Cora and 4 coaches sacked!

[moonslav59]

MLB's OPS is up to .715, now. It was .758 in 2019.

270 MLB have 60+ PAs, and Anthony ranks 170th, while Mayer ranks 189th. Many had very high expectations for Anthony and high uncertainty levels on Mayer.

No doubt, Anthony (.670) and Mayer (.652) are off to poor starts, both are 2-3 big games from being at the norm in season 2 of their careers. Let's see how the next few months pan out.

Team rankings

62 Contreras .837

64 Abreu .835

(Wong would be 89th if he has 21 more PAs and hit the same.)

112 Rafaela .753

Yoshida would be 134th with 4 more PAs to qualify)

170 Anthony .670
189 Mayer .652

215 Narvaez .605

.533 Duran & Story .533 (Only 1 player has more PAs and a lower OPS than Story.)

250 Durbin .530 (only 2 MLB players have more PAs and a lower OPS than Durbin)

 

[mvp 78]

35 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Maybe Tracy should have done a BETTER job teaching  Mayer, and Anthony when they were down in WOO.🤔

Marcelo's defense is great. He only played 43 games in AAA.

Roman was great last year including his defense.

[mvp 78]

23 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

You know he wasn't "coaching" players?

He wasn't doing anything with the players (part of the problem). He did handpick the coaches though. 

[moonslav59]

6 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

He wasn't doing anything with the players (part of the problem). He did handpick the coaches though. 

I was not aware he never talked to or worked with his players to improve.

[iortiz]

Cora had to go. This team had been playing very poor fundamentals for a while. The platoon nonsense had to stop. The lining up of your subpar buddies had to stop. The “we gotta do better” had to stop. The hitting coaches had to go as well. This team couldn’t hit to save their lives. Part of the cancer has been removed the way I see it. We needed fresh air. Breslow had to go as well and probably will in the offseason and maybe later through the season if things turn around very ugly. He’s just Henry’s puppet anyways. We have to deal with JH, unfortunately. I don’t see him selling the team unless the bottom line says the opposite and I don’t see that happening soon with all the pink hats out there. 

[mvp 78]

5 minutes ago, iortiz said:

Cora had to go. This team had been playing very poor fundamentals for a while. The platoon nonsense had to stop. The lining up of your subpar buddies had to stop. The “we gotta do better” had to stop. The hitting coaches had to go as well. This team couldn’t hit to save their lives. Part of the cancer has been removed the way I see it. We needed fresh air. Breslow had to go as well and probably will in the offseason and maybe later through the season if things turn around very ugly. He’s just Henry’s puppet anyways. We have to deal with JH, unfortunately. I don’t see him selling the team unless the bottom line says the opposite and I don’t see that happening soon with all the pink hats out there. 

They are NEVER selling the team. This ballclub and the surrounding properties makes too much money. Breslow is doing exactly what Henry wants him to do. You'll get to gripe about his moves next offseason too. 

[sk7326]

50 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

Ok BUT is that really going to fix anything? yeah maybe that helps keep guys like Duran/Anthony in the lineup to get them going but they also need to get Story/Mayer and Durbin going too who hypothetically should be better offensive players than Rafaela as well.  It's rearranging the chairs, and if we need to get other people going shouldn't we also be looking to get his defense going too?

He won a gold glove last year and is 25 how could his defense possibly of fallen off?

I'll reiterate my earlier point, we are searching for a silver bullet that just doesn't exist.  

reality is this team stinks, and unless people start hitting they're going to continue to stink no matter how you shuffle the defense. 

Obviously "don't worry" is not a real answer - but we're still very much in small sample size theater, so that is worth noting.  But yeah the offense has been the problem - and that Cora suddenly became the problem is pretty silly.  Him getting fired is not a surprise - management is definitely quick to panic.  

The left side of the infield being an absolute zero offensively was certainly a plausible reality entering the season, and it is.  Roman Anthony becoming a three true outcomes hitter without the 3rd outcome is less plausible.  

 

[FredLynn]

12 hours ago, notin said:

Do MLB players get to vote on firing their manager on other teams?

I don't know for sure but I doubt it. That would be a case of the tail wagging the dog.

[iortiz]

IMO Duran has a better glove than Anthony, and it’s not even close, and if he starts hitting why will you put Anthony in the OF mostly when he seems to be made of glass. 

