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.  

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

https://joonlee.substack.com/p/inside-the-red-soxs-crisis-of-credibility

An interesting and thorough summary of how Boston's front office really isn't fooling anyone anywhere anymore. The last lines confirm what we've suspected all along: for powerful people to stay in power, honesty is not the best policy.

"because no one is empowered to speak plainly about money, urgency or limits, fans are left decoding mixed signals.

The fan base hasn’t stopped loving the Red Sox. It just no longer knows who in the organization, if anyone, is telling them the truth."

 

 

[mvp 78]

6 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

https://joonlee.substack.com/p/inside-the-red-soxs-crisis-of-credibility

An interesting and thorough summary of how Boston's front office really isn't fooling anyone anywhere anymore. The last lines confirm what we've suspected all along: for powerful people to stay in power, honesty is not the best policy.

"because no one is empowered to speak plainly about money, urgency or limits, fans are left decoding mixed signals.

The fan base hasn’t stopped loving the Red Sox. It just no longer knows who in the organization, if anyone, is telling them the truth."

Around the league, several general managers describe the Red Sox as a franchise embroiled in an identity crisis. They carry the expectations of a big-market team — ticket prices, media scrutiny, historical weight — while behaving like a risk-averse small-market team. The result is a club that neither maximizes its financial advantages nor fully commits to restraint, judging by the $130 million invested in pitcher Ranger Suarez and the total of $7 million spent on free-agent additions Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Danny Coulombe. Spending is reserved for moments when projections suggest overwhelming odds, not merely a competitive window. And as long as Fenway fills, jerseys sell and hope flickers each spring, the model holds. Winning the World Series becomes a nice surprise rather than the goal.

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Around the league, several general managers describe the Red Sox as a franchise embroiled in an identity crisis. They carry the expectations of a big-market team — ticket prices, media scrutiny, historical weight — while behaving like a risk-averse small-market team. The result is a club that neither maximizes its financial advantages nor fully commits to restraint, judging by the $130 million invested in pitcher Ranger Suarez and the total of $7 million spent on free-agent additions Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Danny Coulombe. Spending is reserved for moments when projections suggest overwhelming odds, not merely a competitive window. And as long as Fenway fills, jerseys sell and hope flickers each spring, the model holds. Winning the World Series becomes a nice surprise rather than the goal.

But what mattered more was what the Devers trade revealed: an organization unable to articulate a coherent plan, internally or externally. With no single voice owning the decision, confusion spread beyond the clubhouse to agents, rival executives and the fan base.

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, mvp 78 said:

But what mattered more was what the Devers trade revealed: an organization unable to articulate a coherent plan, internally or externally. With no single voice owning the decision, confusion spread beyond the clubhouse to agents, rival executives and the fan base.

Having recently committed significant money to core members of the title team, including Chris Sale and Nathan Eovaldi, (Henry)  increasingly viewed long-term contracts as liabilities rather than investments. That philosophical divide marked the beginning of the end of Dombrowski’s tenure and reshaped how the organization spoke about its choices.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

1 minute ago, mvp 78 said:

But what mattered more was what the Devers trade revealed: an organization unable to articulate a coherent plan, internally or externally. With no single voice owning the decision, confusion spread beyond the clubhouse to agents, rival executives and the fan base.

Wait til you get to the part that it was the front office spin that Mookie wanted to leave Boston.

A lot of duped fans still regurgitate that lie when they try to justify the worst trade this century.

[mvp 78]

Just now, mvp 78 said:

Having recently committed significant money to core members of the title team, including Chris Sale and Nathan Eovaldi, (Henry)  increasingly viewed long-term contracts as liabilities rather than investments. That philosophical divide marked the beginning of the end of Dombrowski’s tenure and reshaped how the organization spoke about its choices.

As internal resistance to a Betts extension grew, a different story began to circulate publicly: Betts didn’t want to be in Boston. The narrative first surfaced in off-the-record conversations — that Betts preferred to play closer to his hometown of Nashville or wasn’t fully committed to the market. Betts and his inner circle were confused by this narrative. He was direct with those around the team: he wanted to stay in the only place he had known in the majors, and he wanted to be paid at market value. 

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

As internal resistance to a Betts extension grew, a different story began to circulate publicly: Betts didn’t want to be in Boston. The narrative first surfaced in off-the-record conversations — that Betts preferred to play closer to his hometown of Nashville or wasn’t fully committed to the market. Betts and his inner circle were confused by this narrative. He was direct with those around the team: he wanted to stay in the only place he had known in the majors, and he wanted to be paid at market value. 

When the Red Sox fired Dombrowski in 2019, I was reporting on the team for ESPN. Sources in the front office explicitly said they wanted to recreate the Dodgers model in Boston. The implication was clear: a data-driven, well-funded franchise that had figured out how to marry analytics with sustained financial commitment. The Red Sox wanted to be that.

What they became was something different...

The Red Sox took a different lesson from the same moment. Flexibility over commitment. Risk management over star retention. The worst outcome not a lost championship, but a bad contract on the books.

