Red Sox Fire Manager Alex Cora, Five Others In Shocking Housecleaning

[Deja Doh]

The problem with the team is with those responsible for putting the players on the roster, and not with Cora.  When a team cannot attract top talent or retain it, or evaluate young talent, and heads don't roll, no coach is safe. 

[notin]

6 minutes ago, Deja Doh said:

The problem with the team is with those responsible for putting the players on the roster, and not with Cora.  When a team cannot attract top talent or retain it, or evaluate young talent, and heads don't roll, no coach is safe. 

Apparently there were some issues with young players not following the team’s development process, which may or may not have been very good anyway.  But that’s not talent evaluation, and most of the young players the Sox extended were among the top young players/prospects in the game per neutral third-party publications like Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus.

The roster wasn’t ideal but it wasn’t among the worst in MLB.  The on-field performance, however, was…

[Duran Is The Man]

17 minutes ago, notin said:

Apparently there were some issues with young players not following the team’s development process, which may or may not have been very good anyway.  But that’s not talent evaluation, and most of the young players the Sox extended were among the top young players/prospects in the game per neutral third-party publications like Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus.

The roster wasn’t ideal but it wasn’t among the worst in MLB.  The on-field performance, however, was…

that's it. i think the team is far better than what they've shown. and that is on the coaches.

[notin]

45 minutes ago, Duran Is The Man said:

that's it. i think the team is far better than what they've shown. and that is on the coaches.

And the players themselves, who are not without some blame…

[a700hitter]

57 minutes ago, notin said:

And the players themselves, who are not without some blame…

Do you think some players have not been giving a full effort?

[moonslav59]

17 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

The winning % was better, Cora wasn’t.

Subjective but with merit.

[moonslav59]

17 minutes ago, a700hitter said:

Do you think some players have not been giving a full effort?

This seems to happen on all teams, even winning ones.

[sk7326]

1.  Cora being fired is whatever.  He is a good manager - but it's not surprising that Breslow/ownership decided a head had to roll with this start.  But I'm also pretty sure Cora didn't tell these players not to hit.   

2. That said, it is fair to ask exactly why Roman Anthony is not pulling the ball or really attacking it.  27 games is 27 games, but this is not the same hitter that showed up for Team USA.  I doubt that's the hitting coach specifically - these are usually larger decisions, but still yuck.

3. If Mayer is going to just be a platoon player, then he might as well have stayed in Worcester to hit against lefty pitching.  Nobody is helped here.  And he should be playing 3rd.  Durbin is probably a better player than he has shown so far, but he was going to be a power vacuum at that position anyway.

4. Small sample sizes abound, but was it really more likely that Story would build on last season or that was the best it was going to get.  He has been bad - but it's not all that surprising.  

The biggest crime of this ownership - and yes, it's the best ownership the franchise has ever had, sigh - is that they listen to talk radio too much and seem prone to these pretty rash pivots.  Here is another one.