavily, this season would be a lot easier to deal with. 

True.

There's plenty of time left to start.

What's your drink of choice?

[mvp 78]

3 minutes ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

True.

There's plenty of time left to start.

What's your drink of choice?

Pappy with Coke Zero

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

Just now, mvp 78 said:

Pappy with Coke Zero

I've been drinking the Jameson Triple Triple lately, very smooth.

[Kimmi]

On 6/4/2025 at 11:21 PM, TedYazPapiMookie said:

I agree with you.  I just haven't seen Cora using his coaches that way.  I think Breslow would love that to happen as a former pitcher.  Cora seems to like being in charge and he seems to think he's got a great intuition when it comes to in game decisions.  The results of the unusual choices he makes seldom produces good results.

None of us knows exactly what goes on in the dugout, nor how much influence the other coaches have.  I'm inclined to think that Cora leans pretty heavily on both Bailey and Varitek, though admittedly, I have zero proof of that.

[Kimmi]

On 6/5/2025 at 9:01 AM, mvp 78 said:

It's a weekly meeting that drains the lifeforce of everyone in the room for 2+ hours. 😮‍💨

I know the feeling all too well.  Fortunately, I don't have to do it weekly, but meetings/training are pretty much a waste of my time.

[Kimmi]

On 6/5/2025 at 9:14 AM, mvp 78 said:

Unlike the Red Sox, the Tigers don't have a bunch of holes in their lineup. Not a bunch of superstars, but a bunch of 100 and above OPS+ guys. Every starter has an ERA under 4.25. They may not have a bunch of household names, but they have a top 10 offense, defense, rotation and bullpen. 

This just goes to show you that you don't need a bunch of superstars and big contract players to have a great team.

[mvp 78]

14 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

This just goes to show you that you don't need a bunch of superstars and big contract players to have a great team.

100%

[TedYazPapiMookie]

2 hours ago, Kimmi said:

None of us knows exactly what goes on in the dugout, nor how much influence the other coaches have.  I'm inclined to think that Cora leans pretty heavily on both Bailey and Varitek, though admittedly, I have zero proof of that.

So true.  I watch a lot of baseball for the Red Sox and Rangers.  I watch the behavior of Boche and Cora as they make decisions.  I see Boche and Maddux discussing things a great deal more than Cora and Bailey.  Maybe it's happening in the area behind the bench, and they are doing things in a comparable way but that would be speculation on my part.  I've seen the performance of the young pitching staff greatly improve since 2023 in Texas.  I can't say the same about the Red Sox young pitching staff Bailey arrived.  Wasn't he a Breslow guy not a Cora guy?

[TedYazPapiMookie]

2 hours ago, Kimmi said:

This just goes to show you that you don't need a bunch of superstars and big contract players to have a great team.

Let's see what happens in the playoffs.  My belief is you need some stars to lean on in the playoffs.  Some do great and some don't but guys like Mookie, Bogey, JD or Manny, Papi and Pedro help ensure the playoffs end better than the no name teams.  Detroit lines up to be a one and gone team but Skubal will make it tough to sweep them.  If you go back and count the teams with rings and no superstars, it's not a big total.  They are exceptions that need things to fall exactly their way.  Just like all the huge contracts from NYY and LAD over the years gets them to the playoffs but their roster design lacks critical components.  The NYY typically don't have consistently good pitching and until LAD got Mookie the 32-year drought was primarily a problem with having lots of above average stars but a limited number of clutch performers.

[Kimmi]

On 6/9/2025 at 6:36 PM, TedYazPapiMookie said:

So true.  I watch a lot of baseball for the Red Sox and Rangers.  I watch the behavior of Boche and Cora as they make decisions.  I see Boche and Maddux discussing things a great deal more than Cora and Bailey.  Maybe it's happening in the area behind the bench, and they are doing things in a comparable way but that would be speculation on my part.  I've seen the performance of the young pitching staff greatly improve since 2023 in Texas.  I can't say the same about the Red Sox young pitching staff Bailey arrived.  Wasn't he a Breslow guy not a Cora guy?