[mvp 78]

3 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

When the Red Sox fired Dombrowski in 2019, I was reporting on the team for ESPN. Sources in the front office explicitly said they wanted to recreate the Dodgers model in Boston. The implication was clear: a data-driven, well-funded franchise that had figured out how to marry analytics with sustained financial commitment. The Red Sox wanted to be that.

What they became was something different...

The Red Sox took a different lesson from the same moment. Flexibility over commitment. Risk management over star retention. The worst outcome not a lost championship, but a bad contract on the books.

Several executives and agents describe Breslow as tethered to the organization’s internal models and, at times, inflexible. In their view, the Red Sox don’t just negotiate cautiously; they negotiate as if deviating from projections is a failure, even when the moment calls for risk. Rival evaluators say the club behaves like an organization waiting for the data to remove all doubt — and in a sport built on varying degrees of uncertainty, that moment never comes.

This reputation is registering with players as well. A veteran member of the 2025 team described the club’s approach as “arrogant,” arguing that the front office’s model-driven posture turns information into ironclad dogma. The handling of Bregman was a failure not just to read the market but also an ideological one, with the organization treating free agency like a transaction to be optimized, rather than a relationship to be managed. “It’s ‘Moneyball’ computer beep-boop nonsense,” the veteran player said.

Inside the Red Sox, several people point to a larger structural issue. The team is run very differently than Fenway Sports Group’s other flagship property, Liverpool. There, longtime executive Michael Gordon serves as a true bridge between ownership and sporting operations, enforcing budget discipline while empowering soccer leadership to act decisively. In Boston, no such intermediary exists. Major baseball decisions routinely bypass Kennedy and flow directly to John Henry.

[mvp 78]

A monster of an article by Joon Lee. Damn. 

[moonslav59]

I still think the success of the 2021 season solidified JH's view that the team can win without major financial investments to star players.

Other than the Devers contract, which was quickly dumped, the largest signings don't come close to the top of the list.

$170M/6 Crochet comes closest.

$140M/6 Story is barely a top 90 FA signing of all time.

$90M/5 Yoshida

$130M/5 Suarez is not even top 100.

 

[moonslav59]

5 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Several executives and agents describe Breslow as tethered to the organization’s internal models and, at times, inflexible. In their view, the Red Sox don’t just negotiate cautiously; they negotiate as if deviating from projections is a failure, even when the moment calls for risk. Rival evaluators say the club behaves like an organization waiting for the data to remove all doubt — and in a sport built on varying degrees of uncertainty, that moment never comes.

This reputation is registering with players as well. A veteran member of the 2025 team described the club’s approach as “arrogant,” arguing that the front office’s model-driven posture turns information into ironclad dogma. The handling of Bregman was a failure not just to read the market but also an ideological one, with the organization treating free agency like a transaction to be optimized, rather than a relationship to be managed. “It’s ‘Moneyball’ computer beep-boop nonsense,” the veteran player said.

Inside the Red Sox, several people point to a larger structural issue. The team is run very differently than Fenway Sports Group’s other flagship property, Liverpool. There, longtime executive Michael Gordon serves as a true bridge between ownership and sporting operations, enforcing budget discipline while empowering soccer leadership to act decisively. In Boston, no such intermediary exists. Major baseball decisions routinely bypass Kennedy and flow directly to John Henry.

Beep boop, the computer was very likely right about Bregman and maybe Alonso, too.

[mvp 78]

Just now, moonslav59 said:

I still think the success of the 2021 season solidified JH's view that the team can win without major financial investments to star players.

Other than the Devers contract, which was quickly dumped, the largest signings don't come close to the top of the list.

$170M/6 Crochet comes closest.

$140M/6 Story is barely a top 90 FA signing of all time.

$90M/5 Yoshida

$130M/5 Suarez is not even top 100.

 

That 2021 team had Eovaldi, Sale, Bogey and JD. They weren't exactly running out a small payroll. It was 6th in the league per luxury tax and 3rd in cash.

[mvp 78]

Just now, moonslav59 said:

Beep boop, the computer was very likely right about Bregman and maybe Alonso, too.

The overall problem is that you need to treat players as human beings and not just as lines on a spreadsheet. That's the pitfall here if they really want success year in and year out. You can use the stats and metrics to your advantage, but you still need to be able to connect with people personally. 

[Duran Is The Man]

11 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

The overall problem is that you need to treat players as human beings and not just as lines on a spreadsheet. That's the pitfall here if they really want success year in and year out. You can use the stats and metrics to your advantage, but you still need to be able to connect with people personally. 

and with Breslow, they have the absolute worst person on the planet for this.

[moonslav59]

13 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

That 2021 team had Eovaldi, Sale, Bogey and JD. They weren't exactly running out a small payroll. It was 6th in the league per luxury tax and 3rd in cash.

That budget was mostly from the remnants of the 2018 team. The failure to bring back or replace Kimbrel and Kelly after 2018 was the start of the trend towards "small market" philosophies. The Betts trade and failure to replace his projected salary is all the proof needed that the change was in place during 2021.