[drewski6]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

1. Bad start.

2. Misalignment between Ownership, Breslow and Cora.

3. Cora isn't good at developing young players and that is what this core needs.

4. FO wanted to let go a few of his coaches and Cora wouldn't do it as they were his boys. 

Throw in a 5. scapegoating and I can get behind this

[drewski6]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

You don't have to blame him for their performance, but you can blame him for not wanting to further their development and seeing it more as "babysitting" than coaching. The job is to coach these players, not just set the lineups and make pitching changes. 

Or at the very least, hire good coaches that will help the guys and he didnt really do that either.

I do think Cora would make a better executive than coach, and to me, thats the issue here.  Also Breslow doing nothing to help this feel like a team/family/unit/chemistry.  Its all an individual players approach.

[drewski6]

2 hours ago, notin said:

You probably saw the biggest house cleaning you’ll ever see in April probably ever.  

Getting rid of the CBO right now as well just creates more confusion, and it’s not like there is some big storeroom somewhere loaded with unemployed CBO/GMs in hermetically sealed bags just waiting for Amazon to deliver them.  “Did you order the Mike Rizzo?  I don’t think it’s going to fit.”

I dont think the housecleaning is over. I think T-2 weeks until Story has money eaten and is flipped for relief pitch prospects.

[drewski6]

Im in the minority here but I dont think Breslow is JH's yes man. I think Breslow is firming running the show and making the decisions and this is on him, squarely.

Which is good news because they wont sell the team but they may sack Breslow after the year.

[drewski6]

Personally, I saw how well it went when Brad Stevens went from coach to executive and I thought it was worth a shot for Cora. I also like how Cora sees humans when putting a ballclub together and not names on a spreadsheet.  Cora, I think, understands that these are all individuals. Breslow does not.

[mvp 78]

13 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

Or at the very least, hire good coaches that will help the guys and he didnt really do that either.

I do think Cora would make a better executive than coach, and to me, thats the issue here.  Also Breslow doing nothing to help this feel like a team/family/unit/chemistry.  Its all an individual players approach.

I think there was underlying tension with that too. Many people assumed that Cora would last until the end of his contract and would eventually get a FO role. He probably thought he could do whatever and not worry about it. Really tough spot for Brez to be in if the guy you're in charge of is perceived as taking your job in a few years. 

[mvp 78]

14 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

I dont think the housecleaning is over. I think T-2 weeks until Story has money eaten and is flipped for relief pitch prospects.

COL's current SS leaves something to be desired. Just eat everything but the minimum and send him back there. 

[mvp 78]

13 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

Im in the minority here but I dont think Breslow is JH's yes man. I think Breslow is firming running the show and making the decisions and this is on him, squarely.

Which is good news because they wont sell the team but they may sack Breslow after the year.

I think he's going with the vision that Henry wanted "roster flexibility, no max contracts" and has to run most decisions by Henry. The yes man is clearly Sam. 

[sk7326]

13 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

Personally, I saw how well it went when Brad Stevens went from coach to executive and I thought it was worth a shot for Cora. I also like how Cora sees humans when putting a ballclub together and not names on a spreadsheet.  Cora, I think, understands that these are all individuals. Breslow does not.

The big thing with the Celtics was that the infrastructure was there and that did not change.  Stevens took over, but the rest of the brain trust stayed too, until Austin Ainge left to work in Utah.  I don't think Stevens was necessarily Danny Ainge's hand picked successor - but it became pretty clear to ownership that Stevens could do whatever he wanted in basketball and they weren't going to let him do it for another team.  Stevens has made changes under the hood as you'd expect - but he was not starting from scratch.  

Cora is also one of those dudes who could do any of these jobs in baseball - and he was a good manager.  But that sort of alignment was clearly not there in this case.  

[drewski6]

11 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I think there was underlying tension with that too. Many people assumed that Cora would last until the end of his contract and would eventually get a FO role. He probably thought he could do whatever and not worry about it. Really tough spot for Brez to be in if the guy you're in charge of is perceived as taking your job in a few years. 

Yes, and the relationship felt doomed from the get-go.  At the beginning of last year, it felt like they werent in sync, then it felt like it improved throughout last year, and thats when I stopped dogging Breslow (as much) until he gave me new reasons to (no bat at deadline, bad offseason, more bad communication).