Breslow is the one who hired Bailey, but I think all three guys, Breslow, Bailey, and Cora were/are on the same page.  They are all analytics guys, so I would think they have similar philosophies. 

At any rate, I just don't share the critical opinions that you have about Cora.  I do think there is something amiss with the communication going on in the clubhouse this year, but as far as pitching changes and line ups are concerned, I'm fine with Cora's decisions, for the most part.

 

[Kimmi]

On 6/9/2025 at 6:47 PM, TedYazPapiMookie said:

Let's see what happens in the playoffs.  My belief is you need some stars to lean on in the playoffs.  Some do great and some don't but guys like Mookie, Bogey, JD or Manny, Papi and Pedro help ensure the playoffs end better than the no name teams.  Detroit lines up to be a one and gone team but Skubal will make it tough to sweep them.  If you go back and count the teams with rings and no superstars, it's not a big total.  They are exceptions that need things to fall exactly their way.  Just like all the huge contracts from NYY and LAD over the years gets them to the playoffs but their roster design lacks critical components.  The NYY typically don't have consistently good pitching and until LAD got Mookie the 32-year drought was primarily a problem with having lots of above average stars but a limited number of clutch performers.

There are a few things in this post that I disagree with, but it boils down to the playoffs being largely a crapshoot.  Teams with consistently larger payrolls will make the playoffs more consistently, but once there, teams with large payrolls and superstar names have just about the same chance of winning in the playoffs as teams like the Tigers.

Don't even get me started on clutch performers.

[TedYazPapiMookie]

12 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

Breslow is the one who hired Bailey, but I think all three guys, Breslow, Bailey, and Cora were/are on the same page.  They are all analytics guys, so I would think they have similar philosophies. 

At any rate, I just don't share the critical opinions that you have about Cora.  I do think there is something amiss with the communication going on in the clubhouse this year, but as far as pitching changes and line ups are concerned, I'm fine with Cora's decisions, for the most part.

 

I respect your opinion, but I can't disagree more.  Names like Robles, Lopez and so many others immediately pop in my head with respect to his daily mistakes over the last 6 years not including 2020.  I'm from a family of pitchers and I haven't seen someone as bad as Cora since Don Zimmer managed the Cubs.  Some people just don't have an understanding of a situation to realize what is most likely to work rather than going by their gut like Cora does.  Just look at the games of the last week.  Some of his hitting substitutions were completely illogical because he chooses to follow his gut and is wrong nearly every time.  Think back to pulling Sale with 12 Ks in 5 innings and hardly any pitches.  His intuition told him Sale after a month off couldn't go more than fifty-ish pitches despite having great velocity, accuracy and movement.  He has no idea what he's doing.

[TedYazPapiMookie]

12 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

There are a few things in this post that I disagree with, but it boils down to the playoffs being largely a crapshoot.  Teams with consistently larger payrolls will make the playoffs more consistently, but once there, teams with large payrolls and superstar names have just about the same chance of winning in the playoffs as teams like the Tigers.

Don't even get me started on clutch performers.

I completely agree.  The design of the roster has prevented NYY and LAD from being good post season teams but great in-season teams.  Recently, the addition of Betts, Freeman and Ohtani have changed that for the LAD offense.  They still have a hit or miss pitching staff, otherwise, they would be like the Yankees from the early 1920s to 1962.  Half the rings went to them.  Let's hope they don't have their pitching together in 2025 so someone other than the LAD wins the ring this year.

[TedYazPapiMookie]

On 6/4/2025 at 8:46 AM, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

The Astros' players who directly benefitted in '17 -- and got amnesty -- probably weren't offended when AJ Hinch and Cora took the fall for implementing a system developed by the Houston analytics department before AC was even hired there.

But what does line up with Franklin Morales is a 2013 Red Sox world championship. Rumor has it that even those players and coaches also tried to decode secret signs flashed by opposing catchers, pitchers, infielders and managers, as well as base coaches to batters and baserunners.