Our biggest signing from 2019 (not counting the Sale/Nate extensions) was Richards at $10M/1. The plan was firmly in place.

BTW, Sale started 9 games and 2021 was 33 y/o JD's last full season of good hitting. No Betts, Beni, Price, Porcello, Kimbrel or Kelly. Just a tiny fraction of their lost salary replaced. It got worse after 2021.

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

That budget was mostly from the remnants of the 2018 team. The failure to bring back or replace Kimbrel and Kelly after 2018 was the start of the trend towards "small market" philosophies. The Betts trade and failure to replace his projected salary is all the proof needed that the change was in place during 2021.

Our biggest signing from 2019 (not counting the Sale/Nate extensions) was Richards at $10M/1. The plan was firmly in place.

BTW, Sale started 9 games and 2021 was 33 y/o JD's last full season of good hitting. No Betts, Beni, Price, Porcello, Kimbrel or Kelly. Just a tiny fraction of their lost salary replaced. It got worse after 2021.

Joe Kelly? He was good in '17, but was a rollercoaster in '18. It makes sense that they'd let him go. He only had one good full season after leaving the Sox.

Kimbrel stopped being able to close out games in the playoffs. It was a warning sign for the direction his career was going. They were 100% right for not re-signing him. 

 

[mvp 78]

10 minutes ago, Duran Is The Man said:

and with Breslow, they have the absolute worst person on the planet for this.

Bloom was a nerd, but he'd at least go to the clubhouse and talk to the players. He was accountable. 

[jdc69]

14 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

But what mattered more was what the Devers trade revealed: an organization unable to articulate a coherent plan, internally or externally. With no single voice owning the decision, confusion spread beyond the clubhouse to agents, rival executives and the fan base.

Thats what I cant understand. They're trying to build a winning team with young prospects, which I thought was great. Then they just bungle it all up before it starts with the signing of Bregman without talking to Devers, Completely avoidable drama. And its not like they had this sudden opportunity they had to go for. They had the whole winter.

Thats why I think Brezlow is as culpable as Cora.

 

[moonslav59]

6 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Joe Kelly? He was good in '17, but was a rollercoaster in '18. It makes sense that they'd let him go. He only had one good full season after leaving the Sox.

Kimbrel stopped being able to close out games in the playoffs. It was a warning sign for the direction his career was going. They were 100% right for not re-signing him. 

 

They failed to replace them "in kind," and that hurt the team in 2019, as did the drop off in SP results.

The 2019 team was still very much good enough on paper opening day to win it all, but the small market mentality had already begun. The summer of 2019 almost saw the trade of Betts, so let's not forget that as further evidence the change was underway. The departure of DD followed soon afterwards.

[moonslav59]

2018 salaries not replace by anyone more than $10M/1 Richards:

Betts due for about $30M/per

$30M Price

$23M HanRam

$21M Porcello

$13M Kimbrel

$8.5M Pom Pom

$6.5M Moreland

$4M Nunez & Kelly

[sk7326]

47 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Having recently committed significant money to core members of the title team, including Chris Sale and Nathan Eovaldi, (Henry)  increasingly viewed long-term contracts as liabilities rather than investments. That philosophical divide marked the beginning of the end of Dombrowski’s tenure and reshaped how the organization spoke about its choices.

Obviously, ownership wants to make money - let's get that out of the way.  But the Red Sox at this point are a mint, so let's set that aside.

Management has - especially in the last decade, though it's always been there - never been able to articulate what it wants the club to be.  The vision to be a draft, develop and pay is sensible - but it's hard not to think that a lot of the fruits of the farm system have been rushed up and extended (see Kristian Campbell) so ownership can be like "SEE??  Look at all the prospects we have!".  But if that doesn't click in the maximalist way - it tacks the direct opposite way.  Finish in last?  Sign Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval to show fans you are trying.  

Marcelo Mayer is a classic example.  He gets promoted super aggresively because he appears on top prospects list, and so let's see what top prospect we have!  But then he struggles - or shows the cake is not fully baked and now he is a platoon player.  The answer is you either have to let him take his lumps in the show (see Pedroia 2006-7), or you send him down and let him mash at Worcester.  But we get this sort of purgatory instead.  I almost fear that Franklin Arias will be promoted if he does well to take Story's job - not because he is ready, but because management wants to show a shiny object to the Nation. 

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, jdc69 said:

Thats what I cant understand. They're trying to build a winning team with young prospects, which I thought was great. Then they just bungle it all up before it starts with the signing of Bregman without talking to Devers, Completely avoidable drama. And its not like they had this sudden opportunity they had to go for. They had the whole winter.

Thats why I think Brezlow is as culpable as Cora.

It all comes down from Henry. If he's the one making the huge decisions, the Red Sox are stuck. 

Brez was going in one direction, Cora was going in another. Henry is currently fine sailing along with Brez, but that could change at any moment. Just wait until the wind shifts.