I do agree that part of it was the situation.  Internal drama is no good.  Ive seen it first hand.  Employees sabotaging each other, its like - folks , we have enough to compete against outside these walls cant be battling internally too.  

[drewski6]

10 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I think he's going with the vision that Henry wanted "roster flexibility, no max contracts" and has to run most decisions by Henry. The yes man is clearly Sam. 

I can agree with that. It still leaves room for Breslow to be the primary architect jsut with some guardrails. But I think it was ultimately Breslow who bungled it with Bres, flipped Devers, went all pitching, and fired Cora.  JH prob had to give the ok, but I think JH gives Breslow the space to do his thing, mostly.

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

Marcelo's defense is great. He only played 43 games in AAA.

Roman was great last year including his defense.

Mayer also had an .818 OPS in AAA with 9 HRs in 170 ABs.  He was fine.

[mvp 78]

5 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

I can agree with that. It still leaves room for Breslow to be the primary architect jsut with some guardrails. But I think it was ultimately Breslow who bungled it with Bres, flipped Devers, went all pitching, and fired Cora.  JH prob had to give the ok, but I think JH gives Breslow the space to do his thing, mostly.

I can almost guarantee you that Henry was at the point where he wanted Cora gone. I don't think Brez brought this up out of nowhere. The Sox are spending a lot more this year and the product has been bad. Henry needs someone to blame. If the Sox were under the CBT, Cora would still be here.

[mvp 78]

5 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Mayer also had an .818 OPS in AAA with 9 HRs in 170 ABs.  He was fine.

I would have liked to see his OPS closer to 900 before promotion. 🫠

[Old Red]

24 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I think there was underlying tension with that too. Many people assumed that Cora would last until the end of his contract and would eventually get a FO role. He probably thought he could do whatever and not worry about it. Really tough spot for Brez to be in if the guy you're in charge of is perceived as taking your job in a few years. 

I wonder where Brez got all his power from in such a short time, and especially over Cora. Maybe help from someone in the shadows like Theo.

[drewski6]

2 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I can almost guarantee you that Henry was at the point where he wanted Cora gone. I don't think Brez brought this up out of nowhere. The Sox are spending a lot more this year and the product has been bad. Henry needs someone to blame. If the Sox were under the CBT, Cora would still be here.

Im not sure Henry actively wanted Cora gone, but I think Brez easily made the case that Cora had been here through multiple disappointing regimes and could be the problem and that Brez himself cant be fairly assessed unless he gets the keys in full.

He managed to buy himself some time.

[drewski6]

1 minute ago, Old Red said:

I wonder where Brez got all his power from in such a short time, and especially over Cora. Maybe help from someone in the shadows like Theo.

I honestly think its the ownership group wanting to spend more time with grandkids and other ventures.  I think they are more open to delegating than they have been in the past and they just want someone to handle the C-level operations for them.

[drewski6]

I do think the fact that Cora was here for so long made it easy for Bres to sell ownership on axeing Cora.  I think they jumped right on board.  Its not a particularly hard sell from a superficial POV.  You know we have more talent than our record, right JH? Cora has been here for a while, right JH?  No manager (or executive) lasts forever, right JH? This isnt the first time it wsa simply time to part with a good manager, right JH? Cora has been teh common link between the last 3 admins , right JH?  He wasnt my hire, right? And how can you assess me if there are still relics and holdovers from prior admins......

[Old Red]

27 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

COL's current SS leaves something to be desired. Just eat everything but the minimum and send him back there. 

The Story saga will be interesting to watch now that Cora isn’t there to protect him, and especially if he doesn’t start hitting soon. Also on Mayer if he becomes a FT player, or not.

[drewski6]

And what Breslow didnt say is "im getting rid of the main competition for my job"

[Old Red]

1 minute ago, drewski6 said:

I do think the fact that Cora was here for so long made it easy for Bres to sell ownership on axeing Cora.  I think they jumped right on board.  Its not a particularly hard sell from a superficial POV.  You know we have more talent than our record, right JH? Cora has been here for a while, right JH?  No manager (or executive) lasts forever, right JH? This isnt the first time it wsa simply time to part with a good manager, right JH? Cora has been teh common link between the last 3 admins , right JH?  He wasnt my hire, right? And how can you assess me if there are still relics and holdovers from prior admins......

Strange after giving Cora a three year extension, which pretty much has two years left.