Anyone offended by that should find another sport to watch, because it's been part of baseball since the beginning of time.

Did you just equate a 2013 effort to pick up signs by looking in from 2B or the coaching box to what HOUSTON DID?  Seriously, Cora built a sophisticated system of cheating that impacted up to 90 games.  The single largest cheating scandal before HOUSTON was 5 games in the 1919 world series.  

The scope of cheating has a large range.  The primary motivation in 1919 was to keep organized crime from tapping into the results of games.  Now we let the folks who are in charge of gambling cheat to whatever degree they can get away with.  The culture of sports changed with legalized gambling.  

What made Houston's cheating so despicable?  The very thing HOF board members preach constantly, the integrity of the game.  What a joke!!!  Data has proven for 30 years that steroids had NO IMPACT on HRs, but players are denigrated for ATTEMPTING TO CHEAT with steroids even though the action didn't improve their numbers.  Then a team comes along and impacts up to 90 HOME GAMES and completely changes the order of finish in the AL West, completely changes the playoff seeding and completely changes the results of the play-offs and nobody cares but if Bonds out homers Ruth with only the assistance of the juiced ball, he's the devil.  What an incredibly screwed up baseball world we live in.

1 - We CAN NOT publicize the finding on steroids since they got Selig into the HOF and we can't publish and recognize the change in the baseball that happened in 1995 to boost HRs by 25% because that too would reflect poorly on Selig who enacted the change to the juiced baseball but we can ban players from the HOF for using an ineffective drug in AN ATTEMPT to cheat while achieving extraordinary HR totals using a juiced ball provided by the MLB? 

2 -We won't penalize players participating in a 90-game cheating scandal, but we'll sentence the coaches who concocted the 18 times greater cheating scandal in 2017 TO A PARTIAL SEASON BAN!!! That is significantly down from the lifetime ban imposed in 1919 for 5 games? 

For the Cora fans who can overlook an indiscretion impacting 90 games, never complain again when something seems unfair to you.  You pardoned the most heinous offense in baseball.  Don't expect others to follow suit.  There is no statute of limitations on this type of offense.  It's like the HOF always says (out of pure irony since they don't enforce their code of conduct), the 2017 scandal was a blow to the integrity of the game and those who played it.

[Kimmi]

On 6/11/2025 at 4:04 PM, TedYazPapiMookie said:

I respect your opinion, but I can't disagree more.  Names like Robles, Lopez and so many others immediately pop in my head with respect to his daily mistakes over the last 6 years not including 2020.  I'm from a family of pitchers and I haven't seen someone as bad as Cora since Don Zimmer managed the Cubs.  Some people just don't have an understanding of a situation to realize what is most likely to work rather than going by their gut like Cora does.  Just look at the games of the last week.  Some of his hitting substitutions were completely illogical because he chooses to follow his gut and is wrong nearly every time.  Think back to pulling Sale with 12 Ks in 5 innings and hardly any pitches.  His intuition told him Sale after a month off couldn't go more than fifty-ish pitches despite having great velocity, accuracy and movement.  He has no idea what he's doing.

We will have to disagree on this.  I am confident that Cora has a very good understanding of the game situations, and that he makes fewer mistakes than what you are criticizing him for.

[Kimmi]

On 6/11/2025 at 4:10 PM, TedYazPapiMookie said:

I completely agree.  The design of the roster has prevented NYY and LAD from being good post season teams but great in-season teams.  Recently, the addition of Betts, Freeman and Ohtani have changed that for the LAD offense.  They still have a hit or miss pitching staff, otherwise, they would be like the Yankees from the early 1920s to 1962.  Half the rings went to them.  Let's hope they don't have their pitching together in 2025 so someone other than the LAD wins the ring this year.

On my list of teams that I really don't want to win the World Series, the Dodgers are #2 behind only the Yankees.  The strange thing about that is that I really like 95% of the Dodgers players, not to mention Dave Roberts.